Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
LOTTIE
Iclung to Colby's chest, my fingers digging into the soft fabric of his sweater as he rocked me back and forth. The motion should have been soothing—usually was—but nothing could quiet the racing thoughts careening through my mind.
What if the drinks had been poisoned with something fast-acting? What if Andrei hadn't noticed those men? What if—
"Breathe, little one," Colby murmured against my hair. "You're spiraling."
I tried. Really tried. But each inhale felt too shallow, too tight.
Across the room, Kaleb paced. Back and forth, back and forth, wearing a path in the expensive rug. His phone was pressed to his ear, his free hand gesturing sharply as he spoke.
Andrei stood by the window, arms crossed over his broad chest. His jaw was so tight I feared he might crack a tooth. He'd been on and off his phone for the past hour, speaking mostly in rapid Russian that I couldn't follow.
The few words I caught—Viktor, Mikhail, protection, threat—made my stomach churn.
"Sierra will be here in twenty," Kaleb announced, finally ending his call. "Monica's coming too."
I lifted my head from Colby's chest. "Your sisters?"
Kaleb nodded, running a hand over his smooth head. The gesture was pure stress. "I need to tell them everything. In person. They deserve to know exactly what kind of damage Patrice has inflicted."
My heart squeezed. I'd only heard about his sisters in passing—Sierra, the younger twin who doted on her toddler daughter. Monica, the quieter one who'd been closer to Patrice until recently, when their mother's true nature became impossible to ignore.
"That's good," I said softly, earning Kaleb's attention. "They should know. So they can protect themselves."
"Exactly what I told him," Andrei muttered from his position by the window. He still hadn't moved, his gaze tracking something outside I couldn't see.
The rumble of a car engine made us all tense. Andrei's hand went to his waist—where I knew he kept a concealed weapon when circumstances warranted. My breath caught.
"It's them," he announced after a moment, his posture relaxing fractionally. "Oscar's escorting them in."
Moments later, the doorbell chimed. Oscar appeared, flanking two young women who looked enough alike to obviously be twins but different enough to tell apart easily.
Sierra was the first through the door—petite, with dark hair pulled into a messy ponytail and kind eyes that immediately found Kaleb. "Kale!" She launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist in a fierce hug.
Monica followed more slowly, her movements measured. She was taller than her twin, her hair shorter and styled neatly. Her eyes swept the room, assessing, before landing on me with open curiosity.
I noticed Oscar's gaze lingering on Monica. Just a fraction too long. His expression shifted from his usual professional neutrality to something softer.
Interesting.
"Sierra, Monica," Kaleb said, his voice rough with emotion as he hugged Sierra back. "Thanks for coming on such short notice."
"Are you kidding?" Sierra pulled back, her hands gripping his arms. "Your text sounded urgent. What's going on? Is this about Mom?"
Kaleb glanced at me, and I offered him a small nod of encouragement. We'd rehearsed this—or tried to, anyway. There was no easy way to tell them their mother had attempted murder.
"First," Kaleb said, turning to gesture at me. "I want you both to meet someone very important. This is Lottie—Charlotte—my... our girlfriend."
Monica's perfectly sculpted eyebrow arched. "Our?"
"Yes." Kaleb pulled me to my feet, his arm wrapping protectively around my waist. "Lottie, these are my sisters. Sierra and Monica."
Sierra's eyes went comically wide, her gaze darting between Kaleb, Andrei, Colby, and me. "Wait. Wait wait wait. Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
"Depends on what you think I'm saying," Kaleb replied, a hint of his usual humor breaking through the tension.
"That you're all... together? Like, together together?" Sierra's voice pitched higher with each word.
I felt heat crawl up my neck. This was not how I'd imagined meeting Kaleb's sisters.
Monica simply stared, her expression unreadable.
"Yes," Kaleb confirmed, his tone leaving no room for argument. "The four of us are in a relationship."
Sierra blinked once. Twice. Then a massive grin spread across her face. "Holy shit, Kale! That's amazing!"
"Sierra!" Monica hissed, shooting her twin a sharp look.
"What?" Sierra shrugged, unbothered. "Good for them. I always said Kaleb needed more than one person to balance out his workaholic tendencies. Apparently he needed three."
Despite everything—the stress, the fear, the absolute chaos of the last few hours—I found myself laughing. Sierra's acceptance was so immediate, so genuine, it was impossible not to love her for it.
Kaleb, however, looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him whole.
Monica crossed her arms, studying us with that analytical gaze. "I don't care who you're sleeping with, Kaleb," she said finally. "But I am... curious about the dynamics of it all."
"Monica!" Now it was Kaleb's turn to look scandalized.
She simply shrugged, a tiny smile playing at her lips. "What? Sierra's thinking the same thing, she's just louder about it."
"It's true," Sierra confirmed cheerfully. "I have so many questions."
Kaleb's face had gone through approximately seventeen shades of red. "Can we maybe not discuss my sex life with my baby sisters?"
"We're twenty, Kale. Not babies," Monica pointed out.
"And you're the one who brought it up!" Sierra added.
I bit my lip to keep from laughing at Kaleb's expression—pure mortification mixed with resignation. Andrei had moved away from the window, a rare smile tugging at his lips as he watched the scene unfold.
"How about," Colby interjected diplomatically, "we save that particular conversation for another time and focus on why Kaleb called you here?"
Sierra's expression sobered immediately. "Right. You mentioned Mom."
Kaleb's arm tightened around me. "Let's sit down. This isn't... it's not an easy conversation."
We all settled—Kaleb and I on the sofa, his sisters on the loveseat across from us. Andrei remained standing, positioning himself between our group and the door. Colby took the armchair, his presence a steady anchor.
"Mom's been arrested," Kaleb said without preamble.
