My fist slammed into his stomach, hard and precise. My first hit of the night. Adrenaline buzzed through me as Kai grunted at the impact. Anyone else would've stumbled and gotten the wind knocked out of them, but in true Kai fashion, he only paused for a few seconds before shaking it off.
"You seem upset," he said as he countered with a left hook. I sidestepped it with millimeters to spare. "Bad day at work?"
A hint of amusement shaded his question despite the direct hit he'd just taken.
"Something like that."
Sweat dripped down my forehead and coated my back as I worked out my frustrations in the ring. I'd come straight to the Valhalla Club after work. Most members preferred the on-site spa, restaurants, or upscale gentleman's club, which meant the boxing gym rarely saw any traffic except for me and Kai.
"Heard the Santeri deal is moving along, so it can't be that." Kai was barely out of breath despite the aggressiveness of our opening round. "Maybe it's not work. Maybe..." His expression turned speculative. "It has to do with your engagement to a certain jewelry heiress."
He let out another small grunt when I landed a hit on his lower ribs, but that didn't stop him from laughing at my scowl.
"You should know better than to try and keep something so big a secret," he said. "The whole office is buzzing about it. "
"Your staff should spend more time working and less time gossiping. Perhaps then, circulation wouldn't be down."
My engagement announcement wasn't scheduled to run in Mode de Vie's coveted online Style section until mid-September, but the luxury fashion and lifestyle outlet was the crown jewel of the Youngs' media empire. I'd be surprised if Kai didn't know about the engagement ahead of time.
"Never thought l'd see the day you get married." He ignored my dig. "To Vivian Lau, no less. How'd you manage to keep her a secret for so long?"
"We're not married yet." I blocked another attempted punch. "And I didn't keep her a secret. Our engagement is a business arrangement. I didn't fucking wine and dine her before we closed the deal."
The word engagement left a bitter taste in my mouth. The thought of shackling myself to someone for the rest of my life was as appealing as walking into the ocean with concrete blocks strapped to my feet.
I preferred work over people, many of whom didn't appreciate coming in second place to contracts and meetings. But business was lucrative, practical, and, for the most part, predictable. Relationships were not.
"That makes more sense," Kai said. "l should've known mergers and acquisitions would take over even your personal life."
"Funny."
His laugh faded when I hit him with an uppercut to the jaw, and he retaliated with a punch that knocked the air from my lungs.
Our conversation tapered off, replaced by grunts and curses as we pummeled the hell out of each other.
Kai was the most mild-mannered person | knew, but he had a vicious competitive streak. We'd started boxing together last year, and he'd become my go-to partner for blowing off steam because he never held back.
Who needed therapy when you could punch your friend in the face every week?
Hit, duck, dodge, hit. Over and over until we ended the night with a tie and significantly more bruises than when we'd entered
But I'd finally worked off the edge of my anger, and when I met Kai in the locker room after my shower, I'd gained enough clarity not to lose my shit on my brother again.
I'd been this close to cutting him off after our
conversation that afternoon, promises and conditions be damned. It would serve him right, but didn't have the energy to deal with his inevitable temper tantrum right now.
"Feel better?" Kai was already dressed when I entered.
Button-down shirt, blazer, thin black wire frames. All traces of the lethal fighter from the ring had vanished, replaced with the epitome of scholarly sophistication.
"Marginally." I got dressed and rubbed a hand over my
sore jaw. "You pack a mean punch."
"That's why you called. You'd hate it if I took it easy on
you."
I snorted. "As much as you would hate losing."
We exited the gym and took the elevator up to the first
floor. The Valhalla Club was an exclusive global society for those with a certain net worth, and it had chapters all over the world. However, its New York headquarters were the largest and most opulent, spanning four stories and an entire city block in upper Manhattan.
"l've met Vivian a few times," Kai said casually as the
elevator doors dinged open. "She's beautiful, smart,
charming. You could've done a lot worse."
Irritation flickered in my chest. "Perhaps you should
marry her instead."
I didn't care if Vivian was a supermodel saint who saved puppies from burning buildings in her free time. She was simply someone I had to tolerate until | destroyed all the photos.
Unfortunately, Christian's latest update confirmed Francis had stored the photos both digitally and physically. Christian could easily take care of the digital evidence, but destroying physical evidence was trickier when we didn't know how many backups Francis had. I couldn't risk making a move until we were one hundred percent certain we'd tracked down his entire stash.
"If I could, I would." The shadows in Kai's eyes
disappeared as quickly as they'd surfaced.
As the heir to the Young fortune, his future was even
more etched in stone than mine.
"All lI'm saying is, don't be an asshole." Kai nodded in
greeting at a passing club member and waited until they were out of earshot before adding, "It's not her fault she's stuck with a brute like you."
If he only knew.
"Worry less about my personal life and more about yours." I raised an eyebrow at his cufflinks. Gold lions with amethyst eyes—part of the Young family crest. "Leonora Young won't wait forever for a grandchild."
"Luckily for her, she already has two, courtesy of my sister. And don't try to deflect." We crossed the gleaming black marble entryway to the exit. "I meant what I said about Vivian. Be nice."
My back teeth clenched.
Whether I liked her or not, Vivian was my fiancée, and I was getting damn tired of hearing her name leave his mouth. "Don't worry," I said. "I'Il treat her exactly the way she deserves."