My Movie Star Brother Sacrificed Me to Protect His Secret Wife Chapter 2

#LeoFordClarifies

#LeoFordSecretlyMarried

I clicked on the trending topic. It was a link to his latest tweet: [That wasn't for me. It's my wife's. She's the one who loves it.]

Leo waggled his phone at us smugly. "I'm not taking the fall for this. The whole world might as well know I have a wife."

It always amazed me how the cold, ruthless persona he projected to the world melted away into this childish, pouting man the second Iris was around. She just shook her head with a fond smile, completely accustomed to his antics. Love, I mused, was a strange and powerful force. Who would have guessed that the formidable Leo Ford was, in private, a hopelessly devoted husband?

An hour later, we pulled up to the family estate in Connecticut. Mom, Dad, Grandma, and Grandpa were all there.

I ran to my grandmother, hugging her tight. "Grandma, I missed you so much!"

She pinched my nose affectionately. "Oh, you charmer."

"She and Leo are polar opposites," Grandpa chimed in from his armchair. "He's been stone-faced since birth, and this one learned to sweet-talk before she could walk."

Leo and Iris walked in behind us, their arms full of groceries. "Is she talking trash about me again?" Leo asked.

I peeked out from behind Grandma's shoulder and stuck my tongue out at him. Iris playfully swatted his arm.

"Iris, honey, you must be exhausted," Mom said, coming out of her study to greet us. "Coming straight here from the set."

"Not at all, Mom. I love what I do," Iris said with a genuine smile. My sister-in-law was a force of nature. She’d loved martial arts since she was a kid and broke into Hollywood as a stunt double for A-list actresses, taking the hits without ever showing her face. She never complained, just worked her way up, step by step. After she and Leo got married, she refused to let him pull strings for her, so they kept their marriage a secret.

Of course, that didn't stop Leo from quietly passing her name to a few trusted directors. Her talent and work ethic did the rest. She landed a gritty role in a 1940s spy series, full of physically demanding scenes, and she was happier than I’d ever seen her.

As we were finishing dinner, Leo’s agent showed up at the door, looking like he was about to have a heart attack.

"Leo! This is a disaster!" he wailed, shoving a laptop in our faces.

After Leo's clarification tweet, some paparazzo had dug up another photo: me, at a different film set, also holding a six-pack of Yoo-hoo.