28
Damien
My gaze swings toward the clock before me. It’s close to ten P.M. and there’s still no news from Mikhail. He took Lucia away this morning but told no one about his plans or where he was taking her.
Anxiety settles in my gut. Callum might’ve put people to watch the area around our estate. They could easily ambush Mikhail, kill him, and take Lucia away.
Cold washes over me each time the thought crosses my mind.
“You haven’t eaten a thing today,” Lilja’s voice sounds from nearby. She’s spread out on a couch, her long, skinny legs dangling off the side. “Do you have to worry so much about the asshat? He can take care of himself.”
“Why can’t he just answer my calls?” I shout. “Would it kill him to give me at least one update? This is the thing I hate about him. He doesn’t respect my authority. He thinks everything’s a game.”
“He’s been dying to get close to Lucia,” Lilja says while her gaze stays stuck on the screen of her cellphone. “You can’t blame him for grabbing the opportunity to have her all to himself.”
“He’s selfish!”
Lilja sits up on the couch and crosses her arms over her chest. “It’s kind of your fault.”
“Excuse me?”
“You don’t give her proper clothes to wear. She barely gets to eat unless one of us takes pity and hands her something to eat. You’re the one who’s turned Lucia into a helpless damsel. She’s so pitiful, Damien. Can you blame Mikhail for wanting to be her knight-in-shining-armor?”
I scoff. “We’re no knights.”
“Well, you’re going have to learn to be one,” she says with a sagely expression. “Princesses fall for knights. There’s a reason you don’t hear love stories about fucking assassins.”
“Don’t you have anything better to do?” I ask, annoyed.
“Nope! I’m waiting for them to come back. Lucia will have a lot to tell me when she returns.”
“Why would she do that?” I ask suspiciously.
“We’re best friends now. Actually,” she leans in and covers her mouth with her hand. “We’ve even kissed.”
“What?” I bark.
Loud chuckles escape her as she rolls on the couch. Clutching a cushion to her chest, she stares at me like a wide-eyed monkey. “Jealous, big brother?”
Jumping off the couch, she twirls around the room with her arms flung wide. “I kissed her twice. Na na na na...”
Great , I think, staring at my slightly crazy sister.
Being ignored by Mikhail is bad enough. Now, I have to deal with Lilja who thinks it’s the funniest shit to be kissing the girl her brothers wanted. We’ve known her long enough to know she’s straight, so this is just one of her stupid pranks to rile us up.
My phone vibrates on my table. Picking it up, I see a text from David, the head of our surveillance team. Mikhail has finally been spotted speeding toward the estate.
Relief spreads through my veins at once. My brother and Lucia are safe.
Getting off the chair, I walk around my desk and head toward the door. Anger chases away the momentary relief I felt. Mikhail has to explain himself tonight.
“Where are you going?” Lilja calls out.
“Mikhail’s home.”
She stops her dancing and immediately follows me.
I hurry down the hallway to reach the entrance hall before my sister gets a chance to warn him.
Everything is quiet this late in the evening, allowing me to hear the revving sound of Mikhail’s motorcycle as it gets closer to the manor. Standing at the door, I look ahead, yearning to catch a glimpse of Lucia to make sure she’s with him.
I glimpse a woman in tall, tan boots, a colorful skirt, and a dark jacket seated behind him. For a moment, I can’t tell whether it’s Lucia because of the helmet concealing her face.
It’s Lucia , I think with relief when she awkwardly climbs off the bike and moves near the light spilling through the open doorway.
Getting off the bike, Mikhail takes off his helmet while Lucia waits patiently for him. When he’s done, he walks up to her, unlatches the helmet’s belt, and takes it off her head.
The two of them look like they’ve bonded overnight. She’s become attuned to his every move now.
Deep-seated anger swells in my chest. I’m envious of the freedom Mikhail enjoys. He doesn’t wear the face of a monster and can freely go anywhere he wants.
It’s only natural for Lucia to like his company more than mine. He can offer her more than I ever can. I’ll never be anything to her except for a monster who takes her against her will.
Mikhail meets my gaze and squares his shoulders. “Hey,” he says casually.
