HIS DOE, HIS DAMNATION (An Erotic Billionaire Romance) novel Chapter 30

CHAPTER 0030

Meadow’s POV:

I froze.

And so did Alaric.

Neither of us dared to breathe.

The loud, unmistakable sound of glass breaking still echoed through the house.

Someone was in the house. And by the look on Alaric’s face, he wasn’t expecting anyone. Which meant that this was definitely a break–in.

I felt Alaric’s fingers twitch slightly on the back of my neck before he let go. His jaw tightened as his eyes shifted toward the open door. And then he moved, like something had snapped inside of him.

Or like he just realized he had an intruder.

He turned to me when he realized I was following him out the door. “Stay here,” he said, voice low and unreadable.

My mouth parted. “Alaric, what if—”

He shot me a look. Just one look, and it shut me up.

A silent “don’t test me.”

And then he turned and walked out. But there was no way I was going to stay back while something bad might happen. I had to call the police or something.

But my phone was downstairs. Shit.

I walked back toward the bed, remembering how Alaric had tossed his on it. It was still there. I picked it up, and then hurried out of the room.

My heart beat hard against my ribs as I descended the stairs, careful not to let my footsteps echo. I’d typed the emergency number on Alaric’s phone already, in case anything went awry.

When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I paused, holding on to the banister. I could hear movement. Alaric’s heavy footsteps…

And a low groan.

“Shit,” a voice slurred from the kitchen. It was a man’s voice, and it sounded angry.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Alaric sounded even angrier than the other man did.

He knew who it was. Of course, he did. This was a mansion with high security. No one would ever be able to break in without him getting alerted.

Slowly, I made my way to the kitchen, stopping at the corner so I could listen in.

The deep voice rang out again.

“Jesus, Ric. Are you ever gonna answer your fucking phone? So fucking rude, man, I swear. I’m your…” he trailed off. I heard him gag.

Alaric cursed. “Throw up on my fucking floor, Nolan, and I swear to fucking god, I will fucking kill you.”

Okay…

First of all, I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard Alaric curse that much in one sentence before. And second…

Who on earth was that?

The man let out a lazy chuckle. “Heard from Mom you got hitched. And you didn’t think to invite your own family? Oof, brother. My feelings are hurt.”

Brother?

I blinked, my brain stuttering.

Alaric… had a brother?

Mel had mentioned him having a family, but I never thought that they would be so near to us. Or that they’d be close enough to him that they had access to his house.

“That’s none of your business. Get the hell off my floors.‘

“Can’t. I’m piss drunk.”

Okay, now I had to see for myself. Before I could talk myself out of it, I rounded the corner into the kitchen-

And walked myself into a fucking mess. Literally.

A loud gasp tore from my throat as something sharp pierced into my foot and I slipped on the floor that I had no idea was wet.

“Meadow–Fuck!” Alaric cursed.

Not like I was in the kitchen much.

Yeah, he was definitely pissed at me.

He was angry, but somehow still managed not to snap at me. Something warm filled my chest. There had never been a time in my life when I wasn’t blamed for something that happened to me. Even with Tyler.

Until now.

I swallowed thickly, allowing the guilt to wash over me. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I just… I thought it was an intruder. And I wasn’t going to let you face him all alone.”

“Cute,” Alaric’s brother–Nolan, I think–scoffed.

Alaric ignored him, looking up at me instead. “He’s not an intruder. He’s a damn pest.” And then his eyes shifted to the nearby mess on the floor, his phone included.

Fuck, I probably broke it. He continued. “And you had nine–one–one on the dial already. Smart.”

Smart.

One praise word from Alaric’s mouth and I was already melting and-

“Ahh!” I hissed sharply as he applied antiseptic to the cut.

“Sorry,” he murmured.

Another drowsy scoff from Nolan.

“Sorry?” he echoed. “Oh, mother is going to fucking love this.”

Alaric tensed, looking away from me.

And then–as if something had snapped inside him, he sprang to his feet.

And then he charged toward his brother.

“Alaric-“I started, but he didn’t stop moving.

I turned on the counter just in time to see him pull his brother up from the floor and land a punch on his face so hard that I could hear bones crack.

Not Alaric’s bones.

Nolan’s.