Chapter 1 Betrothed

Magnum

An engagement party. This was the reason my brother gave when he insisted I meet him in Los Angeles tonight.

The text simply said he was getting married and wanted me to attend a party to celebrate his coming nuptials.

Well, here I was.

Where the hell was he?

I'd just returned from a hostage rescue that went to shit in Guatemala, and I needed to unpack and clean up, but he'd said it was urgent. I dropped everything to be here for him because that was what I always did.

Now, I was standing in the lobby of the Golden Dragon restaurant in Chinatown and he hadn't shown, which was what he always did.

The place wasn't that busy considering it was dinnertime. The unmistakable smell of burnt grease hung heavy in the air. My attention was drawn to the cute hostess who'd been stealing glances at me. Tight little red dress, tits high and round, sexy necklace dropping down between them. My type. Might as well work my magic on her while I was waiting for Gavin to show up.

I walked up to her podium where she held a dry erase marker over a laminated map of the tables. Her head tipped back and her mouth dropped open when she saw me up close. Her eyes glazed and she licked her lower lip. "Oh my."

Yeah, babe. I get that a lot.

Finally, she gained her composure. "Just one tonight? "

I caught her gaze and held it. "No. I'm waiting for my party."

She snapped her mouth closed, popped out a hip, and plastered on a vixen smile. "What's your name, honey? I'll let you know when they get here." Her voice was much higher and sweeter now.

"Beaumont."

She bent forward and scribbled down Bomount on her little map.

Excellent. My kinda girl. Couldn't spell for shit.

Her lips smacked like she was suddenly chewing gum. "You like dim sum?"

Oh yeah, too easy. Maybe my trip to LA wasn't such a waste of time. "Is that what you're serving?" I stepped forward and invaded her space, towering over her tiny wooden podium.

She held her ground and her breath hitched. "I'm offering whatever you're taking."

Way too easy. "What time you get off?"

"I'm off at nine." She smacked her imaginary gum harder.

I nodded but didn't promise her a thing. I had no idea where I'd be three hours from now, and I was already getting tired of her after just a few words. But she looked like a good lay so maybe I'd find a way to be back here when she got off. Maybe not.

She kept eye-fucking me the whole time I was waiting for my brother. Thank God, he finally showed.

Or at least it looked like him. He'd cleaned up. Short hair, no beard, suit with a bow tie, and polished shoes .

I was laughing as he walked up to me. "What the hell happened to you, man?" We hugged and I patted him on the back. I'd never seen Gavin in anything other than oversized jerseys and jeans hanging off his ass. His hair was always full afro or braided and he rarely shaved.

"A man can't look nice?"

"You look completely different."

"A good woman will do that."

He moved aside and I saw her. His woman. A petite Asian girl, dark hair pulled back, a black and white argyle sweater with a white dress shirt underneath, small string of pearls beneath the sharp points of the collar, black slacks with a crease in the front, white socks, and penny loafers.

"This is Wren." Gavin beamed, so proud of his girl. She looked barely legal, sweet and innocent, and completely not his type at all. "This is my big brother Antoinne." His smile and voice dripped with smarmy sarcasm.

"Magnum." I corrected him, but he knew what he was doing.

"Sorry. Magnum."

We'd had our fights over the years, but I was still his blood, so he'd better not be disrespecting me in front of his girl. She was clearly in over her head with a criminal like Gavin. What was her angle? What could she possibly want from him? Dude was broke and soulless.

"Sylvie and Julian coming?" I asked my brother, ignoring Wren's outstretched hand.

"No. Too short notice." He glanced down at my snub of his girl's hand and frowned at it.

He didn't invite the other siblings? Only me ?

"Any of your friends coming?"

"Nope."

"Her family?"

She looked away, and he wrapped an arm over her shoulders.

"No," he said with a tone telling me to back off. Right. That meant they didn't have the approval of her parents.

"So I'm the guest of honor at your engagement party?"

He'd duped me? Pretended it was a family gathering and it was just me. I hated being duped. I hated being lied to. Everyone was a fucking liar. Was it so hard to just be honest and tell the truth?

"Wren is the guest of honor. I wanted you to meet her. Now stop being rude and say hello to her."

"Hello," I quipped and turned back to the hostess.

She'd been eagerly watching the whole exchange. Her smile faltered when she saw my scowl, but she recovered.

"Table for three," I said.

