Dark hair perfectly tousled. Designer shirt unbuttoned just enough to look careless. A smile that didn't reach his eyes.
The shock on Finn's face morphed into anger at the sight of Giulia cuddled up in his arms, quickly hidden behind a mask of brotherly concern.
'So he is angry.' Beau thought at the flare of his brother's nose.
"Well, well," Finn drawled, leaning against the doorframe, forcing Beau to tilt his body in order to get in. "I didn't think you'd bring her back here."
"In case you missed it, the hospital was crumbling to the ground," Beau said through gritted teeth.
He was still smarting from the fact that his brother had just run off and dumped his girlfriend on him. He had not even been concerned enough to stick around and make sure he had escaped the earthquake.
"Why are you even here?" Beau asked as soon as he stepped in through the door.
"My apartment flooded, so I decided to keep you company in this castle," Finn answered.
Beau raised an eyebrow.
Maintaining their grandmother's massive house was hectic, and Finn did not have the patience to oversee all the details involving the house, so he got himself a loft in an exclusive building and left Beau to deal with the house.
Beau had a feeling there was another reason for his brother's august visit and his jaw ticked in irritation.
"Finn, sweetie, why are you taking so long?" Abby's voice preceded her footsteps.
She appeared on the stairs a moment later, one hand trailing along the banister. She wore a thin, revealing nightgown, her hair perfectly arranged despite the late evening hour.
It was the sort of outfit that left very little to the imagination.
Her eyes immediately found Giulia.
For half a second, something almost like satisfaction flickered across her face. A flash of triumph, which was quickly suppressed before anyone noticed.
It disappeared beneath a mask of concern.
"Oh, Giulia." She hurried down the remaining steps, her heels clicking against the marble. "You poor thing. I was so worried."
She reached out as if to touch Giulia's hand.
Beau shifted slightly, turning his body just enough that Abby's fingers met empty air.
Abby's smile didn't falter. She simply withdrew her hand and clasped it with the other, looking down at Giulia with an expression that might have passed for genuine concern if Beau hadn't known better.
"She looks pale," Abby said. "Is she going to be okay?"
"She'll be fine," Beau said flatly.
At Beau's pointed, raised eyebrow, Finn shrugged and gestured at his assistant who stood by the door like furniture. "Charles, come take her to one of the guestrooms."
Charles took a step forward but hesitated when he saw Beau's expression.
Finn might have been his boss and the older brother, but Charles knew better than to mess with Beau.
Charles stopped where he was, clearly unwilling to get caught between the two brothers.
Finn's jaw tightened, a muscle twitching in his cheek.
Beau continued toward the stairs, but Finn's fingers closed around his arm before he could take another step.
Beau looked into the face of the brother he had once idolized.
When he had been a teenager, Finn had been everything Beau thought a man should be. Confident, charming, fearless. The older brother who could do no wrong. The son who would one day inherit everything.
Beau had copied his clothes. His mannerisms.
It had taken him years to realize that the man he'd worshipped was simply an asshole with good looks.
Finn liked to play his little games, and usually, Beau did not care. Until Finn roped him into one.
Now Beau was stuck in a sordid love triangle with his own brother and his girlfriend.
A whimper drew Beau's attention down to the small bundle in his arms.
He was caught in the glare of blue gems, no longer shielded by glasses that he had thought looked more like protection than medication.
The staff member who went around trying to be small but still failing to hide that spark.
The glasses had been her armor, he realized. A way to hide behind something. To make herself less visible. To disappear into the background where no one would look twice.
The blue of her eyes seemed to pierce right through him, even when she wasn't looking at him directly. They were the kind of eyes that made a man want to know what she was thinking, what she was hiding.
It made him wonder why she went out with his brother in the first place.
She seemed smarter than that. He'd thought as much before, then shrugged off any more thoughts about her.
"Honey, please take me upstairs. My head is spinning." She said in a small, trembling voice, and Beau almost scoffed.
Wasn't she the one who'd insisted she could walk earlier? She'd been so stubborn about it, refusing his help, pushing herself to stand when she could barely hold herself upright.
Beau looked down at her.
She had gone from stubbornly refusing his help to clinging to him like her legs had stopped working.
Interesting.
She caught sight of Finn, and suddenly she couldn't stand?
But then he felt her fingers tighten around his shirt.
He looked down.
Her face was pale, genuinely pale, not the act he'd assumed. Her lips were pressed together in a thin line. And her eyes...
They were closed.
And she was trembling.
His amusement disappeared.
Whatever game Giulia was playing, she was still injured. Still recovering. Still vulnerable.
He would let her have her little game.
For now.
And if he discovered she was manipulating him?
His face might have been expressionless, but on the inside, he was grinning as he thought of how to punish her if she was really playing him.
He would make sure she regretted ever underestimating him.
"I'm taking her upstairs," he said coldly, then wrenched his arm free from Finn's grip.
He turned to the housekeeper who stood at the door. "Have some food prepared for her."
Then he looked at Finn, his expression hardening into something cold and dangerous.
"Brother, I'm sure whatever you want to talk about is less important than my girlfriend."
He tilted his head, letting the word hang in the air between them.
Girlfriend.
It was a declaration. A claim. A warning.
"You're not even bothered to know how your sister-in-law is feeling."
Beau didn't wait for an answer.
He turned toward the stairs, his footsteps muffled by the runner along the stairs. Each step was deliberate. Controlled. A reminder that he was not to be played around with like a toy.
Behind him, the silence was deafening.
Finn stood frozen in the doorway, his carefully constructed mask of confidence crumbling.
It was at that moment that something ugly twisted inside Finn.
He couldn't explain it.
Giulia had been his girlfriend for almost a year, and despite the fact that being with her was boring, he was willing to pretend to be the perfect boyfriend. String her on until he got what he wanted.
He had his women on the side to entertain him. Like Abby.
So why did seeing Giulia in Beau's arms bother him?
So, the sight of Beau calling her his girlfriend made his jaw tighten.
Finn's eyes followed his brother up the stairs.
He had always thought Giulia was too ordinary.
Too sweet.
Too obedient.
Too predictable.
The perfect wife, perhaps.
And now his brother was carrying her around like she was something precious.
Since when did Beau care about what belonged to him?
Abby's hand had gone to her throat, her eyes wide, her mask of concern replaced by something that looked almost like fear.
For the first time since Giulia had woken up, Finn looked genuinely worried.
Not angry. Not annoyed.
Worried.
She could see Finn's attention flickering.
It had been resting solely on her, but now he was looking at Giulia possessively.
She knew that she needed to do something quickly.
Once again, she wondered what it was about Giulia that drew in a man as sophisticated as Finn to be her boyfriend; now even his brother was acting like a guard dog.
For such a plain woman who could not function without those ugly glasses, Giulia was suddenly standing right at the center of their world.