22. Skye
SKYE
I don’t want you to teach me how to tie my tie. I want you to do it for me. Every day for the rest of our lives.
I shot out of bed, brushed my teeth, and was about to go in search of Nikola in this vast Nikolaev compound when the door of my room opened.
My papa’s head peeked through, immediately followed by my mama’s, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“ Come in .” I waved them over, then pulled my white cardigan sweater over my sheer tank top that might be appropriate for Nikola’s eyes but definitely not my parents’. I’d paired it with a pink short skirt.
“ You slept in ,” Mama remarked as they entered.
Papa ruffled my hair, a warm smile grazing his lips. My papa was a ruthless man, but I never saw that side of him. “Sorry for interrupting you.”
“ You two could never interrupt me, Papa. ”
He took a seat on the sofa and Mama took her usual spot on his lap. It would be gross with anyone else, but knowing my parents’ love story, I chose to view it as romantic.
“Nikola cornered me in the library.” My chest expanded with hope. “The shithead had so much to say, a real yapper that one.”
“ Oh .” I really wished Papa wouldn’t choose today to be so cryptic.
“ What’s with the late start to the day ?” Mama remarked. “ That isn’t like you. ”
“ I think jet lag is messing with me. Traveling to Italy, then here to Louisiana. It’s catching up, ” I lied shamelessly. It wasn’t as if I could tell them what went on with Nikola last night.
“ How was your lunch with Kostya? Did it turn into dinner ?” Mama asked.
Papa’s eyes narrowed into slits. “I sure as fuck hope he didn’t push it with you.”
I chuckled, feeling my cheeks burn. “ It didn’t turn into dinner. ”
“Good.” Papa seemed relieved. “When Nikola approached me earlier, he looked like he’d slept in too. Must be something in the air.”
My heart skipped a beat, but I kept my expression blank.
“Mama and I are going back to Italy tomorrow. There’s only so much of the Nikolaevs and the United States we can take. You sure you don’t want to come along with us?”
I leaned back on the windowsill. “ My classes are back in session on Monday .”
“I’m sure they won’t mind you skipping a week or two.”
I plastered on my brightest smile as I faced my parents. “ Papa, that’s not the way to reach graduation. I want to finish my bachelor’s before I’m forty .”
“I’m just worried,” Papa admitted, then shared a fleeting glance with Mama. “We both want you closer to home.”
He had always been overbearing, always searching for the slightest hint of distress. I loved him for it, but I didn’t need all that protection.
“ I know, but I learned to protect myself at D’Arc ,” I reasoned. “ Isn’t that the reason you sent me there? Besides, you taught me how to shoot from an early age. I’m safe on campus. I’ll be home for Christmas anyway. ”
Papa’s hawk-like gaze zeroed in on me, then flitted around my room. “Why do I feel like you’re keeping something from us?”
I squared my shoulders. “I don’t know, Papa. Maybe because your guilty conscience is eating at you? ”
Another shared glance between my parents, and Mama signed, “ We have to tell her .”
I braced myself, knowing they were about to tell me about my arranged marriage, but I couldn’t deny the hope I felt. Could Nikola have asked Papa to marry me?
“Princess, I don’t want you to overreact. What I’m about to tell you might come as a shock,” Papa started slowly. “I just want you to know that these are difficult?—”
Mama released an annoyed breath, always preferring to cut to the chase. “ Papa arranged a marriage for you to keep you safe. ”
I swallowed, my heart trying to beat its way out of my chest. “ Okay …”
“To Amadeo Marchetti,” Papa added, and I stared at him in shock. Of course I knew this information already, but I thought —hoped—there would be a groom switcheroo of sorts. “The Marchettis are powerful, and should something happen to me?—”
“ Nothing’s going to happen to you. I can’t believe you would do this without checking with me first .
” I shook my head, still reeling from his admission.
“ And if something were to happen, Mama and I would be safe with the Nikolaevs or with Aunt Reina and Uncle Amon. This marriage talk makes no sense. ”
“ I told you ,” Mama signed, and Papa’s expression darkened. She simply clicked her tongue and patted his hand in comfort.
“ Is the contract signed ?” I questioned. Papa nodded slowly and I threw my hands out wide. “ What about Nikola ?”
Papa’s eyes narrowed on me. “What about him?”
“ You said he came to talk to you. What did he want? ” Nikola surely wasn’t chitchatting with Papa for the hell of it. The two couldn’t stand each other, and that animosity had bled into every conversation I’d witnessed to date.
“He came to annoy me, that’s all.”
I reached up and pulled my hair at the roots, ready to argue some more, but we were interrupted when Sasha appeared at my door. His tall, muscular body crowded the frame, the ink on his body dark and bold not for the faint of heart.
Branka peered over his shoulder and he pulled her forward, wrapping his big arms around her. I tried to ignore the knot in my chest but failed.
Watching them be so open with their love made it easy to imagine what Nikola and I could have.
“ Sasha, Papa is marrying me off ,” I signed with shaky fingers.
I’d never wanted to turn the men against each other any more than they already were, always preferring to play peacemaker, but there was a first time for everything.
Sasha wouldn’t allow this marriage to go through if he saw how distressed I was.
“ I don’t want it. I can’t marry Amadeo. ”
Then, to my shock, he uttered the last words I thought I’d ever hear: “I know, princess. Your papa and I talked it through. It’s for the best, and you’ll realize it too.”
My mouth fell open, and I stared at my blended family in shock.
Then I bolted out of the room, pushing Branka and Sasha out of the way.
It took me ten minutes of running through the manor to learn that Nikola wasn’t home. I found myself outside, panting, my hands braced on my knees.
A hand came to my shoulder and I whirled around. Marietta stood dressed in her favorite brand: Chanel. A black-and-white cocktail dress fit her slim frame and matched the white pumps on her feet.
“ Hey ,” I greeted her lamely.
“You look upset,” she remarked, pushing her black sunglasses up to sit on her head.
I let out a wry chuckle. “ That’s probably because I am. ”
She tilted her head. “What happened?”
“ My parents, along with Sasha and Branka, plan on marrying me off to some stranger. ”
She cocked a perfectly shaped brow. “I guess you’re not happy about it?”
I shook my head. “ Who in their right mind would be happy about something like this ?”
“Well, we need to do something about it.” I shot her a surprised look. “They can’t marry you off like cattle.”
“ I agree, yet here we are. ”
“Let’s find Nikola, he’ll put a stop to it.” Hope flickered inside my chest for the second time today, and my expression probably matched it. She started heading toward the driveway, passing the stone fountain we used to splash around in when we were younger.
“ You think so ?” I said, tripping over myself to follow her.
“Absolutely.” Her determined expression told me she believed it too. “He’ll know what to do. Get in the car.”
Normally, I would pause. Marietta was the worst, most distracted driver I’d ever had the displeasure of witnessing behind the wheel, but today I slid into her Maserati eagerly.
“ Where is Nikola anyhow ?” I asked her after I clicked the seat belt.
“The Den of Sin.”
I released a slow breath and clutched my seat as Marietta shot out of the driveway like she was prepared to blast into space. My leg bounced and I stared out the window, thinking about nothing except finding Nikola.
He would take my side.