Page 61 of Until Death or Defeat

“After you and Leo what?”

I pinch the bridge of my nose before I walk past Max and open the door. “Thanks,” I say as I look down into his face, as I walk out of the door and she follows.

Smug fucking bastard.

“Hello? Answer the question,” she says as she slams the car door after climbing into the passenger seat.

“You already knew I didn’t get along with your family,” I say vaguely as I start the engine.

“Yeah, and? I never knew you and Leoactuallyinteracted anyway.”

“Leo isn’t exactly fucking subtle,” I say, trying not to show all the emotions I want to.

The last time I saw him eleven years ago, we were throwing punches outside of the country club. Roman and Caesar had to drag us apart, and all I saw as he was pulled back was his mouth open in a wide smile, his teeth covered in blood.

“So why the hell are you agreeing to go if you don’t like him?”

“Because I don’t trust him.”

She sighs as she crosses her leg, showing me more of her bare thigh in her tight ass dress.

“You better not cause any drama tonight,” she says as she attempts to shimmy her dress down as she sees me looking, rolling her eyes.

“Don’t hide yourself from me,” I coo, using my hand to rub the skirt back up as she slaps it.

“You better not be a fucking pervert either once we’re inside.”

“Then it’s acceptable until we go inside?” I ask as I put the car in park and lean toward her, trying to kiss her but she tries to push me away.

“You’re the worst,” she says, but I can already hear the tone change in her voice. I can see the way her lips part and her chest rises and falls slowly in anticipation of me.

“You’re the worst liar I know,” I whisper in her ear as I slowly slide my hand down her waist and unbuckle her seatbelt before I lean back into my seat to get out.

She huffs as she gets out, until we see Leo waiting outside standing by security.

“Ah, perfect!” He puts his arm out to hug Giselle and something about the smile on his face makes me want to break it again.

“Artem,” he says coyly, holding his hand out to me to shake it as if we’re letting bygones be bygones. I’ll pretend, for now. But I hope he knows it isn’t for him.

“Come in,” he gestures, and security moves out of his way as he escorts us inside.

To the left is more of a sit-down restaurant, with a stage against the wall. The upper levels have different bars and music, and he takes us all the way up to the fourth level.

She runs from my side to hug her brother, and I can’t help but roll my eyes. I’ve found Caesar to be more tolerable than Leo over the years, but only barely. After we exchange awkward pleasantries, we finally take a seat at a round booth and are greeted with glasses and champagne bottles.

“Wow this place is pretty nice,” Giselle mutters as she grabs the bottle to pour herself some.

“Yeah, I’ve been working on it for a while. Only opened aweek or so ago officially but it’s gotten a lot of business already.”

Blah blah blah.

He goes on and on about how amazing he is and this place. Any rich person can throw money at someone and make a place like this. I’m only waiting for the other shoe to drop here.

“Well, Artem?” I hear when I’m pulled out of my thoughts and annoyance.

“I don’t think he’d want to do that,” Giselle says as she turns to me.

“I thought I’d offer anyway, Caesar is thinking about investing and maybe even becoming a partner.”