Page 154 of A Dead Man's B-Side
God.
When Wolf approached, I snapped at him for taking so long before slumping low in the backseat until we arrived at the private runway.
The only thought bouncing around my mind was how quickly I wanted the holidays to pass, to return to Castle Hill.
Chapter Thirty
Alexandr Miroslav
1982
Wolf Kingsley anticipated that someone was going to make an attempt on his life over the holidays. However, he hadn’t anticipated how they would go about it, leading him to engage in mithridatism for extra precautions.
Paranoia.
What Wolf hadn’t anticipated was arriving at the Kingsley Manor, situated near the shores of Rhode Island, to find his older brother sitting in the dining room with a newspaper open in one hand, a cup of steaming tea in the other.
Embarrassingly so, how it had happened that we arrived at this situation was the clutching of my stomach and the repeated phrase of “I’m hungry” on the way over from the airport.
I’d only repeated it once before the driver looked back at me from the rearview mirror with a pursed lip. That must have been what egged me on to repeat it several more times.
We’d barely made it through the door before Wolf pulled on my sleeve, postponing the tour of the property and leading us both into the dining room.
Wolf drew to a stop at the figure seated quite comfortably at the head of the table. Upon our arrival, Evander Barathalow Kingsley folded over his newspaper and met Wolf’s gaze with his warm blue eyes. “Lu, welcome back home.”
The last time I’d properly seen Evander Barthalow Kingsley was three months and so ago. He still had that too-clean, short, boxed beard that seemed to make him look ready to rob. Unfortunately, he also still had the body of a killer.
Now, as opposed to the first time we’d spoken, I was loaded with a cache of information that didn’t make me feel as though I were constantly at a loss.
I saw him in that photo, young and wild.
When I tuned back into the present, Wolf was still standing next to me in a frozen state. He dropped my arm with shaking hands and watched his brother through wide eyes and parted lips.
Standing so close to him, I could hear his whispered, “Evan…”
A quiet beat passed, once, twice, until his breathing picked up, practically exhaling fumes through his nose as he began to almost vibrate in place.
Evander must have had another idea of how this would play out, because his serene expression faltered. Before he could open his mouth with another string of words that might only make things worse, Wolf spoke in a low tone, “This is no longer your home. I want you out.”
It was the most threatening I’d ever heard Wolf sound, the deadliest.
EvenIbelieved he’d kill Evander in his sleep if he so much as stayed the night.
With those last words, Wolf tersely turned around and marched in the other direction. I watched as he moved up the stairs and down a hall before the slam of a door sounded throughout the house. It was a large house, a castle. And so, one could imagine how hard you’d have to push a door for it to sound in such a space.
I turned to Evan, pressing my lips together in the awkward air we were left to settle in. I had just witnessed something an outsider should not have, and I also drugged and robbed him in September.
We were already off to a great start.
When the man who deeply resembled the one who greeted us at the door entered from a side door, I jumped at the intrusion but was grateful for the crack in the atmosphere he’d unknowingly caused. I was also still hungry. “Excuse me, sir, I was wondering if you could prepare a plate of food and send it up to Wolf’s room?”
The old man paused and looked from me to Evander. To my offense, Evander gave a subtle nod, as though my eyes weren’t in full operation, before the older man became more agreeable. He turned back to me and smiled politely. “Certainly, sir. I’ll have it brought up when it’s ready.”
I smiled gratefully, sucking in so the rumble of my stomach wouldn’t sound. “Thank you.”
Only when he departed through the doors he came from did I move a step closer to Evander. The well-dressed man, I’ll give himthat, looked distressed. And who was I to deny him the reminder that it could always get worse?
“So… Were you parked up against the window before rushing to pose upon our arrival?”
