Wild Billionaire Romance - Chapter 81: Chapter 81

JOSEF
The atmosphere inside Adrik’s enormous office shifted as everyone’s attention turned to me. I pretended not to notice at first.
New York City was shrouded in clouds, visible through the window wall behind Adrik’s massive desk and chair. I huffed out a sigh.
Fucking busybody motherfuckers.
“Alright, Josef. We’ve waited a week, but you’re still keeping to yourself. No more hiding. Tell us,” Adrik said.
“Fuck,” I muttered, rubbing my hand across my face.
“I know I was fucking with you before, but you are family, Josef. You can tell us anything,” Marat said.
“Fine, You know I married her. I married Meredith⁠—”
“Wait. Meredith? Why do I know that? Holy shit. You married Meredith Gray! The girl you used to bodyguard?” Marat asked, his mouth dropped open.
“She’s thirty fucking two years old. Not a girl. Not underage. And she’s my wife,” I growled.
“No! I mean, yeah! But she was in high school⁠—”
“I never fucking touched her until she turned eighteen. And it was only once. One time and she fucking sent her Daddy to me with a check to buy me off,” I snapped, pissed off at everyone, me included.
“We know you would never touch an underage girl, Josef. But you only touched her once?” Adrik asked, cocking his head to the side.
“I remember how she destroyed you. You were with this girl one time, but you mourned her for years, Josef. Never got over your obsession with her then, did you?” he said it like there was even a question.
“Obviously not,” Marat scoffed.
“Shut up, Marat,” he told his younger brother.
I was always amazed by the way Adrik had so completely reinvented himself in the states. Hell, his voice barely held any trace of his Russian roots.
Unless he was angry or pissed. Then I could hear his accent just fine.
Adrik wasn’t angry now, only concerned. I, on the other hand, was volatile as fuck.
I grew up bouncing around from one foster home to another until I was old enough for the group homes. Three years in that hell was all I needed to convince myself to enlist in the armed forces.
I was good at soldiering. Good at the physical stuff, at any rate.
The listening to assholes part?
Not so much.
I was sure others had a different experience of that life, but for me, it was what it was.
I wasn’t there to judge anyone else.
We were all our own witnesses in this life. Each of us had a piece of our consciousness dedicated to simply surveying all we went through.
Didn’t we?
I mean, I was pretty sure I’d read that somewhere.
After the military, I met Adrik on a job. Working as muscle for some fucking lowlife mobster in New York City was not my idea of a good time.
But I needed the money.
We worked well together. Soon after, he introduced me to his younger brother, Marat. They had their own crew. And they were doing big things. Taking over territory and making legitimate business from shady ones.
I was interested. Very interested. So, from then on, we were a team.
Adrik had his own crew, and he hired me. Eventually, I was his right-hand man. When an interesting prospect showed up that would make a ton of money for all involved, I wanted in.
I needed seed money. So, I took a job as a bodyguard for some Morristown millionaire’s teenage daughter.
And that was when my whole world shifted.
Sometimes it was like I witnessed my own life through hooded eyes, my heart clenched tight against my emotions.
The shit I’d seen and experienced would make most people’s hair turn white. But that was my story to keep and to sift through when I was all alone in the dark.
Men didn’t do shit like that out loud. And definitely not in front of others.
But it seemed my brothers by choice wouldn’t let me do this alone. I didn’t know whether to be grateful or pissed. I sucked in a sharp breath and went over what Adrik had just said to me.
He was right. I only touched her once, but I never got over her. If they only knew how I went at her like a rutting animal on our wedding night.
It was safe to say my obsession leaped to new heights.
Fucking Meredith wouldn’t get her out of my system. If anything, kissing, touching, caressing, and worshipping her soft, supple body was only imbedding her deeper into the very fiber of my being.
“Did it take you more than once to know Sofia was yours?” I asked hotly. “What about you, Marat? The moment you saw Destiny, I could tell you were done with your single life. So yeah, it happened that way for me.”
“You’re right, of course,” Adrik murmured.
“I’m so sorry, Josef. I didn’t even think about it like that. But all those years without her? I had no idea you suffered so, brother,” Marat said quietly.
I inhaled roughly.
It sounded insane.
How could I still be so torn up over this woman?
Fuck.
What was that feeling inside my chest?
It wasn’t good. I knew that much.
Heavy. It felt heavy. Hard to breathe. Angsty. Unsettled. And nervous.
All terrible feelings for an ex-soldier who’d honed his skills by tamping down his emotions.
I just couldn’t afford to be reckless about this.
About her.
Not again.
Adrik and Marat were the closest things I had to brothers. I appreciated it when either of them called me that. More than I could ever express.
I supposed confiding in them would suffice.
“When I knew her then, she was spoiled, sheltered, perfect. She’s different now. More beautiful, older, wiser, still perfect.”
“So, what is the problem?” Marat asked.
“The problem is she told me something on our wedding night. Something I don’t believe. And I can’t do this if she is lying. I need the truth,” I confessed.
“And you don’t trust her?” Andres asked, speaking up for the first time.
“I don’t know if I can afford to,” I confessed.
“Meanwhile, you’ve been avoiding her bed, haven’t you?” Marat asked.
He was all sage observation, no wise-assery. So, instead of punching him in the face, I just nodded.
“Well, there is a simple solution, brother,” Adrik said, a grin toying at the corner of his mouth.
“Oh? What’s that?” I asked.
“You need to seduce your wife into falling in love with you.”
Yeah. Real simple.