Chapter 33 Their maker
ALEXANDER POV
"What the fuck is happening, Alex?" Sebastian hissed, leaning into my space the moment we were out of earshot of the rest of the room.
"Hello to you too, friend," I answered, leaning back and shoving my hands into my pockets with practiced nonchalance.
"That's your wife? Where the fuck did she come from? What sort of machine did you use to build a replica of Anastasia? How much blood did you have to shed to bring a ghost back to life?"
Oh fucking fuck. This was going to be long.
"Calm the fuck down. I didn't build shit. She's a doppelgänger." | shrugged as if I were talking about a business acquisition rather than a miracle of biology.
Sebastian's face wrinkled, looking at me like l'd finally lost my marbles. "A what?"
"A doppelgänger. When two people look exactly the same despite having no blood relation. Do you get it now, or do I need to set up a class and draw you a diagram?"
"Is that even a thing? What the hell is going on in that screwed-up head of yours? Where did you even find her?"
Too many fucking questions. I should have sent him a PDF of the history and saved my breath.
"Liam met her first. And she happened to look like my wife. For fuck's sake, stop interrogating me. Next time remind me not to send you an invite."
I let my eyes wander around the ballroom.
They found Anas-- No. They found Aurora immediately.
She was sitting with Viviane, a glass of vodka in her hand. I couldn’t help but stare at her. It was so fucking hard existing around her these days. Every time she was near my brain seemed to stop working and my senses got tied to my cock. She was so fucking tempting. I wanted to rip her cunt apart and fuck her senselessly until she forgot every other person who had ever touched her.
Fuck my life.
I shouldn’t think about the knockoff that way. But it was hard not to when I could see Anastasia slowly breaking through her more every day.
"You married a girl just because she has Ana's face," Sebastian's voice softened, losing its edge of anger for one of pity. "What do you have against her, Alex? Why drag her into this?"
"Trust me," I smirked, thinking of the debt her family owed and the way she looked at me with those wide, hazel eyes. "I have enough to keep her for life."
"You're risking everything," Sebastian warned.
"Some of the Brotherhood allies are in that room. You invited the wolves into your house yourself. What if they come for you? Or worse... what if they kill her too? Is it worth risking another life? Is Anastasia's absence stinging so hard that you don't mind everyone around you getting hurt?"
He had a point. I was playing a dangerous game with the Shadow Syndicates and the Brotherhood. I was the one who held their secrets, their offshore accounts, their black-market routes and tonight, I had paraded their greatest sin right in front of them. Sooner or later, they would retaliate. But sadly I didn't give two shits about them.
“I can’t imagine a world without Ana in it,” I said. “Maybe that’s why I took her doppelgänger. Maybe my wife is in there somewhere. Maybe miracles do happen.”
"You're not a man of false hope, Alex. Since when do you believe in miracles?"
"Since I met her." My eyes trailed back to my wife.
"Since I met Aurora."
Sebastian let out a long sigh, shaking his head.
"So... you like her?"
What an absurd question. I only liked Anastasia.
"She's beautiful, but no." I wouldn't have taken a second glance at her if my wife were still breathing.
“I doubt that,” Sebastian said. “You were looking at her with the same eyes you look at Anastasia.”
A bad take. A very absurd one.
“Maybe because she has the same face as my wife,” I said flatly.
Sebastian gave me a long, pinned look.
"Doppelgänger.." he repeated the word as if testing its weight.
"what?"
"She's a spitting image, Alex. If I didn't know better, l'd swear she was the one."
"It's called a doppelgänger for a reason. Try to keep up." Sometimes I wondered how Sebastian managed to rule boardrooms when he couldn't grasp a simple concept of fate.
"This 'doppelgänger' thing is going to cause you a mountain of problems," Sebastian noted, counting on his fingers. “One: Anastasia’s parents thought she was their daughter tonight. They fucking hate you. You've managed to reopen their wounds tonight just to make a point.
Two: the brotherhood. They'll call for your head the moment they realize what you're up to. And thirdly... how in the hell are you going to keep Aurora safe since--"
"Rory," | cut him off.
"What?"
"Call her Rory. Don't call her Aurora." The way he said her full name unsettled me.For some reason, I didn't like the way it sounded in another man's mouth.
Sebastian palmed his face, looking exhausted.
"You have a dozen death threats in that room, and all you care about is what I call her? You're insane."
“Don’t worry,” I said, smacking his chest. “You and I will figure it out together.”
“Absolutely not,” he said immediately. “I’m not doing this with you Alex. You made a mistake inviting people who want you dead to your home and letting them see her. That’s your biggest mistake. When they come for you I won’t be there to save your ass.”
He was bluffing. He was Sebastian. He would always be there. He always had been.
"Don't worry. I intend to keep them on a short leash, starting tonight. When I’m done tonight they’ll remember their maker,” I said quietly.
“Me. Alexander.”