Chapter 19
Chapter
Nineteen
KAYLANI
Istared straight ahead as we pulled away from Euphoria, humiliation burning hot under my skin. Having Titus escort me out of the club was mortifying, even if no one else saw it.
Fiona’s presence did not soften the blow to my ego. If anything, it made me feel like a scolded toddler. Goran had made the call. He’d stood on the top platform, looking over the crowd, an apology in his eyes.
Goran always did the right thing at the worst possible moment. I loved him for choosing my safety over his silence, and I hated him for reminding me I still needed saving. My reputation of being an irrational, impulsive hothead was still intact.
Titus didn’t need to speak to get his point across.
The way he had approached the table and looked at me with his concerned, brotherly stare said it all.
He didn’t sigh or seem disappointed. He just walked us out, opened the passenger doors, waited until Fiona and I climbed inside, and then drove away from the club.
We stopped at the gates of my father’s estate, and Fiona slipped out with a quiet squeeze of my hand. I stayed behind and watched the iron bars close.
I felt like a freeloader in my own life, drifting between houses, avoiding my home.
Titus took me to his place, down the road from Father’s, and yet it felt like an entirely different world with cleaner, fresher air.
Much like my brother, his home felt calm, secure, and peaceful.
Everything in its place because chaos had no room to grow if you didn’t give it one.
He made the rest of us look like kids throwing sand at the playground while he watched from the swings.
Maybe that was why I hadn’t come to him first. Without saying anything, he made me feel like crap about myself. I knew that wasn’t his intention. But he was too damn perfect.
The dogs ran to greet us when we entered the house. I squatted down and let them lick me to death. I laughed as Hailey rubbed against me, and a streak of glitter transferred onto her fur.
“Well, that’s going to earn me some questions from Fawn,” Titus said, stripping off his long white coat and hanging it up.
I sighed as I kicked off my shoes by the door.
It felt like I was being led to the principal’s office as I followed him into the kitchen.
Hailey seemed to understand that I needed a friend and padded after me, nails clicking softly on the floor.
I sat on one of the island stools, and she leaned against my leg.
My fingers trailed softly over her head as Titus grabbed two mugs.
“Tea or coffee? You look like you need it.”
“You mean I look drunk?”
He glanced at me. “No, you look tired.”
I looked down at my hands. That was worse.
“Tea, please.”
We stood there in silence as he filled the kettle and set it on the stove. The small sounds felt comforting, like a warm hug.
With my arms folded tightly around myself, I replayed flashes of the night I couldn’t scrub away.
I didn’t know what I thought I would accomplish by going to Euphoria and making Goran jealous.
All I knew was that no matter what I did, my father’s words always followed me, like a stalker living inside my mind.
My phone rang on the counter. I ignored it, knowing exactly who it was. It stopped, then started again. I sighed and closed my eyes.
“Let me guess. Father?”
I looked at Titus. “How did you know?”
“You look like the weight of the world is on your shoulders.” Titus stepped up to the island.
The phone stopped again. I barely had time to breathe before it started for the third time. I didn’t move.
Titus picked up the phone. “Hello.”
The volume was loud enough that I heard my father’s angry voice.
“Titus? What are you doing answering Kaylani’s phone?”
Titus looked at me. “She is here with me, but she is asleep.”
“Asleep? What world do you think I live in? That girl is no more asleep than I am. I want to speak to her now.”
Titus remained quiet.
“Titus, did you hear me?”
“I heard you. And I told you she is asleep. You either speak to me or no one.”
There was a long string of swearing on the other end of the phone in both English and Russian.
My heart beat faster, and my pulse climbed as if I were being led to an executioner’s platform. Titus looked completely unaffected by Father’s tantrum. He pulled the kettle off the stove as it whistled and poured the water into our cups.
“What the hell is wrong with her?” Father snarled. “Do you have any idea what she has done tonight?”
Titus handed me my mug and set the milk and honey on the island before leaning back against the counter entirely at ease.
“Lower your voice. I don’t like your tone. And from what I saw, Kaylani was acting like a twenty-year-old and having fun with friends in a safe environment. Ronan, Nathaniel, and I have all done far worse.”
I pressed my lips together. God, I loved my brothers. Well, two of them, anyway. Ronan had some less desirable qualities.
“She embarrassed this family,” Dimitri continued. “There are videos everywhere. My phone has not stopped ringing. Dancing on tables like some—”
“Stop,” Titus ordered, his voice firm.
There was a sharp inhale on the other end of the line.
“You will not speak about Kaylani like that. She deserves a life and to have fun with her friends, just like the rest of us. She wasn’t walking the streets selling her body like you’re making it sound. And you’ve certainly embarrassed this family far worse than she ever could.”
“How dare you?” Father spat.
I’d never heard Titus speak to Father like this.
“Put her on,” Dimitri demanded. “I’ll deal with her myself.”
“I already told you, she’s asleep,” Titus replied calmly.
Dimitri laughed, harsh and humorless. “Don’t insult me. I know she is awake and probably sitting right beside you.”
Titus took a slow sip of his tea.
“Even if she is, you are not speaking to her tonight.”
“You don’t get to decide that. She is my daughter.”
“And she is my sister. I won’t allow you to speak down to her.”
