Which brother should I choose

Anton's POV

"Smile Alice, or they would think that I have forced you here."

I whispered in Alice's ear. She was looking like one heartbeat away from having a panic attack. I couldn't blame her. Probably she never joined a black tie event before, nonetheless the most important event of the all year for business men in New York. This private charity night. The dolphins were just a mere excuse to gather up and discuss business for men and entertain their wives along the way by 'saving dolphins'.

I leaned down to Alice and trusted my chest to her now slightly shaking shoulder. I wanted to give her some support to keep her standing in front of the press army. But, I have started to highly recognize all the points where our bodies touch each other. My hand on the small of her back started burning like I had pressed it on the hot iron. This damn woman.

I hate the way she affects me this much. This has never happened to me before. But whenever I was with her, all my senses were awake. The smell of her hair, the touch of her hand, the way her body sways when she was walking, all of them were the bane of my existence. When I first saw her in front of the car, my breath left my lungs for a second. Then that idiot bodyguard held her hand, like it was necessary. I knew from the look in his eyes he desired her. Desired her like every normal man would do. She was looking gorgeous in this fucking dress. I regretted buying her this the moment I saw her. She was beautiful already, and sharing this opinion with Matt was annoying enough. And now, with my own hands I made it more clearer for every fucking man looking at her. But she was mine. And mine only.

When the press had enough shots I gently pushed her from the small of her back where my hand was resting. We started walking slowly up from the red carpet. One of the paparazzis called after me,

"Mr. Alonzo, who is this young lady?"

Normally I wouldn't bother answering any paparazzi, but I wanted it to be known because otherwise, the magazines would explode tomorrow with the news of me dating. Which never happened in public before. "She is my assistant." I said curtly.

"Don't you think she is too gorgeous to be an assistant only?"

I turned my head and my eyes found the man who was blabbering pointless observations. Good, I know him; Mark Santiago. And he knew me too because when I looked at him, he went pale as a corpse. So he knew I marked him. One of the paparazzis will be losing his job tomorrow. Too bad.

I nudged Alice slightly to make her keep walking. Finally another car stopped behind us and the focus of the paparazzis changed. We started walking slowly up from the red carpet to the building. I took her tiny hand and put it on my forearm. Now we were walking arm to arm.

"Maybe it wasn't a good idea bringing me here, sir?" Alice asked with a small voice. Her brown doe eyes were slightly larger with anxiety.

"Don't worry. It would be worse if I brought someone other than my assistant. They were waiting for years to capture a single shot of me with a woman. Which I never gave the chance to. And I am not willing to do it now."

"But you just did." she said. Damn right. I just gave my first pose to the paparazzis with a woman. I wasn't fool to think that they wouldn't gossip about this anyway. But I had my own mechanisms preventing any news that I wouldn't like to pop up. Mechanisms can make Mark Santiago unemployed tomorrow morning.

"This doesn't count. You are my assistant. And this event is a forced plus one. So I had to bring someone with me. And everybody knows that. It was better to show up with my assistant than any other girl to stop them gossiping about my love life."

Somehow her face fell slightly, like disappointed with my answer. Good. She should know that I didn't invite her because I desired holding her tiny hand on my arm, and walking beside her distractingly curvy body. And I didn't invite her because I couldn't resist the temptation of keeping her for myself for a whole night. No, I just invited her because of this inconvenience. And maybe a little preventing Matt from inviting her.

We entered the large gallery of the building, which normally was a museum but dressed for the night. As soon as we entered the room, a significant number of eyes turned to us. I knew why they were looking at us. Not me, but the date I brought with me. Before I could end the thought, Jasmine Celes, the wife of Rockie Celes, the baron of the oil market, and the hostess of the night, appeared in front of us nearly from thin air. It was obviously ironic that they were hosting this charity night, even though their billion dollar drilling oil facilities were polluting the oceans and causing the death of sea animals in the first place.

"Ah! There you are, handsome." She held her hand in front of me to make me kiss it. I obeyed this plea politely. Barely touched my lips to the back of her hand. she giggled like a fifteen years old teenager girl, even though she was fifty. "Nice to see you Jasmine."

