Chapter 10

Ten

Stella

M urder simmers in the depths of Emilio's eyes. His chest heaves with pent up need to exact revenge on my behalf.

I don't know what to say or do about that. No one except my sister has ever felt angry on my behalf. I take that back. Detective Lafleur stepped in when Luna and I had no one to turn to when William nearly killed me.

I need space, silence and another hot shower would be amazing. Anything to help me regain my balance and find the words I need to tell the men that what happened between us last night is all we can have.

But why? Is all I hear echoed back to me when I listen to the reasoning going off in my head.

"We need to talk," I say before I lose all my bravado and give in to what I really want.

Behind Emilio, Adrian and Stefan rise from the bed. They woke up minutes ago but didn't move to join us by the window.

I hold my hands out, palms up. Without dropping their gaze from mine, they stand and join us, pulling me into their warmth. "You guys can lower your guard. He's not in this room with us. I'm safe here and there's no one to kill." I look pointedly at Emilio who doesn't show an ounce of remorse for wanting blood for the sins committed against me.

I move to the edge of the bed and work on closing the buttons on my shirt before I throw all my better ideas of leaving out the window and ask them to join me in taking it off.

Heat from their gazes track every single move I make as I gather my words. I have to be careful of how much information I give so they don't go hunting on their own. Something tells me these three have no problem putting bodies in the ground.

"Tonight was the perfect night." I look between all of them. "Thank you. You don't know how hard it was for me to show up here even with my sister pushing me to get out of the house and away from the computer."

"Coming to Club Sin was her idea?" Adrian takes the space on my left and Stefan lowers his large, heavy frame onto the bed on my right. That leaves Emilio to kneel in front of me. None of them have a stitch of clothing on which makes it nearly impossible to focus. Adrian takes one hand and Stefan the other. Both of them stroke the pad of their thumbs over the backs of my hands, calming my racing heart. With just a simple touch my thoughts center and I don't feel like running back to my apartment and shutting myself away from the world for the first time in a long while.

"She met her husbands here about a year ago." I let out a soft laugh. "She had a whole room set up for me with other dates." I look pointedly at Emilio.

"But we rescued her from a terrible night."

I nod, without going into detail. If they knew William was in the same building as us I'm not sure what kind of chaos would ensue. Instead I stick to a form of the truth.. "You did."

My treacherous stomach picks that moment to growl. Having a run-in with my crazy ex and having the best orgasms in my life with total strangers leaves me hungry for more than wild sex.

I flush from head to toe. "Ugh. Sorry." I slap a hand over my midriff. "Nothing like trying to pour your heart out and have your stomach rumble."

"That's something we can fix." Emilio rises and kisses me before tossing everyone their clothes.

When I go to give Adrian his shirt back and slip into my dress, he refuses.

"I can use my jacket." His lips are soft against mine. "I love seeing you wear something of mine."

"Okay, I guess we have a little bit more time." I'm not ready to leave them just yet so I don't put up any arguments.

All the men dress in record time. Adrian takes my hand and pulls me into his arms. I let out a soft laugh of surprise.

"Let's get breakfast and then we need talk."

His tone is light, but his words weigh with worry.

Food sounds nice. It's easier to deliver bad news on a full stomach rather than an empty one.

Half an hour later I have a stack of blueberry pancakes, syrup, bacon and freshly squeezed orange juice in front of me. Sweet God in heaven. It's been forever since I've had enough of an appetite to eat more than a few bites here and there. The sickness and then what happened with William stripped me of a lot of favorites for a long time.

Suddenly I feel ravenous. With all this delicious food in front of me, I can't take my eyes off the way Stefan rocks a "Kiss the Cook" apron.

"I thought you meant we would order room service. I did not know you would cook for me. Thank you. I guess it is pretty handy living a few floors below a sex club."

Stefan shakes his spatula at me as if to punctuate his next words. "Not for the reasons you may think. We hardly visit Club Sin and when we do, it's normally for drinks." He pauses, raising a sharp brow at me. "I can see the hurt in your eyes, Stella. Believe me when I say, yes we have shared lovers. I won't lie. None of us will. But you are the first we've brought into our home."

Damn. Am I that transparent? What is crazier is the man caught the flash of jealousy before I could erase it from my face. Thinking about them visiting the sex club and spending time with other women makes me see red. Which is crazy. I have no claim over these men. But my heart doesn't seem to understand the hard facts my brain wants to feed it.

"Thank you." I think. I'm not ready to talk about the pricing pain stabbing at my heart right now so I focus on my surroundings.

Where everything is dark in the club, their apartment is nothing but bright open space. Light filtering through the massive windows that make up the entire apartment.

