Chapter 22: Family Ties
Moana

“Ahem.”

Ethan and I jerked our heads up from the portfolio of his childhood drawings, our train of conversation now broken, to see none other than Edrick standing in the doorway — and he didn’t look happy.

“Oh, hello,” I said, feeling a bit nervous under the billionaire’s strangely disapproving stare. “Ethan was just showing me some of his work.”

Without a word, Edrick slowly walked into the studio. His shoes clicked loudly on the concrete floor, echoing through the room’s tall ceilings. For several long moments, the Alpha billionaire slowly circled the studio and looked at all of the art with his hands in his pants pockets. I noticed that he wasn’t looking around with wonder, like I had when Ethan first turned on the light, but rather with an almost disgusted look on his face. He almost seemed repulsed by the art, which was surprising considering the fact that he had plenty of expensive artwork hanging in both his mansion in the mountains and his city penthouse.

Finally, Edrick turned to face me and slowly walked up to where Ethan and I stood, stopping in front of me. He hardly paid any mind to Ethan, as though his brother wasn’t even there.

“Ella is looking for you,” he said to me in a deep, irritated voice. “You should be with her.”

“I’m sorry,” I replied, feeling even more nervous as the Alpha billionaire towered over me, looking down at me with an aggravated look on his handsome face. “I thought she was with her grandmother.”

“She is,” Edrick said. His gaze finally slid over to Ethan. There was something dark about the way he looked at his own brother, as if he didn’t trust him. Meanwhile, Ethan only looked back at Edrick with an almost amused sparkle in his eyes, as if he had been experiencing this behavior from his brother for a long time already.

“Hello to you too, big brother,” Ethan said.

and it involuntarily made me take a step backwards. “I’ll go back to Ella, now,” I said, heading nervously for the door. “Thank

Our eyes lingered on each other for a moment before I glanced over at Edrick, who seemed to look at me with a hint

you,” Edrick suddenly

before the door closed was Ethan’s face. He was smiling, almost

being a bit rough with me and his hard

asked, feeling my hands curl into fists at my sides. “I don’t

down at the floor for a few moments, then back up at me. “You shouldn’t be so trusting of him. He’s not who

“He’s your brother–”

not my

ceiling, I was now realizing, was made of patterned

said anything else, he turned on his heel and headed toward the

want you to leave my side for the

before jogging to catch up with Edrick. We briskly descended the stairs back to

eyes on me. The music had come to a bit of a lull by the time we entered, while the guests milled about and sipped their drinks. I felt my face flush hot as I crossed the room right next to Edrick, wondering if he noticed that his family friends and cousins were staring at us together. If he did

smiling eyes flickered over to me, as well as Ella’s, who

himself up out of his chair and

wrist was a delicate silver bracelet with

pretty,”

charm bracelet,” Verona chimed in. “As Ella gets older, she can

hand. “Verona loves to spoil Ella,” she said. Her face was the perfect picture of sweetness, but I could sense a hint

is my only granddaughter, after all,” Verona replied,

her mouth to speak, but Edrick suddenly returned. He had a sour look on his face as he stood behind

head and

seemed he didn’t want to answer, but also partially because the orchestra began to play again. I

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