Chapter 8 - Selene
It’s Wednesday morning. Only three days after I met his family for the first time, and we are pulling up to Matvei’s home again.
A summer breakfast. That’s what Simon said.
I’ve never heard of a family getting together on a Wednesday for a Summer breakfast, but Simon says it’s completely normal for his family. Apparently, they get together often.
I think it’s more to do with the fact that his brothers weren’t done interrogating me over dinner when the girls interrupted them.
I really like the girls. Sofie, Raya, Athena… all of them. They were so sweet, so warm, and so welcoming. I’m looking forward to seeing them again—just not to being questioned like a criminal by his brothers.
I climb out of the car and open the back door to help the twins out of their booster seats. Simon is on the other side of the car, helping Arron, while I unclip Solenne. In her usual overexcited charisma, she is already climbing out over me before I’ve fully unclipped her.
I take note that Arron is also excited, though. This makes me smile because maybe I can deal with another interrogation just so that they can have a lovely day with other children, children who happen to be part of their family.
Simon smiles as Arron bolts after Solenne to the front door. Raya opens it as they get there, and they bowl into her with a massive hug.
My heart warms. She is such an amazing person.
“Hi,” I wave to her as I walk towards the front door with Simon next to me. “Sorry, they were very excited to get here.”
“Are you kidding? I love this. It’s the best part about being an aunt,” she laughs.
When Simon reaches her, she pulls him into a hug. “Have you been staying out of trouble?” she asks him with a teasing tone.
He shrugs, “You know me. Trouble finds me whether I avoid it or not,” he smirks.
Raya pulls me into a hug, too, then takes my hand to pull me into the house.
The breakfast is set up outside on the patio table, where we ate dinner last time.
Sunshine is streaming into the mansion, and the place looks warmer and more welcoming. Maybe it’s just less daunting because I’ve been here before.
Sofie squeals when she sees me, leaping up from the grass where she was playing with her nieces and nephews and running to say hello.
To my surprise, even Matvei, Adrian, and his other brother are far more welcoming and friendly when they greet me today.
Matvei scoops Arron into his arms as he runs past. “Hey Kiddo!” he says, laughing. “I got told that you like spaceships?” he asks.
Arron nods nervously. “I do,” he mutters quietly.
“Well, I have something for you, come on… let’s go see.”
“What is it!” Solenne yelps, running after them as they leave the patio area and walk into the mansion.
I glance nervously at Simon, who shrugs and grins.
Five minutes later, Matvei returns with the twins, who are following him, laughing and shouting with overexcitement.
Arron is wearing a miniature astronaut spacesuit. A proper, full-on space suit that looks absolutely incredible.
And Solenne is dressed as a pink dragon. Tail swooshing behind her, and a giant, padded dragon-shaped head wedged over her head like a hat.
And they are grinning from ear to ear.
“Mommies look at us!” Arron shouts, running towards me.
I have to swallow hard to push back the tears stinging my eyes. Tears of surprise and an overwhelming surge of emotion that I am struggling to control.
Matvei looks proud of himself. I open my mouth to thank him, but I’m so surprised by his kindness that no words come out.
“How great are those outfits?” he laughs. Coming to a stop next to Simon.
“Emma was telling me on Sunday all about their cousins and their favorite things, and I thought… I mean… I thought it would be nice for them,” he shrugs as though this doesn’t mean the world to me.
Emma, his daughter, is younger than the twins, but not by much.
With no words coming out to thank him, I step forward and pull Matvei into a hug.
“Oh,” he laughs, patting me awkwardly on the back. “It’s my pleasure, Selene. The kids already love them. We love them. We’re so happy to have them here. And you. It’s nice to grow the family,” he says.
I step back, still teary-eyed but smiling.
“Let’s have some breakfast?” Adrian says, breaking the ice.
This time, on this family visit, no one asks me anything that makes me feel interrogated. They all, even his brothers, treat me as though I am welcome and like I might even belong. They treat the twins like family, teasing and playing with them in ways my brothers never did.
It makes my heart hurt to think about my brothers.
I miss them like crazy. But not who they are now. And certainly not who they have been for the past five years.
While my father kept me captive, a prisoner in his home, quietly and painfully tortured both physically and emotionally…
my brothers let it happen. He brainwashed them.
