The Exiled Bride: Shattered By Four Brothers

r three childhood best friends, giving up a top-tier Arc

n proposed, I caught th

League application, giving my hard-earned seat

a five-year, top-secret federal

e snow. Calla needs the local med

ed her, ransacked my apartment, and

ly to be discarded like trash the m

ed our childhood blood pact, and board

rated Chief Scientist, and it was thei

pte

a P

a Harry Winston diamond ring just to forge my signa

t the St. Regis, listening to the four

projector cast a glowing blue

o the coastal Ivy League university where our fam

r with my name scrawled across the botto

e was a freshly stamped enrollme

e leather booth, wrapped in a

und, watery, and

th manufactured guilt. "The Borealis Initiative is in northern Alaska. The temp

peeling an orange wit

rate, tall, broad-shouldered, and accustomed to c

ate generators. Her father raised her in field workshops. You have asthma, Calla. You can't ha

her lower lip. "Aria worked fo

" Dylan Bonner chimed i

ate hockey captain, hot-tempered, ma

t of tequila and sla

rs. Jorden proposed to her yesterday. Once she signs the five-year federal contract, she gets her preci

cial empire and the strategic brain of ou

laser pen a

id smoothly. "Calla's lungs will fail in extreme conditions. Aria has the high

Kane asked from the corner couch,

prodigy of the gro

s mother's heirloom ring last night. She's probably at h

e heavy oak

le clicked aga

fell de

bottle of tequila sus

the projector, but the bright blue beam ha

didn't

gers with a linen napkin, and looked at me

said. "We were just reviewi

that,"

void of the tremor that wa

mahogany table and stoppe

lling Jorden's tailored suit jacket

that. This was all my fault. I told them I felt sick when I looked at the flight sched

re Calla a s

was a waste of

eyes pinne

ure on the university wi

k against the dee

t, arrogant and ut

igital signature key. We share administrative privileges o

t," I repeated, tasting the

g basic arithmetic to a toddler. "The Sutton Foundation funds forty percent of the engineering d

lf a step closer. "Who authorized my transfer to

ween us, crossing

ame blocked my

tered. "We all agreed on it

to Dylan's face. "Among the four o

eeks flushing red. "You've been obsessing over Arctic ice-

by forging a federal

n sto

shoulder, moving the athlete

his dark eyes steady, cold

e dropping into that low, persuasive register he used when closing multi-million

he two-carat diamond rest

ack before his ski

o an empty fist, his b

lear, "so I would sign the five-year Arctic non-d

didn'

n't lo

have discovered the withdrawal within forty-eight hours. The only way you would

nning on coming t

ickered on his lips,

ths. I can't live in a research container in the Yukon. I was going to fly out to visit you every Christmas. F

n fifty-below weather. U

la cried out, lungi

e and shoved it toward me

drawing! I'll go to Alaska instead! I'll go freeze in the snow, I don't

t, Dylan lunged forward

from Calla's hand,

ctive fury. "You aren't going anywhere! You have chronic b

r hands, her shoulders trem

Aria will be all alone in the dark... with no on

alla against his side with an e

ing soft words of comfort before

es about you even when you're glaring at her like an enemy. You've always been independent

four men form a physical w

read Alec's strategy briefs, cooked Dylan's high-protei

en their

entirely justified in stripping the

his nose, adopting his trad

a federal fellowship. If you stay local, you'll be competing with domestic peers for standard grants. In Alaska, you will lead

nage my career traje

his analytical

lp you," Alec said,

I said. "Don't disguise

coordinating with the Department of Energy liaisons to make sure you got the senior research stipe

r in it. "You hacked my federal identity token, diverted my academic cred

then at Karson, an

rly recruitment scout to my laboratory. They offered me a fu

is eyes. "You nev

st winter. Because Dylan had his shoulder surgery and needed daily physical therapy. Because Alec was facing a board coup and ne

ing at the diam

n't breathe if I wasn't

lounge thickened unti

t, his jaw working, look

lickered towa

s jaw t

rounding the table,

wrist, his grip ur

a right to be annoyed. But we will make it up to you. I'll buy you the penthouse near the harbor. We can register the

ed loudly fr

. "Jorden loves you so much. He never flies commercial, but he's willing to f

wn at the d

into Jorden's hand

eft hand free

orefinger, I slid the pla

elt icy aga

lded her delicate fingers, and dropped the tw

it," I

her fingers curled tightly around t

ace turned

all its smooth composure. "What the he

, turning my back on him. "I already signed it. The

ce cracking. "The courier wasn't supposed to

oak doors, pulling m

tion flashed across the dark scr

REALIS PROTOCOL ACTIVATED. ESCORT UNIT DISPA

back over

fists clenched at his sides, looking completely u

my hand on the brass door lever. "Congratu

into the corridor, and let the