"Nice to see you too Anton, but I guess my eyes are playing tricks on me. I am seeing a beautiful companion next to you. What a rarity to witness"

"Like you weren't the one adding the rule of plus one to this event?" she giggled again and this disturbed me more than the fist one.

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"I may have done such a thing to encourage some of our confirmed bachelors to get involved with some beautiful companions like yours." Her eyes darted from my face to Alice. She took her in with a thorough look from head to toe and the corner of her mouth curved into a smile. If I didn't know better, I would think that she was delighted to see Alice, but I knew Jasmine long enough to know that she wouldn't like any other woman who looks more attractive than her. She continued her interrogation.

"So, I don't think we have been introduced before..." she extended her hand to Alice,

"Jasmine Celes, the executive assistant of National Treasures Protection Society, NTPS. And ofcourse the host of this wonderful night."

"Alice Wonderland" Alice replied in a hushed voice and shook her hand politely. But it wasn't an enough answer for her. She kept Alice's small hand encaptured in her claws for a second more, lingering and waiting for a title or an explanation. Even though I was tempted to leave it as is, and let her suffer from unknowing, I didn't want to put a target on Alice's back for the rest of the night.

"She is my assistant." I explained. Instantly she dropped Alice's hand like it was contiguous, because she was not a celebrity or a high-toned millionaire. She wouldn't give a shit a person who is beneath the society standards of hers. Alice's eyes wavered with surprise at this rude gesture. And I felt a sudden urge to rip off Jasmine's extremely painted and botoxed head from her torso. I gritted my teeth and fisted my hands to prevent myself attacking her.

"Anton Alonzo! How dare you!" she exclaimed with a false playfulness. "You cheated! You should have brought a plus one. It was the rule. Not an employee."

Alice's gaze shuttered with surprise and hurt this time. Fucking idiot Jasmine was below even my expectations tonight.

"I brought a plus one. She is my assistant, yes. But she is not here to work tonight. She will just enjoy the night. And I will enjoy her pleasant companion." I said curtly. Jasmine was surprised by the tone of my voice and she knew me as well as I knew her that I was not a type to shit with despite how much influence you had or not. I kept talking in a cold murderous tone letting her know her place,

"You didn't think that I am that easy to showcase my personal life just for an invitation rule of plus one?"

Jasmine's nostrils flared in annoyance. But she didn't keep the argue going.

"I guess I shouldn't have expected any less from you. Well played Alonzo."

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"Thank you" I said cooly. She curtly nodded to Alice and went away to spread her poison to some other guests. And I was relieved knowing she won't do any more digging on Alice for now.

I took startled Alice's hand and dragged her to a corner table in the gallery, where there were champagne glasses and little hors d'oeuvres on it. I took a champagne glass and held it out for her.

"Drink this, you have encountered the most vicious creature of LA society and you survived out of it. You should be proud."

She faintly smiled but I was still seeing the hurt inside of those big brown eyes. She felt the sudden mood change and dismissal of Jasmine, when she found out who she was. And I was a second away from going back and ripping her ugly head from her shoulders again. The only thing keeping me at my spot was not to leave Alice in this predator's cage.

"Maybe you shouldn't have brought me with you tonight. I am not a fit for this kind of event."

"And who says that?" I asked. Her brown eyes darted away for a second and when I traced the direction, I saw she glanced at Jasmine, who animationally talking animatedly with Henry and Kelly Hubbert, the owners of Hubbert Diamonds. "She is a pretentious asshole." I said. Alice's eyes widened with shock and surprise hearing my curse. "Mr. Alonzo, you shouldn't talk like that." She said.

"I talk as I like and this does not even describe a little part of her filth. Did you know that she was nothing before marrying Rockie Celes? She was just a second class model who was working on lousy jobs. But somehow she managed to meet with Rockie and got pregnant. And since Rockie needed an heir, he kept her by his side and married her after his son turned ten."

Alice's eyes widened more with this information but some of her color returned to her face.

"So, don't let anyone or Jasmine, who has the least character or value, to judge your worth."

She nodded slightly and dropped her gaze to her shoes, like she was ashamed of this conversation. I was also about to cut this and switch to lighter topics, a polite cough for attracting our attention has been heard from the back of Alice. I didn't even look to know who it was.

"Greetings brother. What a lovely companion you have."