My Husband's Brother Wants Me

CHAPTER 5

The sound of glass breaking and bodies colliding sent my chest into spasms I couldn’t control. My hands clutched the railing, knuckles white, as I tried to peer down the staircase. Shadows moved. Voices—harsh, low, desperate—echoed up from below.

“Lucia…” Leonardo’s voice carried fear this time, the first I’d ever heard it directed at me. “I didn’t mean for this—”

“Stay back!” Gabriel’s growl cut through him like a blade. I could see the dark outline of his frame as he moved with lethal grace, a predator in a confined space. Leonardo faltered, stumbled back, and slammed against the wall. A sharp thud made me wince.

Jane’s cry followed—a high, panicked gasp. Something metallic clinked against the floor. A wine bottle? A glass? I couldn’t tell. My stomach knotted, my heart pounding so violently it felt like it would burst through my ribs.

I wanted to descend the stairs, to intervene, to pull Gabriel away… to stop this madness. But my legs wouldn’t obey. Fear, shock, and the lingering, dangerous desire that Gabriel inspired froze me in place.

Gabriel’s voice was low, each word deliberate, dangerous:

“You have no idea what you’ve done. You’ve taken everything from her—and now you threaten her safety, too.”

Leonardo struggled, his hands against the wall, chest heaving. “I… she’s mine! This is my house, my wife—”

“You don’t own her!” Gabriel’s voice thundered, sharp and final. The sound of his steps, purposeful, predatory, resonated through the hallway. “You’ve made choices, Leonardo. And now you face consequences.”

The words made me shiver. Consequences. I realized then that Gabriel wasn’t just protective—he was a force of reckoning. The man I had tried to resist, tried to deny, had turned into something I couldn’t even comprehend: the embodiment of both danger and desire.

Then came the sound that made my blood run cold—a sharp crash, followed by a guttural grunt from Leonardo.

I gasped, my hands flying to my mouth. My chest constricted painfully. “No…”

Gabriel’s voice softened—just slightly—but it carried something I hadn’t expected: concern. “Stay here. Don’t move. Don’t interfere.”

I wanted to argue. To scream. To run down and shove myself between them. But the knot in my stomach was too strong, the tension in my chest unbearable. I sank to the floor at the top of the stairs, pressing my palms against my face as tears pricked at the corners of my eyes.

Then, I heard it. A sound that made my heart leap—an almost intimate, almost familiar laugh. Jane.

“No, no, no…” I whispered. Her voice, fragile and panicked, echoed off the walls.

“She—she’s hurt!” Leonardo’s voice cracked, closer now, mingling fear with something else: guilt, panic, desperation.

Gabriel’s response was immediate, precise. “Step aside.”

And then I realized—something had shifted. This wasn’t just about betrayal anymore. It wasn’t just about Jane’s pregnancy, Leonardo’s indifference, or my own suppressed feelings. It had become life and death, moral and emotional stakes entangled into one impossible knot.

I could hear movement—furniture scraping, steps faltering. A muffled cry. My pulse raced. Every nerve in my body screamed at me to do something, anything. But the rules of this chaos were being dictated by Gabriel alone, and I had no choice but to obey.

Minutes—or maybe seconds, time blurred—passed. Then silence. Heavy, suffocating, absolute silence.

I crept forward, inch by inch, peeking down the stairs. My breath caught.

Leonardo was on the floor, grimacing, clutching his side. Blood? I couldn’t tell. Jane crouched beside him, hands pressed to his chest as if trying to hold him together. And Gabriel… he stood over them both, chest heaving, eyes dark with rage and something unspoken—something that made my heart hammer in my chest.

He looked up at me—only for a moment—but the look was enough to make my knees weak. Possession. Danger. Desire. Protection. All in one gaze.

“Stay up there,” he murmured. “You’re not safe down here.”

“I…” My voice trembled. My fingers shook. “Gabriel…”

His gaze softened just slightly, just enough to make me feel tethered to him, even as my mind screamed at me to escape, to run, to forget the intensity in his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “But you… stay.”

Then Leonardo groaned, weakly. “Lucia… help…”

I froze. The words hit me harder than anything. Not a confession, not an apology—just a plea. And yet, I realized I didn’t know if I could save him, if I could forgive him, or if I wanted to.

Gabriel’s presence loomed behind me, protective and immovable. “Don’t move,” he said again. “Do you understand?”

I nodded, powerless. My heart was racing in a way that terrified me, a mixture of fear, longing, and adrenaline.

And then it happened.

A sudden crash from the living room—Jane had tripped over something, sending a heavy vase tumbling. The crash was deafening. Glass shattered. Water spilled everywhere. And then Jane screamed—a sharp, high-pitched sound that cut through me like a knife.

I bolted forward instinctively, but Gabriel’s hand shot out, gripping my wrist with surprising force. “No!” he shouted. “Stay!”

The tension between us was unbearable. Desire, fear, anger, and raw emotion coiled together so tightly it felt like my chest would explode.

“I can’t just… I have to—”

“You will stay,” he said, his voice low, dangerous, immovable. “You don’t step into this. Not yet. Not until I say.”

I swallowed, nodding despite the ache in my chest.

But even as I obeyed, my heart refused to calm. Every fiber of me wanted to run down those stairs, to protect, to intervene, to touch him, to—

Gabriel’s eyes caught mine again. And in that glance, I saw something I had never seen before: the dangerous promise of what would happen if anyone dared to harm me—or him.

Then Leonardo moaned again, weaker this time. “Lucia… please…”

And in that single word, my world tilted.

Because I realized the impossible truth: I was powerless, trapped between two men who both claimed me in different ways—and I didn’t know which one I would choose… or which one I could survive.