Monica's face went carefully blank. Sierra gasped, her hand flying to her mouth.
"What?" Sierra whispered. "When? Why?"
"Last week," Kaleb continued, his voice steady despite the tension radiating from his body. "She attempted to extort money from me by threatening Lottie."
"She did what?" Sierra's voice cracked.
Monica leaned forward, her analytical mask slipping to reveal genuine shock. "Start from the beginning. Tell us everything."
So he did.
He told them about Patrice's arrival at the house. The verbal abuse she'd hurled at me. The subsequent email threats about exposing our relationship. The meeting in the park where she'd threatened me—with a gun—demanding two million dollars in forty-eight hours.
And finally, this afternoon's poisoning attempt.
The sisters listened in complete silence, their faces growing progressively paler with each revelation.
When Kaleb finished, the quiet stretched so long I wondered if either of them would speak at all.
Finally, Sierra stood. She crossed to Kaleb and wrapped her arms around him from behind, pressing her cheek against his shoulder blade.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "Kale, I had no idea she'd escalated this far. I knew things were bad with the debt but not—not this."
Monica remained seated, her fingers laced together so tightly her knuckles had gone white. "The attempted poisoning. Do the police know what was in the drinks?"
Andrei finally spoke, his accent thick. "Not yet. Should have results tomorrow."
"Good." Monica's jaw set in a hard line that reminded me startlingly of Kaleb. "I want to know exactly what charges she'll face."
The protective fury in her voice surprised me. For someone who'd supposedly been Team Patrice until recently, she'd switched sides with remarkable speed.
As if reading my thoughts, Monica's eyes met mine. "I'm not blind, Ms. Alexander. Our mother has... issues. Issues I've been making excuses for. But threatening you? Attempting to poison my brother and the people he loves?" She shook her head. "No. That's where I draw the line."
"It's just Lottie," I said quietly. "And thank you."
Her expression softened slightly. "You make him happy. I can see it in his face—something I haven't seen in a long time. That's all that matters."
Sierra finally released Kaleb, moving to plop down beside me on the sofa. She grabbed my hands, squeezing them.
"The relationship thing," she began, a mischievous glint entering her eyes despite the serious conversation we'd just had. "I really am curious though. Like, how does it even work? Do you all—"
"Sierra!" Kaleb's voice hit a pitch I'd never heard from him.
"What?" She laughed, the sound slightly hysterical. "You can't drop a bomb like 'I'm in a relationship with three people' and not expect questions!"
"This is neither the time nor the place," Kaleb said firmly, his face flaming.
Monica shook her head at her twin's antics, but I caught the hint of a smile on her lips. "I'm curious about the same thing though."
Kaleb looked like he wanted to melt through the floor. Or possibly run screaming from the room. "Fine. Fine." He held up his hands in surrender. "We're in a... polyamorous relationship. The four of us. We care about each other, support each other, and yes, we're all together romantically."
"Do the guys—" Sierra started, but Andrei cut her off with a growl.
"No."
She blinked. "I didn't even finish my question."
"You were going to ask if Kaleb, Colby, and I are romantic or sexual with each other," Andrei said flatly. "The answer is no. We're all straight. We share Lottie because she's ours, but we're not involved with each other that way."
"Oh." Sierra nodded, processing. "Okay. So it's like... three spokes and one hub?"
"I hate that analogy but yes," Kaleb muttered, scrubbing his hands over his face.
I couldn't hold back anymore. Laughter bubbled up from my chest, breaking through the tension that had gripped me since the restaurant. Kaleb looked so utterly uncomfortable trying to explain our relationship dynamics to his baby sisters that it was simultaneously endearing and hilarious.
"I'm sorry," I gasped between giggles. "I'm sorry, Daddy K, but your face—"
He shot me a look that promised retribution later, but his lips twitched despite himself.
Sierra joined my laughter, her earlier hysteria transforming into genuine amusement. "Oh my god, Kale. You look like someone's forcing you to explain the birds and the bees to a kindergarten class."
"Feel free to stop helping," Kaleb said dryly, but the corners of his mouth finally curved upward.
Even Monica allowed herself a small smile, some of the tension leaving her rigid posture.
The moment of levity was exactly what we needed—a brief respite from the darkness of Patrice's actions. A reminder that even in the midst of chaos, we could still find reasons to laugh.
To live.
"So basically," Monica said, her tone turning serious again, "Mom tried to poison all of you because you wouldn't give her money?"
"Among other reasons," Kaleb confirmed. "But yes, that was the catalyst."
"What a bitch," Sierra muttered, then glanced at me apologetically. "Sorry, Lottie. No offense if you don't like cursing."
I waved a hand, wiping tears of laughter from my eyes. "Trust me, I have a mouth like a sailor. No judgment here."
"I like her," Sierra declared, squeezing my hand again.
"Me too," Monica agreed quietly, surprising us all.
Kaleb exhaled slowly, some of the weight visibly lifting from his shoulders. Having his sisters' support—their acceptance not just of our relationship but of the severity of Patrice's actions—seemed to steady him in a way nothing else had.
"There's more we need to discuss," Andrei said, his tone gentle but firm. "About security. About what happens next."
"I know." Kaleb straightened, his hand finding mine. "But first, I think we should eat. Clara made enough food to feed an army."
"Food sounds amazing," Sierra admitted. "I was too nervous to eat before coming over."
As we all rose to head to the kitchen, I caught Oscar's gaze lingering on Monica again. This time, she noticed too, a faint blush creeping across her cheeks before she looked away.
Very interesting indeed.
Whatever else happened with Patrice—whatever threats still loomed—at least we weren't facing them alone.
We had family. The one we'd chosen, and the one that chose us back.
And in this moment, surrounded by people who cared, I felt something I hadn't in days.
Hope.