Chapter 18
Islowly took a seat beside the woman who’d told me that she’d heard a lot about me. Did that mean that she knew I had been kidnapped? Before I could even think about that, I inwardly cursed myself.
Of course they know.
Both women were staring intently as they tried to get a read on me.
I’d never felt more uncomfortable in my skin before as I did in that moment.
I fidgeted, which was a bad habit of mine whenever I was nervous.
As I continued to bunch the silk material of my dress in my hands, I looked up at the sound of my name.
“Aurora,” the redhead said. “That’s a very beautiful name.”
“Thank you,” I replied more out of politeness than anything.
“There’s no need to be nervous or scared with us,” the dark-haired woman said.
I looked over and flashed a small smile at her.
Ekaterina was absolutely stunning, and might’ve even been one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen.
Long, dark hair framed her symmetrical face, and her eyes were the same shade of espresso as her hair.
And as she smiled at me, my gaze was now drawn to her lips, which were naturally full.
The other woman was also striking with her bright red locks and piercing blue eyes. Her face was a bit fuller, but she was still stunning nonetheless. Either one could grace the cover of any fashion magazine, which only made me feel more insecure about myself.
Since arriving here, I had little access to the same beauty supplies I had used back home, so my hair lacked its normal sheen. I barely had any makeup either, so my skin had started to look ashen. I was nowhere near as put-together as either one of these women.
“Are you okay, Aurora?” Reagan asked me.
“She does look a bit pale,” Ekaterina said in response to the redhead. “Let me get you something to drink.”
“I—” Before I could even get more than that out, she rose quickly to her feet and walked into the kitchen. I watched as she opened the refrigerator and stood in front of it for several seconds.
“You can tell this is a bachelor’s pad, but I found something.” She then closed the door and returned with three bottled waters. She handed one to me, but I hesitated. “Go ahead, hun. We wouldn’t want you to get dehydrated.”
“Thanks,” I said and knew she was right. Besides, the bottle would hide some of my fidgeting, so after appeasing them by taking a large swallow from it, I put the cap back on the bottle and held it in front of me.
“How have things been going with Zarren?” Reagan asked.
“I guess they’ve been okay. You two do know that I’m here against my will, yes?” I had suspected they did, but I decided to throw it out there in the off chance that they didn’t. If so, maybe I could convince them to let me go.
Any hope was instantly dashed when Ekaterina smiled. “I preferred to think of it as forced proximity.”
“Same, “ Reagan chimed in. “Although, kidnapping can be hot at times.”
I actually blushed. Did she know I’d let Zarren fuck me unconscious already? I didn’t want to dwell on that, and my face often gave me away, so I cleared my throat. “The two of you were kidnapped before?”
“I was kidnapped, but not by Kingston. It was my father and the man he’d tried to force me to marry. The kidnapping happened after King and I had wed.”
I looked at the other woman. “And you?”
“I was kidnapped by my husband,” she said gleefully, and my eyes furrowed.
“You make it sound like a good thing.”
“God, no. I wanted to throttle Cillian when he’d kidnapped my daughter and me. I tried to escape a time or two, but I was never able to get away.”
“I’m sorry,” I responded.
“It actually turned out to be for the best.”
“How?” I asked her.
“Cillian and I fell deeply in love not long after we first met. We’d planned to be together forever. His grandfather happened, and my mother and sister were murdered by his men. I’d fled and started a new life, but seven years later was kidnapped by Cillian once he found out I was alive.”
“That had to be terrifying.”
“It was, but I’m forever thankful now that it happened. If it hadn’t, the two of us never would’ve found our way back to one another, or had the last almost two decades together.”
“They are disgustingly in love,” Ekaterina said, earning a sigh from Reagan.
“This one over here was on the run from an Armenian mobster her father had sold her to, and Kingston stepped in and married her to protect her from the man.”
“That sounds kinda romantic,” I said.
Both women laughed, but finally Ekaterina spoke.
