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I didn’t know why I was drawing him. I just knew I needed to.

My phone buzzed again.

This time it was my brother.

No words.

Just money.

I stared at the screen for a long time before typing back.

Thank you.

I didn’t know that one word would change everything.

I tucked the phone away, leaned back against the wall, and kept drawing.

CHAPTER 2

Ares

“Even Rock Bottom Looked Good On Her.”

Iwas riding passenger with my right-hand man, who was now my future brother-in-law. We were in his blacked-out Maserati, headed toward Hollywood.

What he told me at my office, I wasn’t ready for.

He was a fucking Laveau, and I let the fact that he was from a black mafia family go over my head. Then, his sister Azaria was supposed to be my bride.

And she was an addict.

Unbelievable.

She was a woman he held close to his heart, so I couldn’t react. Couldn’t say no to his face.

Truth was, I knew Azaria more than he thought.

Six years back, I was checking for her. Her smile. Her infectious laugh, her light green eyes. Her body I already had. Back when she was a party girl, spending Daddy’s money on her friends. I took her on a flight to Vegas, fucked her, then she blocked me. Heard through a mutual that she didn’t like rich niggas like her brother.

First woman to ghost me since high school.

That was when I started juggling multiple women, swearing she didn’t bruise my ego.

Now I had to marry her.

And I knew she would fight it once she found out.

Twenty minutes later, we pulled into the alley behind an apartment building on Vine.

Zay stopped at the entrance. His high beams cut through the dark.

A woman was bundled up against the wall.

Barefoot.

Glass pipe to her lips.

We both froze.