ACCIDENTALLY MARRIED TO THE BILLIONAIRE SINGLE DAD (Gabrielle and Damon) novel Chapter 154

CHAPTER 154

DAMON’S POV

Gabrielle was asleep before Rhys walked into the room.

I could tell from the slow, even rhythm of her breathing and the way her fingers had gone slack against my shirt.

Exhaustion had finally claimed her.

It didn’t surprise me.

The nurse told me she hadn’t been resting well since my surgery.

I looked down at her face resting against my chest, strands of her hair brushing my jaw.

I had spent a long time in my head, facing memories I had locked away for years, but seeing her face again had dragged me out of that darkness.

Somehow, this woman had become the one thing capable of pulling me back from places I had no intention of returning to.

“You finally wake up, brother,” Rhys said, standing beside the bed. “And only a few minutes after I left. Are you ever going to stop avoiding me?”

I stared at him, but the usual irritation didn’t rise. All I could see was the fourteen–year–old boy I sacrificed myself for.

My little brother.

One of his eyebrows lifted. “Cuddling?”

I heard a hint of mockery in his tone.

The irritation returned.

He made it hard to feel sorry for him.

I shot him a flat look. “Say another word about that and I’ll rip the IV out of my arm just to strangle you with it.”

A corner of his mouth twitched.

He dragged a chair closer but didn’t sit yet, his eyes scanning the room like he wanted to say something but didn’t know how to.

“You’re not supposed to be walking around in public,” I said. “Rocco must have found out you’re alive now. After everything I did to make sure he didn’t.”

“Relax, brother,” he said, a smirk on his face. “You worry too much. Rocco doesn’t know anything.”

“He sent a man here last night,” I said.

“I’m aware,” he responded. “But trust me, he doesn’t know for sure that I’m still alive. At least, not yet.”

A silence of understanding passed between us.

I shook my head. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’ll only be used like I was,” I returned. “Rocco already has leverage over me. Don’t give him any more.”

A soft look flashed in his eyes but it disappeared as soon as it had appeared.

“I can’t remain dead for the rest of my life,” he said quietly. “Father is gone and Rocco can’t touch me now.”

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“Says who?”

“Says me,” he retorted, then lowered his voice. “I don’t mean to sound disrespectful, brother. But I’m no longer that fourteen- year–old scared boy.”

No, he wasn’t.

And part of me hated that.

He had grown up thinking I hated him because I made him believe so. But he never gave up on me or left my side.

I wish he were fourteen again so I could make things right.

But I didn’t say that.

It would only encourage his clinginess.

“I’ve been meaning to tell you this for a while but you kept avoiding me,” he continued. “You have no choice but to listen to me now.”

Gabrielle stirred, but quickly fell asleep again when my hand returned to combing through her hair.

I turned back to him. “If you wake her up, I promise I’ll kill you.”

“I know,” he said with an amused smile, his eyes moving from Gabrielle to my face. “My father died some years ago.”

I scoffed. “Diego is not your father.”

Diego was his mother’s husband, a ruthless crime boss whose wife had an affair with my father.

“He was more of a father than Gravari ever was,” Rhys said. “Fortunately for me, he didn’t find out I wasn’t his biological son before he died so I’m still his successor.”

Oh, shit.

I already knew where this was going.

“I accepted it,” he continued. “And whether you like it or not, I’m the one sitting in his chair now.”

I closed my eyes and exhaled in exhaustion. “You’re the don now?”

Rhys didn’t deny it. “Yes. Which means I now represent his house. Rocco will have to deal with me sooner or later.”

If Gabrielle wasn’t in my arms, I’d have stood up and struck him on the face for being so fucking reckless.

I’d spent my life trying to run away from things like that and my brother was not only involved, he was also sitting at the very top of it.

Running a house.

Representing men who would gut each other for power.

He was now a man like Rocco.

My jaw tightened. “You’re a fucking idiot.”

Rhys didn’t look offended.

If anything, he smirked like he expected that response.

“I figured you’d say that.”

“You think being a don makes you untouchable?” I asked. “All it does is paint a target on your back.”

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“I already had one,” he replied.

“That was different.”

“Was it?” he returned. “At least, I can defend myself now. I have power and the resources to finally fight back.”

I didn’t answer.

Because he wasn’t entirely wrong.

Rhys finally sat down in the chair beside the bed, leaning forward with his forearms resting on his knees.

“You spent years protecting me from this world,” he said. “I know that.”

My fingers continued moving through Gabrielle’s hair slowly. It was the only thing keeping my temper in check.

“You don’t know what you’re stepping into,” I said, already thinking of ways to fix his mess. “You won’t take his place. What if his men don’t respect you?”

Rhys gave a quiet laugh.

“Brother,” he said. “I have been watching you from the sidelines, you know that. I’ve seen you control rooms enough times.”

His eyes held mine.

“You think I didn’t learn anything from that?”

I stared at him for a long moment.

Then I shook my head slowly. “The men in the mafia are not some street thugs you can intimidate.”

“I know.”

“They’ve been playing this game longer than either of us has been alive.”

“I know that too.”

“And yet you walked straight into the danger anyway,” I said. “You disappoint me.”

Rhys leaned back in the chair, but he didn’t respond.

“My wife is pregnant and I have a six–year–old daughter,” I continued. “The stakes are too high for me. I must leave this world or I won’t have one with my family.”

Silence filled the room again.

The only sound was Gabrielle’s slow breathing against my chest.

Rhys studied me for a moment before speaking. “I understand that you must cut me off again. It shouldn’t be a big deal to you.‘

That was the problem.

I didn’t want to cut him off again.

I couldn’t this time.

Something inside me felt fractured, like I was hurting–and wanted to do the emotional, irrational things I used to scom in others.

In that moment, I realized I finally had the answer to Gabrielle’s question.

My emotions were coming back slowly.

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And I hated it.

“Rocco would be too interested in me to care if you leave,” his voice pulled me out of my thoughts. “You can finally have the life you’ve always wanted.”

Without him.

I inhaled deeply. “No. Leaving Rocco alive is too risky. I plan to kill him.”

He blinked, caught off guard by my statement. “If you kill him, you’ll have to take his place- or risk shattering the fragile peace that’s lasted so long.”

“You think I don’t already know that?” I asked, my hand pausing in Gabrielle’s hair. “But if I do, you don’t have to take after Diego to protect yourself because I’ll be the new Rocco.”

Rhys stared at me like I had just said the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard.

Then he laughed, a short and disbelieving sound.

“You just said you wanted to leave this world,” he said. “Five seconds ago.”

“I did.”

“And now you’re volunteering to become the most powerful man in it.”

I didn’t respond.

Because he understood exactly why.

Rhys ran a hand through his hair and leaned back in the chair. “No.”

My eyes narrowed. “No?”

“No,” he repeated calmly. “You already sacrificed your life once because of me. I’m not letting you do it again.”

“This isn’t about you.”

“Yes, it is.”

“I was already planning to kill him before now,” I snapped. “Then take his place, snitch to the FBI and bring everything down.”

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