"You're an amazing cook and sharing your home is the perfect way to end a special evening," I add. The level of gratitude I have for their devotion to sating my many hungers is hard to put into words. Instead of speaking, I focus on clearing my entire plate of food in a show of appreciation.

Adrian takes my hand and rubs the pad of his thumb over the back of my knuckles. "You're welcome, little flower."

Emilio serves both of his brothers plates before making one for himself. All three take seats at the kitchen island and we watch the sun rise through the massive windows that take up the entire wall beyond the kitchen.

Golds, pinks and bursts of yellow filter through the pristine glass leaving me in awe of not only the company, but nature's quiet beauty.

"On clear mornings like these, my dad would take me to the tallest building in the city once a month and we would drink hot cocoa in the winter while we watched the sunrise. In the summers it was one of those cherry slushies from the corner store. A secret we never told mom about. I suspect she knew, but she never asked why I always came home with red lips before ten in the morning. I haven't thought about that in a long time."

"You loved your parents." Emilio pushes his plate away and turns his attention to me. Adrian settles his hand on my bare thigh on my other side. I'm still dressed in nothing but his button-down shirt so his palm is warm against my skin.

"I did."

"They've passed?" Stefan gathers our plates and places them in the sink.

I nod. "It's just me and my sister now."

Emilio drags my stool into his personal space and peels the collar of my borrowed shirt to the side. His lips trail a hot path over the slope over my neck. "I'm sorry, little flower. But you're not alone anymore. You have us now, too."

I inhale softly and tilt my head, pressing my forehead against his.

"I really wish it was that simple."

Adrian moves closer from my left and both men's heat wraps me in a cocoon of warmth. From across the kitchen island, Stefan reaches for my hand and curls his fingers around mine.

Blue meets green.

"My brother is right. You never have to worry again. Let us take care of you."

His voice is low and raspy.

The look in his eyes is one of hope.

"Are you three family?" They have very similar muscular builds and jawlines. Even their dark hair color makes it easy to see them as brothers.

At first I'm shocked by the palpable connection pulsating just beneath the surface between all of us. It is not merely lust for another person that I feel shimmering between us like it runs off our energy alone. It's deeper.

I tuck in closer to Emilio and take Adrian's hand with my free one.

Adrian looks to Emilio and then Stefan. "We are not brothers by blood. Only by choice. We've waited a long time to meet someone who we all connect with. And we believe that is you, Stella."

The part of me unfamiliar with giving others my trust says I should bite my tongue and feed them lies until I can get away. I for damn sure should not be sitting between them wondering what could have been if I had found them first, instead of William.

They believe we have a chance at something beyond a one-night stand. They will not let me out of their lives without an explanation. Telling lies and hiding the truth of what I've gone through doesn't serve anyone.

"You three must have trusted each other pretty early on in your relationship."

Emilio tips my chin his way as he answers me. "It was instant, yes."

"You were lucky. For me it didn't turn out so well when I tried that. It's nice to see that isn't true for everyone." I look at each of them and let them see I truly mean my words.

"What's on your mind, little flower?" Stefan takes in my somber expression and the way my hand grips his.

"Oh. Sorry."

"Don't be. Talk to us." He doesn't let me release his hand. Instead, he locks our fingers together.

He shares a look with Adrian and Emilio that says I've got their undivided attention.

"My father allowed very few people into our little sphere. He kept nearly everyone away. It was just my mom, my sister, me and him against the world."

Nostalgia creeps in for the family we once had.

"When he passed I was so hungry for any kind of connection with another human being not in our tiny bubble. I understood why he did it, but I was also very lonely. I was foolish. I didn' think I just acted. Men my father worked with stopped by the house often to check in on us for a while after the funeral. William was one of them. A couple of stolen kisses and off I went running into the arms of the first person who told me they loved me. I was in pain with the death of my father and I couldn't see clearly. He was nice and I wanted someone to need me."

"We know that pain." Adrian splays his hand wide over my back and rubs up and down my spine in a soothing way that has my muscles relax.

My sniffles aren't sexy by any means but they don't look at me any differently than they had back at the elevator. "It's blinding, isn't it?"

Emilio reaches for a silver case from the suit jacket he tossed on a nearby tool when we came in. He pulls a cigarette out and brings it to his lips. "It is, baby. What happened with this William character? Does he have a last name?" He pulls a lighter out of his pocket and lights up, the very epitome of relaxed. But I hear the tension in his words and I know he's out for blood.

For a moment, I get caught in the way his left eye shutters closed a fraction to block out the spiral of smoke climbing toward the ceiling.