I glance at Lucia. She pales at the rage that’s evident in my twisted features.
“Where the fuck have you been?” I hiss at Mikhail.
“Out,” he says, walking past me.
Grabbing him by the arm, I force him to stop. “Why didn’t you answer my calls?”
“Let go!” he says, throwing my hand off him. “I was busy and on the road most of the time.”
“You couldn’t spare a minute to text?”
“If I texted you back, you’d have wanted updates every fucking minute.”
“Is it a crime to worry about you?”
“Don’t start, Damien,” he mutters.
“You’re not going anywhere without explaining yourself. Why didn’t you tell me you were taking her out? Did you even think of the risks? You could’ve been ambushed by our enemies on your way out of here. You could be dead from a sniper’s shot before you even crossed the woods.”
“You’re being paranoid. Besides, there’s no point in shouting at me now. As you can see, I’m fine. I’ve brought our precious princess back where she belongs. She’s great too. Aren’t you, darling?”
She gives a slow nod.
At least, Lucia’s smart enough to stay quiet and play along.
“Take her back to her room,” I order Lilja.
“No way. I’m not missing this,” she says, shaking her head with a large grin on her face.
“Now!” I bark, injecting heavy dominance in my voice.
She pouts but obeys me. Gesturing at Lucia, she walks out of the entrance hall.
Lowering her head, Lucia quietly follows her.
When it’s just me and Mikhail in the room, I turn toward him. “Can you at least accept the fact you did something wrong?”
He hangs his head and sighs. Walking away, he sinks into a couch.
I move toward him, taking a seat beside him.
“Lucia is a normal girl,” he says in a suddenly exhausted voice. “She’s been imprisoned by Callum all these years. Without us to protect her, he controlled every fucking aspect of her life. Did you know she couldn’t even eat what she wanted to or wear what she wanted to? Any protest she made ended up getting one of her servants punished.”
I stay quiet as the depths of Callum’s cruelty become clearer to me.
“You should’ve seen how happy she was when I bought her a crappy two-dollar hotdog from a cart,” says Mikhail. “She was acting like a homeless person who was all too grateful to receive something to eat.”
A heavy breath leaves me.
“She didn’t even want to go to a restaurant when we were in town,” Mikhail continues. “She wanted to eat at that filthy diner by the road.”
“You went to Ashville?” I ask as a familiar anxiety clutches my throat. “That was dangerous. What if you were spotted?”
“We were just a couple having fun,” Mikhail says with a shrug. “No one looked at us twice. Besides, I was alert the whole time. Why do you think I didn’t reply to your texts? I was busy keeping a lookout so Lucia could breathe a little.”
“Don’t do this again,” I say in a grim, commanding tone.
“I’m not going to sit around and watch her suffer,” Mikhail says in a loud, fiery voice. “We agreed on maligning her and handing her over to that asshole brother of hers. It was supposed to be over in a matter of a day. Things have changed since then. Lucia’s living with us now.”
“We’re keeping her here to protect her.”
“Then, make her feel protected. Don’t control her the same way that asshole did. Give her choices. Let her breathe here. If you want her to stay, you’ve got to make this place a home for her.”
I scoff. “She’ll never want to be a part of our world.”
“You don’t know that,” he says. “Lucia cares about her dad but that’s the only string that’s chaining her to her old life. She’d rather be here than go back to Callum.”
I’m scared to even let myself hope. Can she truly accept living in Volkov Manor for the rest of her life? Can she accept me ?
“She still loves us, you know?” Mikhail says in a low, pain-filled voice. “She didn’t forget us for a day these past seven years. If she truly hated us, she’d have abhorred us after the way we’ve been treating her.”
“You’ve learned all this in a matter of a day?”
“It’s enough,” says Mikhail. “We were victims of Callum Baldwin’s cruelty, and so is she. Let her see what she can have with us. Don’t throttle something that still beats in all of us.” He gets to his feet and meets my gaze. “Make her a home here. Test her if you must. It’s the only way to know how she truly feels.”
He walks away, leaving me with a hopeful dream but also a sliver of fear. Can Lucia ever accept a man like me who is difficult to even look at?