The Exiled Bride: Shattered By Four Brothers

a P

sleep th

on the top floor of a historic b

entire life into two standa

ive did not permit p

e thermal dome situated three hundr

t withstand forty belo

en boxes lined up o

ere the piece

box belong

hampionship medal from our

box belon

books-his early strategic algorithms and b

rd drive, containing twenty years of raw

was empty, wait

unk of my beat-up Subaru and drove to the athletic tr

ot yet creste

off the harbor wa

the private

chilled ozone, ru

irtless under his padded gear, r

he player's box, wrapped in a down

r enormous Louis Vu

nto the ice, spraying white shavings against

is forehead with the back of his glove. "

n't a

e bag, pulled out the velvet

yours,"

y leather glove, frowni

ught the fluoresc

ardened into def

ugh. "You've kept that in your bedside drawer for four ye

id. "I won't have a bedsi

Jorden told us you were throwing a tantrum last night. It's just five years, Aria. You'll be home

nunciating every syllable. "I will

ed, entirely

t case onto the met

with spare skate blades, rolls of bl

clattered violently a

're here, grab Calla's two blue trunks and take them down to my

at the bl

at Dylan's broad,

" I

n fr

ulled together

ent, balanced his nutritional intake, and p

" Dylan asked, his voic

," I repli

from the bench, her therm

udden moisture. "I can carry them myself! I don't want Aria to be m

ommanded, his protective i

k on me, his

You're an engineer, you lift engine blocks for fun, a

. "And you have four workin

eel and walked o

urious roar echoed o

! When you get to Alaska, don't bother

break m

ed the private research archives

unded by four flat-screen monitors displayin

hirty-two leather notebooks

eight, sending random characte

yed, and adjusted hi

y, surveying the stack

"From high school through our third year of uni

in his ergonomi

t touch

is lenses, scanning my fac

said you returned his medal. Now you're returning my noteboo

hat does not belo

with condescension. "These notebooks are our shared I

hip," I told him. "You voided that partners

his glasses to polish

r into our local ecosystem, her family's trust would have liquidated its stake in the Sutton logistics corridor. We needed her here to protect th

h his speech, the fro

rsity course catalog with colorful po

rar's office says I need a signature from a departmental sponsor to

asses back on, turning his

id, taking her gold pen. "L

onds, looking at the back o

ly. "You'll need them to figure out the

lked

even tur

the estate district, Karson was leaning against the h

is fingers tapping rhythmically again

my car, he tossed t

it by i

this?"

flatly, blowing a bubble of gum. "I

hy

ood journey on the ballroom screens. Calla wasn't there for the summer in Maine or the ski trips in Aspen because s

at the small

want me to

lt. "Use AI inpainting to stitch Calla into your spots. Make it look like she was always part of the cor

left m

ed at

oor to me since I w

lake, I sat with him in the dark fo

slowly, "to erase myse

is tongue, irrit

left out. She was crying this morning because she looked at our middle school albums and didn't see

ard drive ou

t you

dn't reac

rms, stepping ba

rden's penthouse. Stop being so petty. If you do this for Calla, Jorden mi

oor, got inside, an

out of the driveway, leavi

way, clutching the c

n at the box

l stop w

across from Jorden in the pri

se sat in a cryst

d a bottle of 198

against his water glass, his t

conds, a brigh

s too cold. Which switch c

elivery guy looks sca

is itchy. Did you

ulgent expression on his face that I hadn

touch m

touch t

ll velvet box containing the Harry Winston r

fter I left the hotel, pretendin

t this morning, returning it with a note

ox sat betwe

lly put his

up at me, an amused, superio

Calla, but you will respect her presence. When you return from Alaska, this ring will be waiting in the fa

ame, Jorden,"

reaching across the

hand back

d slightly, but he fo

d softly. "You need the protein.

too

ed against the

hungry,

didn'

eyes tracking me w

Anchorage staging facility. Don't freeze your fingers off, Aria.

n't a

uched food, the expensive wine, and the two-mill

t midnight, I plugged Karson's ha

d at th

ears of

knees on gravel roads, building s

ot eras

Calla's smiling

uncompressed raw master file to my pe

sconnected

d hard drive sitting on the

ry belon

the right t