"Everything went to hell pretty quickly, as you can imagine. I couldn't see the danger I put myself in. My father was a wise man, but he didn't prepare me or my sister for the world beyond his protection." I shrug at a loss of words for a moment. When I find them again, tears are there waiting, too.

I brush them away as they fall. "He thought he would live forever."

Adrian pulls me into his arms. He tucks me under his chin with a gentle hand on the back of my head.

"Go on, little flower. Tell us everything. You're safe here."

I hold nothing back. I spill my heart all over them and no one balks, brushes me away or tells me how disgusting I am.

"William promised to show me the world. He took me on expensive dates, lavished me with jewels and trips to far-off places I only dreamed about visiting. At first he kept his word to protect me. He used words like mine , forever and that I was his, now and always. I felt special. I never asked him how he made his money and he never asked me for anything I wasn't willing to give. And unlike the few superficial boyfriends I had in highschool, he never asked me to introduce him to my father. I thought he wanted me for who I was."

I let out a huff of humor I don't really feel. "William was patient with me on many levels. I mean, he never forced me into bed with him. That is obvious given my V-card status. It wasn't until the night he tried to kill me I realized the respect I thought he had for me was a farce. He didn't love me. I was nothing more than a trophy on his arm because of who my father was."

Adrian takes my chin in hand and brings my gaze to his. God, this man smells like fresh sunlight on a cold winter day. Cool, crisp, and warm at the same time. Dark hair tumbles over his forehead and the stubble along his chin lends an air of danger to him that makes me feel safe in his arms.

Adrian wipes at a tear. "Who was your father, Stella?"

"I doubt you would know him. He kept to himself and never let outsiders get too close. He wouldn't even let his closest friends share time with his family. The joke's on him though, because my sister is marrying all three of his mentees in a few months."

"Stella?" Emilio takes a long drag on his cigarette. "Your father's name, little flower?"

There's no way men like Emilio, Adrian and Stefan run in the same criminal circles as my father. My father was a gentleman thief. I consider their scarred knuckles and the tattoos. If anything, they are a different breed of criminal. "Vincent Moone."

Silence falls over us. By the wave of recognition washing over their tight expressions, it might be safe to say I'm wrong. "How did you know my father?"

"He was a friend of my father's back in the day." Adrian considers me for a long moment before adding, "Tell us more about the man who hurt you. Willam. What's his last name?"

I bite into my bottom lip. My hands find the hem of the shirt Adrian pulled on when we arrived at their apartment. I keep my fingers busy and my mouth moving. If I stop, I might never get it all out.

My heart hurts, but I push on. "About three weeks after we buried my father, I was left alone in William's office. He took a call and stepped out. Curiosity got the best of me when I found a black ledger on his desk. Worst decision of my life to open it." My head falls back and I watch the smoke from Emilio's cigarette mingle among the hanging lights of their kitchen. "My insides turned to solid ice at what I found written on those pages."

I turn watery eyes to Adrian and then to Stefan. Emilio grips my hand and I accept the strength he feeds through our connection.

"What did you read, Stella?"

Adrian's voice is soft, in control and what I need to hear in order to keep going.

"William is more than a fancy lawyer who else crooked people get out of legal binds. He didn't get all his millions of dollars from winning cases. He was helping a client move product for months. Months! Human product. I was dating a man who earned profits from trafficking women." My stomach churns. Maybe those pancakes were a bad idea after all.

Stings of curses leave the men's lips.

Bile rises in the back of my throat at the memory of accepting gifts from him. The trips.

"I was stupid enough——arrogant enough——to think I could confront him about my discovery. So, so stupid." I lift the edges of my shirt to reveal the scar. "Monsters are never the ugly ones hiding in the darkness. They are the ones right in front of you wearing the beautiful clothes and making promises they never intend to keep. ‘Be careful of the handsome men with the charisma of a charmed snake, for they are the ones who poison beautiful girls'. My mother's warning went unheeded and I nearly paid the ultimate price."

Adrian's arms wrap around me again, and Emilio is right there too.

I hold up my hand and push them away. "I need a minute, please." I step out of their arms and leave the bar stool between them. I hate leaving behind their warmth, but I can't let them touch me as I tell them this next part or I won't make it through.

Three sets of concerned eyes track my movements as I put several steps between me and them. Cool marble against the bottoms of my feet help ground me so I can focus.

"The amount of anger he felt toward me is a memory I will never forget." I wrap my fingers around my throat. My eyes slam shut, but the memories refuse to disperse.

"A rage so thick and heavy came out of him that night. Trust me when I say it nearly suffocated me. I don't know why, but I froze up and didn't hear him coming back to the office until he was on top of me with his hands around my throat."