“Romantic if you are a fan of enemies to lovers. I planned to kill my husband and might’ve actually tried it had I not fallen in love with him.
A marriage of convenience turned into the real deal.
Not long after, both King and Cill rescued me from the man I was engaged to and my father. ”
I was listening intently as I started to wonder if I’d be able to do this with the guy I was being pawned off on soon. Clearing my throat, I decided to throw the question out there that had been burning on my tongue. “You are Russian, yes?”
Ekaterina smiled. “Yes.”
“D-do you know Mikhail Bocharov?”
Her expression changed suddenly. “I don’t know the man myself, but I know his family. They are very dangerous men, and the same could be said for generations before Mikhail. And likely generations after him, too.”
My nervousness turned into fear once more. The very thought of being dragged off to Moscow was scary enough, but I couldn’t stop shaking as I thought about my betrothed. As if they realized where my thoughts had turned, the redhead placed her hand on my shaking knee.
“I’m sure Zarren will ensure your safety with them.”
I barked out a small laugh. “Doubtful.”
“Zarren is different than his uncles,” Ekaterina said to me.
“Different, how?”
“He’s lost right now, and maybe has always been.
His great-grandfather was a very cruel man who terrified others up until his death.
In fact, the despicable bastard had actually held Reagan at gunpoint and would’ve shot her had he not suffered a major heart attack.
It was only afterward that either Cill or King found out that Zarren existed. ”
“They’d found out at the reading of the will. Naturally, both men went and got him from his boarding school, then we all raised him alongside his cousin, Ciara.”
“His mother... Where was she?”
“She was murdered as soon as Ronan found out about the boy. Zarren’s father was dead at the time, and Ronan wanted to raise his great-grandson in the same mold he had brought his grandsons up in.
He’d suffered a lot of trauma before our men found him, and I don’t think he’s fully ever conquered those demons. ”
Tears sprang to my eyes, and now some of the cryptic things he said made a lot of sense. I hated to pry into his life, but he never told me much, and I wanted to know everything I could about him. Why, I didn’t know, but the need drove me anyway.
“He’s not that bad,” I told them.
“King and Cill had a fire burning inside of them when we’d met them, but Zarren has always shut everyone out. He’s as cold as a snow globe, and likely as hollow as one, too,” Reagan warned.
These women were wrong. Just a few hours ago, his mere touch had nearly burned me alive. His eyes had been black, but I sensed some light in them. I shook my head because they just didn’t know him the way that I did.
“He’d been a shell of himself when he was located as a boy, and diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, or ASPD.”
I started to shake my head at Reagan’s words. Ekaterina cleared her throat. “Don’t worry about him, though. He’d never hurt you, Au—”
“Well, I wouldn’t say that with all certainty,” Reagan whispered to the other woman.
“He has an outlet for his aggressive rage,” Ekaterina said to me.
“And that is?” I asked.
“That’s a story for him to tell you. Zarren knows he is supposed to keep you unharmed, and he will do just that.
If need be, he’d protect you with his life because he is a Brannington.
While earlier generations led with no honor, the three of them are reversing that for themselves and their children. ”
I scrubbed my hands down my face. I was starting to suspect that I knew more about their nephew than they did. Or, maybe I’d just been deluding myself into thinking that I did. When I felt their eyes back on me, I saw Reagan pat the seat again, and I sat back down.
“Zarren told us that you’re in need of some clothes. What size are you?”
From there, I’d revealed my clothing sizes and watched as Ekaterina placed a phone call to a Boston boutique.
It wasn’t one I was familiar with, but that didn’t really matter.
After she’d placed a large order, I felt beholden to these women.
Even so, it wasn’t nearly the same as I felt toward Zarren.
Still, they were wonderful company, and I’d even modeled some of the clothing that had been delivered before settling back into something more comfortable.
I shared a drink or two with the women, and eventually, the men returned.
Zarren was much different, and I couldn’t be sure if I was just viewing him that way, or if something had changed when he’d gone off with the two.
I supposed only time would tell which it was.