ONE HUNDRED AND SIX

ONE HUNDRED AND SIX
DRAKE’S POV
I slammed the office door shut behind me, the wood rattling in its frame as I stormed down the corridor. My hands were balled into fists, my jaw tight enough to crack bone.
The audacity. The sheer fucking audacity of Aiden to walk into my office, demand anything of me, and then have the nerve to stand there as though he were my equal. My brother had always been a thorn in my side, but lately… lately he was becoming an obsession.
Because everything……everything…..always came back to Isabel.
It was always Isabel this, Isabel that. It was all so fucking annoying.
I hated how her name circled through my mind like a curse. I hated how her laugh lingered in my memory, how her scent clung to my clothes long after she was gone, how the taste of her lips had branded itself into me like fire I couldn’t extinguish, how I couldn’t forget how she melted in my arms all through the night.
And I hated……truly fucking hated……that Aiden was tangled in this now.
I moved faster, my boots echoing against the polished floor, my body vibrating with fury. Every step I took replayed her face from our steamy night together, flushed and open beneath me, the sounds she made when she came apart in my arms. I wasn’t supposed to want her this much. She was supposed to be a tool, a temporary solution, a distraction from the decay of duty and the weight of my daughter’s loathing.
But the truth gnawed at me in ways I refused to admit: Isabel had carved her way under my skin. And no matter how many times I tried to bury it, it was there.
I threw open the doors leading outside, desperate for air……only to stop dead in my tracks.
There they were.
Aiden’s hands on her. Isabel in his arms. Their mouths fused together in a kiss so intense it twisted something in my chest until I could barely breathe.
For a moment, I was paralyzed.
The image seared itself into me: Aiden’s fingers tangled in her hair, Isabel clinging to him like he was her anchor. Their bodies pressed so close there was no space between them.
Something inside me snapped.
My heart slammed against my ribs in a brutal rhythm, and the roar that ripped through me shook the walls of the courtyard.
‘WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!!!!’
They tore apart instantly, Isabel gasping, her face flushed and guilty, Aiden smirking like a fucking devil.
I stalked forward, every muscle coiled, my fury a living beast clawing its way out of me. My eyes locked on Isabel first her wide, frightened gaze, the way her lips were still swollen, her chest heaving as though she hadn’t had enough air since his mouth left hers.
My throat burned. Betrayal surged through me so sharp it nearly dropped me to my knees.
Why? Why the fuck did it matter so much? Why did it feel like I had been punched in the gut? She wasn’t mine. Not really. Not beyond the twisted arrangement we had.
So why did it feel like she had ripped my heart out by letting him touch her?
Was I falling for her? Or was it simply the unbearable reality that she wanted my brother and he wanted her too?
Aiden’s voice cut through the storm of my thoughts, cool and taunting. ‘You don’t look too happy to see us, brother.’
I turned my glare on him, my teeth bared. ‘You dare open your filthy mouth to speak?!!!’ I thundered.
‘I do dare Drake. I know she is yours and all, but you don’t seem to be into her so I’m only trying to get her attention’ he shot back smoothly, stepping in front of Isabel protectively, as though she needed him to shield her from me. ‘She deserves more Drake and you know that.’
‘More you say?’ I growled, my voice low and lethal. ‘From you?’
His smirk widened. ‘At least I can give her what you can’t. Attention. Care. Choice and most importantly, Freedom.  He tilted his head toward Isabel, who looked like she wanted the ground to swallow her whole. ‘And clearly, she doesn’t seem to mind.’
My vision went red. ‘You think this is a game, Aiden? You think you can defile what belongs to me with your filthiness and get away with it.’
‘Why are you suddenly acting like you care Drake?’ Isabel finally burst out.
Her words sliced deeper than my brother’s smirk ever could. For a second, I faltered, my rage colliding with something rawer, darker, lodged in my chest.
I wanted to tell her no. I wanted to tell her she was more, that she was the only one who made me forget the endless shadows pressing down on me. But the words turned to ash on my tongue.
So instead, I looked at her……her trembling lips, her flushed cheeks, the way her eyes begged me for something I couldn’t give…..and then back at my brother.
‘You think this proves anything?’ I hissed. ‘That because you stole a kiss, you have won her?’ I asked Aiden.
Aiden chuckled, cocky as hell. ‘Oh, it wasn’t just a kiss, Drake. You saw it. She responded to me. She wanted it.’ His eyes glittered with malice. ‘That’s more than I can say for what she feels when she’s with you.’
The words detonated inside me.
Isabel gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. ‘Aiden, what are you…..Stop it.’
But it was too late.
I lunged at him, grabbing his collar, slamming him against the stone pillar so hard the crack echoed across the courtyard. ‘Say that again, I dare you to repeat that sentence you coward’ I snarled, my face inches from his, my hand tightening like I could crush the life out of him.
Aiden didn’t flinch. He leaned closer, his grin infuriatingly calm. “She’ll never love you, brother. Not the way she could love me.”
Rage roared so loud in my ears I almost didn’t hear Isabel’s choked sob.
‘Please Stop it! Both of you! Please stop’ she cried, her voice breaking as tears streamed down her cheeks.
Her pain sliced through me, pulling me back from the brink. My grip loosened, though every instinct screamed at me to finish it, to wipe that smug smile off Aiden’s face permanently.
But instead, I shoved him away, chest heaving, and turned my glare back to Isabel.
She stood frozen, trembling, her hands clasped against her chest like she was trying to hold herself together. She didn’t look at me, not really. And that…..the fact that she couldn’t even meet my eyes….hurt worse than any knife.
I wanted to demand an answer. I wanted to ask her if what I saw in that kiss was real. If she had already chosen him over me.
But all I managed, my voice rough with fury and something far too close to heartbreak, was:
‘This isn’t over.’
Then I turned on my heel and stormed back inside before either of them could see the cracks threatening to split me apart.