They were manipulated and fooled into believing that he knew best. It’s no excuse on their part, and it hurt me greatly that they didn’t stop him.
But I understand what they have been through, too, ever since my mother died.
He has been sculpting them, controlling them, and making sure they are exactly who he wants them to be.
I couldn’t even tell them when I planned my escape. I couldn’t risk it because I couldn’t trust them not to tell my father.
It hurts. It hurts to see them as these worst versions of themselves. I miss who they were when our mother was still alive. I miss who they used to be.
I guess I miss who I used to be, too.
My eyes drift over Simon’s family, a real family. Genuinely warm with each other, kind and full of love. I want this for my twins… I want this for me.
My eyes move towards Simon. He’s looking at the twins with a massive grin on his face. He is such a beautiful man. The perfect features, the most gorgeous body. But that’s not the only thing that attracts me to him. There is so much more. So much that confuses me.
He’s gentle and patient with our children. He always has time for them, no matter what they ask. He’s even been patient with me, which, given the circumstances, I’m not even sure I deserved.
Would I be patient or even slightly kind to someone who hid my own children from me for five years?
I let out a slow breath. Simon appears next to me.
“Did you enjoy breakfast?” he asks, pulling a chair closer. When he sits down, his thigh is pressed against my leg, and heat instantly spills through me, distracting my thoughts.
“Your brothers have been so kind,” I say quietly.
“You are family, Selene. Even though things are happening in the background, concerns, you are still part of the family because of the twins.”
“Just because of the twins?” I ask, my heart hammering in my chest.
I glance at Simon, and he is staring right at me, his eyes piercing into me.
“Is there another reason you were thinking of?” he asks in a husky tone that makes my skin burn, flushing with desire.
I bite my lip and smile, quickly looking away and hoping he didn’t notice my blush. “No, um, it’s lovely to see the twins being so welcomed.”
Simon reaches over the arm of the chair and takes my hand. “Let’s take them for ice cream afterward?” he asks, his voice full of hope.
“Really?” I say, surprised.
“Sure, I’d love to. It’s a beautiful day,” he says.
An hour later, Arron and Solenne are holding ice creams that are melting faster than they can be eaten. The beautiful, hot summer sun beats down on us as we walk around the park. Admiring the flowers, searching for insects, and finally settling down next to a pond filled with ducks.
Simon has a bag of seeds he purchased from a vendor in the park, and the kids are taking turns putting their sticky hands into the bag to grab a handful of seeds to throw at the ducks.
Every time they toss a new batch of seeds, the ducks go wild with excitement and start squabbling over it.
The twins love it.
Eventually, Arron commandeers total control of the seed packet and runs away with it, Solenne right at his side.
Simon laughs and leans back on the grass, resting his weight on his elbows as he looks up at the sky.
“It’s such a gorgeous day,” he observes, then glances at me. His eyes trace over me, taking in my white summer dress, drifting more slowly as he looks at my legs. Self-consciously, I pull the dress lower, and he looks away.
“You used to wear a lot more color than you do now,” he says casually. “Pink, blue, red…”
I smile. “I still love color. But… I guess…” I have to stay hidden. I have to blend in and not be seen. I can’t risk being colorful and attraction attention.
“Do you want to go shopping?” he asks. “You can get whatever you want?”
“Oh, um, I really don’t need anything,” I answer quickly.
He chuckles and shakes his head. “I didn’t say need. I said want. There is a big difference.”
I can’t help the smile that spreads over my lips. My cheeks flush pink when I glance at him and catch sight of his expression. Amusement and kindness.
I hate the way my heart flutters all the time when I’m around him.
I have to start being more careful. If I don’t get my emotions under control, I’ll end up with heartache and depression because he might never be able to see past his idea that I was a spy…
and I might never be anything more than a prisoner to him.
“I’ll think about it,” I say, keeping the topic vaguely open. I would love to go shopping. I can’t even remember the last time I went shopping and just had fun with it. It might have been with my mother.
Simon looks towards the twins, the same smile on his face.
I let my eyes roam the park, over the ducks, the water, the green grass… and suddenly my heart stops.
The man with the scar on his face. The same man who was at the playground when Simon first found me. He’s standing near the tree line with another man I recognize. My father’s men. I never told Simon before. He thought they were stalking him, but they weren’t. They were stalking me.