Tears stream down my face. All three men rise, but I hold a hand up for them to let me finish.

Dark brown eyes land on me. There is so much pain behind those thick black lashes I feel it to the core of my being.

"It's okay. I can do this. Please. You have to understand why I can't stay. All three of you are who I wish I could have known instead of the asshole I meet. But that's not what happened. William had every intention of killing me that night and dropping me in the middle of the ocean. All it would have taken was a little money and a small space on the next cargo ship he procured for his client."

I hate how weak I am. My chest heaves with the amount of fury coursing through me. All I want to do is give in to the pain and let it consume me.

"I miss the person I used to be. Now, I hide in my apartment and write books about the adventures I wish I could live."

Getting those words out lessens the tight bands around my heart.

"Stella, breathe, baby." Having an apartment with an open floor plan makes moving around easy. Only downfall is there is nowhere to run or hide when Stefan ignores my plea for him to leave me be.

He crosses the room and invades my personal space. His arms come around me and I bury my face in the crook of his neck as he lifts me into his strong arms. My legs come around him and I settle over his lap when he sinks into the nearby couch cushions. Adrian and Emilio join us. They hold my hands as Stefan places his palms over my bare thighs. The feeling of being grounded is instant. Instead of falling into a heap of tears, I focus on the way their touch soothes my nerves.

I sit back and tell them the rest. "I don't know how my sister knew to check on me that night. But she found me nearing my end from the amount of blood I lost and she is the only reason I am alive today."

Emilio holds my gaze. Flickers of sunlight feather over light strands of silver. His hair is shuffled around and strands have fallen over his forehead. It conflicts with the tight compression of his lips and the lines forming along the edges of his eyes. He looks relaxed and stressed out at the same time. I didn't notice the silver last night, but in the morning light I can appreciate how it lends to his handsome features.

I look at each of them and take note of the lines across Stefan's forehead. The scar through his lips. To me, it only makes him appear more handsome. He always looks like he's thinking about something. His age agrees with him. And Adrian. I love the way his gaze never misses a detail. Silver brushes along his temples and in the stubble on his chin lends. When his eyes are on me, I feel seen. Like he can read the words written on my soul and I can never hide from him.

"Stella." Adrian coaxes softly, holding my gaze fondly. "What are you afraid of telling us?"

"I can't have children. When I was rushed to the hospital, the doctors tried everything they could to repair the damage but they couldn't. You know the irony in all this? It's because of William's assault on me that they found that I had stage one breast cancer."

I don't fight to tears as they fall down my cheeks.

"My sister and I were so focused on our mother who was sick at the time we never thought we were in danger."

Everyone is silent one second and then there's a wave of warmth and love rushing at me from all sides.

Arms, kisses and sweet words I didn't know I needed to hear fill me with renewed strength.

Emilio palms the back of my head, and he brings me in to rest our foreheads together. "Tell your daddies who the bad guy is, Stella. He'll never be able to touch you again."

My stomach flips at the way he uses daddies for me and against me.

"Daddies?" I ask, shuddering.

I look at Adrian whose eyes darken. "Tell us, little flower," he urges with a low timbre to his voice that does things to my core.

Stefan's hand runs the length of my back before settling in the middle. He fists my shirt, and he pulls me in until our lips are only whisper apart. "Tell us, and your daddies will reward you, baby."

Everything these men do to me helps all the bad memories fade. But what really makes my panties grow damp is the way each of them uses ‘daddy' on me.

Fuckkkk.

Emilio chuckles deeply, a sound that sends a rush of goosebumps over my skin.

The corner of Stefan's mouth tilts up and there's an unabashed glimmer in his pretty eyes. I'm pretty certain he just discovered a weakness he can use on me from now until the end of time because I give him exactly what he asks for with only a sigh.

"William Allen Brigh." I swallow back the bitterness of the name.

All three men share a look that has chills running from the base of my spine to the top of my head. "William Brigh as in Hawthorne and Brigh law firm?"

Disbelief is written all over their faces.

Mine too, probably. Because how freaking small can this world be for them to know that?

"You know him?" Wads of sour dread drop into my churning stomach. Why can't I meet just one person on this planet who doesn't have a connection to my filthy ex?

All of them suddenly look very pissed off at something over my left shoulder.

"Small world, isn't it, Stella Moone?" My addled brain agrees, oddly enough and then someone hits fast-forward on the next five minutes of my life.

My eyes widen with surprise. I stiffen at the sound of the familiar voice. My blood turns to liquid ice.

Arms come around me and I'm being moved. But not quickly enough.

The flash of a muzzle from my left causes my heart to stop. Blood blooms over my right shoulder to soak my borrowed shirt, leaving me breathless.