All Chapters of Two Brothers. One Ruin.: Chapter 111 - Chapter 120

Finally, I force my legs to move. Standing dramatically in the foyer isn’t going to solve anything. I head farther into the house. No sign of Shaun anywhere downstairs. I take the stairs and make my way to his room. By the time I reach it, my pulse is pounding all over again. The door is partially open. I push it wider and step inside. The steady rush of running water drifts from the bathroom. The shower. I stop. A bitter laugh almost escapes me. So let me get this straight. He spent last night naked in bed beside me, holding me while I slept… then came over here, fucked another woman, and now he’s washing her off? God damn him. The thought burns all the way down. I sweep a glance around the room. At least the bed is made. Perfect. I walk over, sit on the edge of it, and wait. Eventually, after what feels like forever—long enough for my heartbeat to settle and my breathing to stop sounding like I’d run a marathon—the sound of the shower cuts off. The room falls quiet. A few s

I walk into the sitting room. My father’s seated near Diana on one of the couches. The moment he spots me, he gets up and crosses the room toward me. If I’m being honest, there’s a small part of me that’s disappointed in him—that he never picked up on how fake this marriage actually is, that he never came rushing in to rescue me. Then again, in everyone’s eyes, Shaun is the most flawless husband imaginable. Attentive. Devoted. Perfectly cast. So why would anyone think to look twice? “Hey, Daddy.” “Hey, sweetheart.” His tone is its usual composed self. But the second we’re close enough, he pulls me into a hug. Tight. Long. Genuinely long, for a man who shakes hands at funerals like it’s a business meeting. Did he hit his head or something? I don’t dwell on the surprise too much. Instead my arms wrap around him just as tight, holding on without questioning it. Maybe I needed this more than I was letting myself admit. “How are you?” His hand strokes gently over my hair. “I’m goo

The next day, the moment Shaun finally walks out the door after our not-exactly-warm lunch for two, I stand in the middle of the living room and look around. Ryan’s voice starts replaying in my head. “Nobody has access to that ledger except Shaun. He definitely keeps it somewhere in his own estate. It’s full of names, payments to people in his pocket—people who bury evidence against him and make him untouchable. Cops, DAs, judges, prison staff, government officials. Anyone you can think of. To bring him down, we need those names. We have to neutralize them first. If you want Shaun stripped of his power, disarmed, so you can walk away safe, you need to find that ledger.” Yeah. That all sounded a hell of a lot easier when he was saying it. Actually finding the damn thing? That’s a completely different story. The interior of the estate has no cameras anywhere—except for the basement levels. So I’ll start from the obvious places. Hell, who knows? Maybe he’s the kind of psychopath who

Jimmy opens the suite door. I step in. Sarah, Ian, and Caleb are there too. And among them, Julian. A sardonic smile stretches my lips as I saunter toward the plush sofa. “I get why Sarah's here,” I drawl, my gaze sweeping over the others. “But you three? What, are we planning to gang up on Martha?” Ian sprawls deeper into his seat, grinning. “Not that she's exactly a pillar of trustworthiness. But the real reason we're all here? To keep you two from ripping each other's throats out. You know—babysitting duty."“Yeah," Caleb chimes in, the amusement a tangible thing in his voice. "It's been… what, five minutes since you two were last in the same orbit without trying to draw blood?"Jimmy snorts. “Except when it came to saving Liana.”The room goes quiet for half a second. Just enough. Just long enough.Then Ian points at him. “See? That’s exactly the kind of shit we’re here to prevent.”Julian says nothing. He just lowers himself onto the sofa across from me, his expression so car

His double-take doesn’t even last a full second before he grabs my arm, pulling me hard against his side, and plants a palm flat against Julian’s chest to shove him back. “Don’t touch her.” Shaun keeping me away from Julian isn’t anything new. Usually, though, there’s a smug grin attached to it. A cutting remark, purely to needle him, to piss him off. Now? None of that. Now he feels more like a man who’s been wounded than one trying to provoke somebody else. Is he… jealous? Julian studies his face carefully for a long moment. “How long do you think you can keep this charade going?” Shaun pulls me tighter against him. “As long as I damn well want to.” “Soon enough, you’re going to have to let her go. Trust me, I’ll make sure of it.” What does he mean by that? “Don’t you have a pregnant woman waiting on you somewhere close by?” Shaun says. “I’d suggest you go back to her.” Julian’s gaze drops to me. “Don’t let him get under your skin, Liana. He’s—” “That’s enough.” Sh