"Sure thing. Follow me." She walked out into the main dining room, swinging her hips as she headed toward the crowded center where most of the patrons were sitting.

"That one." I pointed to an empty table in the corner by a ground-level patio. Privacy with an exit if I needed it.

We took seats and the hostess left the menus. "Your server will be with you shortly." She sashayed away with her little attitude in check.

Wren reached for her napkin and opened it in a practiced way before placing it in her lap. She was fancy. High society. Again, what the hell did she want with Gavin? "You pregnant?" I asked her .

Her eyes bugged out at the same time Gavin scolded me. "Mag!"

"Is she pregnant? Tell me the truth."

"No. Alright? Now chill. I want us to be a family."

Ouch. Gavin nailed a blow right through the heart. We didn't have much, but we had each other. I always told him I was his family, his only blood brother besides Julian. He wanted to bring this girl into the Beaumont Clan, and she deserved a fair chance from me.

"Fine. What do you do, Wren?" I rested my forearms on the table and tried to relax my very tense fingers that would not uncurl.

"I work at a bakery," she said softly, head tilted slightly down, eyes barely looking at me. Very submissive.

"A bakery? Like birthday cakes and shit?" Gavin brought a sweet fancy girl who sold cookies to join our family? Our dysfunctional non-existent trashy psychotic slightly illicit family?

"More like Asian treats." She mistook my silence for confusion and continued to explain it to me. "Buns, cookies, pastries, specialty breads. Things like that." She grinned and nodded. "What do you do?"

"I blow shit up." It was true. My pants still had debris on them from the distraction discharge we'd set off during the mission earlier in the day.

Her brows drew together. "Oh, do you work for the studios?"

It took me a second to process her meaning. I'd forgotten we were so close to Hollywood and the movie industry. I knew a few team guys who worked in the movies, but I liked the real stuff. No cosplay for me.

"Mag was a Navy SEAL," Gavin blurted out loudly. "Retired before the pension kicked in for some unknown reason."

Wren's eyes blew wide and she stared at me like I was trying to rob her.

"Jesus, Gav." He knew he wasn't supposed to talk about the details of my military service. All of it was completely confidential.

He leaned toward me and used a fake quiet voice that she could totally hear. "I'm marrying her. She's gonna find out."

I looked to the ceiling. God help me get through this.

"Now, he's a private commando for hire," he said confidently to Wren.

Wren smiled and nodded, but I could see she wasn't following along.

"That's enough." I growled. My job was dangerous and extremely sensitive. He was pushing too many boundaries all at once. My fists clenched, and I was very close to punching my brother in the face at his own engagement party.

Luckily, a waiter appeared and Gavin distracted me by ordering like a pimp, a full spread including lobster noodles and Peking duck. Then he asked what their best liquor for toasting was and ordered a round of top-shelf Baijiu.

Wren watched him the whole time with adoring eyes. What a faker she was. There was no way she found Gavin's little display of recklessly ordering too much food attractive .

The chow was good and we ate silently. Wren wasn't a chatty bird. At least she had that going for her. Gavin was still a gabber like he always was, telling stories about us as kids, most of them untrue.

We didn't have fun times. We were too poor, too busy trying to survive. We had a trauma bond, but that didn't translate well to a girl wearing pearls and loafers, so he embellished. The guy lied as easy as he breathed.

She smiled and nodded at his tall tales, dabbing the duck sauce from the corners of her lips. Was this girl just gullible as hell? She didn't doubt anything Gavin said? The dude was a poor street thug from the bayou, not the highballer he was pretending to be.

"What do you like to do for fun, Wren?" I asked, my tone a little too accusing.

"Oh, I guess I like to feed the birds." She didn't seem sure of her answer.

"I fucking hate birds."

Her face froze in shock and she turned back to her plate. Couldn't handle cuss words and she was with Gavin? They could not be more mismatched.

By the time dinner was over, I'd had enough of their little show. "Let's talk outside," I said to my brother.

"I was going to make a toast." He lifted the small but expensive tumbler of booze he'd ordered.

"After we talk." I stood up and made it clear with my glare he would be following me.

"Fine. I'll be right back, sweetheart." He pressed a chaste kiss on her cheek, and bile rose in my throat. I'd only seen Gavin fucking girls on couches, ass naked in the air. Never seen him even kiss a woman anywhere near her face.

This whole evening was a huge farce.