Ruined By My Brother's Best Friend (by Silverwriter) novel Chapter 247

ARABELLA’S POV

Mrs. Valerio froze, her mouth hanging open as the words seemed to get stuck in her throat.

“I asked you a question, Mother.”

Alvise’s tone made me flinch, and I could only watch as her sharp eyes fixed on me, widening so much I feared they would bulge out of their sockets.

Mrs. Valerio stuttered. “I… Well…”

“I explicitly stated that no one was to come speak to her,” Alvise said, his voice eerily calm. “So what is this about?”

She turned around, laughing lightly. “I just wanted to welcome her to the house properly, son. Is that a crime?”

Alvise didn’t look convinced, his eyes narrowing. “It is a crime because I know for a fact that you’re lying.”

“You can ask her,” she said hastily, turning back to look at me. “What were we speaking about?”

I played with my fingers, my heart skipping its next beat as they both fixed their attention on me.

She was putting me on the spot because she knew I wouldn’t dare try to put her in trouble. I normally wouldn’t, but she already hated me and had done a background check on me.

She’d done it all, and given the chance, she would do more.

I fixed my gaze on Alvise, watching him the way he watched me. “She asked me if I was pregnant and ordered me to leave the house.”

Mrs. Valerio’s loud gasp almost made me lose my footing.

“How dare you say that to him?” she snapped, glaring daggers at me.

I opened my mouth. Closed it. And in the softest voice I could muster, I whispered, “But that’s what you said to me.”

“You…”

“Enough, Mother.” Alvise cut her off, his voice hard at the edges as his eyes flicked toward her. “You had no right.” He shook his head, his jaw flexing. “No right.”

“Son, I’m sorry. I was just…”

Alvise cut her off. “We’ll have this conversation later, Mother,” he promised, his tone sending a tremor down my spine. “Do not forget.”

Though I could only see her side profile, Mrs. Valerio’s face fell, and she nodded before walking away, but not before glaring at me like I was the dirt beneath her shoe.

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Ruined By My Brother’s Best Friend

“Why did you come outside?” Alvise asked, snapping my attention back to him.

it my lip and shrugged. “Your mother knocked on the door and…”

“And you opened it.”

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The man looked like he’d had a bad day, and I swallowed hard. “I didn’t know she was the one at the door.

Alvise stroked his chin and stepped into my personal space. “And when you did, what the fuck did you do about it?”

I averted my eyes from him. “She asked me to…”

“Answer the question, Arabella.”

I sighed. “I spoke to her.”

“Ah, I see.” His voice was a total contrast to his calm words. “Instead of shutting the door in her face, you gave her an audience and went as far as stepping out to talk to her.”

I frowned. “I didn’t want to be rude.”

“You have no idea what you could have gotten yourself into,” he hissed, like he was talking to a stubborn

child.

I glanced at him, but he wasn’t done speaking yet. “Why is it so hard for you to listen to me?”

I poked my inner cheek with my tongue, repeating the same thing I’d seen him do all the time.

His eyes followed the movement, and an unfamiliar look passed through them, his lips twitching so hard I could see how much he was struggling to contain his anger.

I was pissing him off.

I moved impossibly closer and placed both of my feet on his, until I was standing on each of his black, shiny shoes.

Just like the last time I did the same thing, he stood unmoving. He just fixed me with his full attention, like we were the only two people standing outside his room and didn’t have an audience of his guards watching us.

To steady myself, I fisted his shirt, crumpling it, and then reached out to grab his collar, using my hold on it to pull his face closer.

“It’s so hard to listen to you because you never talk to me.”

He raised a brow, a dark look passing across his face. “I never talk to you?”

I nodded carefully so our lips didn’t brush. “Yes. You only give me instructions. You never really speak to

me.”

“Is that what you want?”

His question took me by surprise, and I moved to step off his shoes, but he slid a hand around my waist

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Ruined By My Brother’s Best Friend

and held me in place, not letting me go.

You’re a tall man,” I said, trying to change the topic. “My neck is killing me with how much I need to crane my head to look at you.”

I didn’t fool him.

“The question, Arabella.”

I trapped my bottom lip between my teeth, mumbling, “Yes. I mean, I speak to you all the time. Why can’t you do the same?”

“I beg to disagree.”

I gasped. “What’s there to disagree about? It’s literally the truth…”

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“You argue all the time; you don’t actually talk,” he said, his eyes searching my face.

I clamped my mouth shut because talking would mean I was proving his point. But when I couldn’t take the silence any longer, I shook my head.

“You’re lying.”

I scoffed. “You lie to me all the time.”

Alvise opened his mouth, about to speak, but then he glanced at the guards, like he finally noticed their presence, and scraped his tongue over his teeth.

It happened in a split second.

He placed both his hands on my hips and hoisted me up until I was straddling his waist, my chest pressed impossibly closer to his as he pushed the door open and walked inside.

I could smell him. Everything about him.

From his addictive scent to his shaving cream and his hair… it all smelled amazing, and I almost sniffed it in, but I caught myself.

Trying to regain some semblance of control, I hummed, “If you wanted to carry me, all you needed to do was just ask.”

Alvise stopped abruptly in the middle of the room, and his eyes clashed with mine. “And if I want to do more than that?”

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Ruined By My Brother’s Best Friend