The silence that followed was heavy. Then my father exploded.
“Only a slut behaves like that in public. No respectable man will take her now. She needs to be married before she ruins herself completely. You tell her she cannot ignore me forever.”
The words were a smack that made my eyes sting.
Slut? He thinks I’m a slut?
Tears burned behind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. Even if he couldn’t see me, I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of making me cry.
My hands curled around my mug as I stared at the liquid, unable to look at Titus without falling apart.
Titus didn’t raise his voice.
“Never let me hear you call Kaylani that again. You know that is far from the truth, and you will not disrespect my sister like that,” he growled into the phone.
A shiver raced down my spine. He sounded deadly, like he’d been pushed too far. I bit my lip.
“The only thing you’re accomplishing is destroying what’s left of this family,” Titus said, his tone lower but no less lethal. “You are too arrogant to realize that you’re blaming your daughter for the consequences of a world you built.”
“You are treading in dangerous waters, son,” Dimitri shot back. “You have always undermined me, but one day it will stop.”
“You’re right. It will.”
I looked up at Titus. His amber eyes were full of fire, holding something final. I understood then that there were lines even Father should not cross when it came to Titus.
“I would think long and hard before you decide to embark down that road. Because there will be no coming back from it.”
There was a long pause.
“You will not shame her,” Titus continued. “You will not threaten her. And you will not use this as leverage to force her into something she does not want.”
“You are not in charge of this family, Titus, no matter what you may think,” Dimitri hissed.
“I think,” Titus replied evenly, “that you should consider the fact that the only person losing control right now is you.”
My father swore loudly.
“Did she tell you she hit Julian Harrington for no reason?”
“If she hit him, then it was for a good reason. Kaylani is not violent. As her father, I’d think you’d be more concerned with why she felt the need to strike a man than worrying about your own selfish interests.
Let me make myself clear, Father. My sister is not a bargaining chip.
I will not be played by you or pushed to betray my sister because you choose to twist facts into fiction. ”
I wanted to jump up and cheer
“That girl needs discipline and to be reined in.”
Titus’s gaze flicked to me for the first time.
“She is not the problem,” he said calmly. “Your obsession with ownership is.”
The call ended abruptly without another word. Titus set my phone back on the counter, and for a moment neither of us spoke.
“Thank you,” I managed to say.
“You don’t owe him anything. Not ever.” Titus took a sip of his tea as if he had just wrapped up a conversation about business. “Drink. It will help you sleep.”
I swallowed a mouthful and let the warmth spread throughout my body. My legs felt weak now that the adrenaline had worn off.
“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” I mumbled.
“I know.”
Titus leaned back against the counter, his eyes fixed on the far wall like he was looking for something long gone.
“When Father found out about Fawn, he tried to take her from me.”
“What?”
“We kept this from you, but I think it’s time you heard the truth.” Titus sat down and gave me the full weight of his steady stare. “Father wanted Ronan to marry Vera, but I stepped in for him when things turned ugly at dinner.”
“She has a decent clothing line, but I never liked her much. And that whole thing at Nathaniel’s wedding was…wow.”
Titus smirked. “Yes, well. That was our older brother helping me escape an arranged marriage. The point is, when Father got wind that there was more between Fawn and me, he wanted me to end it.”
“I can see that. She doesn’t exactly come from the kind of lineage he would be overjoyed to have attached to the Mikhailov name.”
“That is an understatement. He knew that choosing her made me less useful.” His mouth tightened. “He threatened Fawn. Tried to bribe her. And when that didn’t work, he arranged for her to be kidnapped.”
My stomach dropped. “Is that why you’re not speaking? I knew it was about Fawn, but why didn’t you tell me that part?”
Titus shrugged. “It didn’t feel right to let what happened between us affect how you saw Father.”
“No. You were trying to protect me.” The realization irritated me more than it should have. Once again, I was being handled like something fragile.
“That is part of it,” he admitted, taking the wind out of my sails. “But that was also the moment I realized there was no version of my life where I got both his approval and what I wanted.”
“So, what did you do?”
“I made it clear that I wasn’t going to play by his rules. I went to work for Nathaniel. And I may have shed a little blood to get my point across.”
My jaw dropped. Nothing Titus said could’ve shocked me more. Then again, it was always the quiet ones you had to watch.
“Kaylani, I won’t tell you what to do. Only you know what is right for you. But I will tell you this. You are not alone. It may seem that way because Father’s goal is to make you feel isolated and weak, but you’re not.” Titus stepped forward and rested his hand on my shoulder. “Remember that.”
He left the kitchen, and I moved to the couch in the den. Curling up, I pulled the large throw down over myself while Hailey jumped up beside me.
The house was silent and safe, but my father’s words echoed in my mind.
I didn’t belong anywhere anymore.
Thankfully, my phone stayed dark. No new messages or demands. But that didn’t mean Father would let this go. He would bend me to his will.
I stared at the dark television and let the truth settle in my bones. The door was closing. Not because of what I’d done. But because my father could feel control slipping through his fingers.
My eyelids grew heavy and before long I couldn’t keep them open and let them close. Titus right about one thing.
I couldn’t avoid him forever. I needed to woman up and meet the bull head-on, or I was going to get gored by the horns pointed at my back.