31. Madeline
Madeline
It was after midnight, but because of the time difference; I hadn’t slept. Since arriving at the Crow's family estate on their island.
I stood in the shadows of the lounge room, watching as two women tried to unlock the glass sliding door.
“Why is it locked?”
“Seriously, Vivi? Probably because of our family.”
I flicked the foyer lights on. Immediately, both women looked at me.
The one who had been picking the lock a second ago started to wave at me. “She looks so scared,”
“Of course she is scared. You’re trying to break into her villa.”
“Hi! We’re Vincent's cousins,” the girl pointed between them. “We. Are. Not. Going. To. Hurt. You. We brought drinks!”
The other woman raised two bottles. “I’m pretty sure she speaks English, Vivi,”
“Then why isn’t she coming?” she tapped the window, waving at me to come to them. “She’s so tiny and cute. She looks like a doll.”
“How has Vincent not crushed her by accident?”
I slide the lock across, unlocking the door.
“Finally!” One woman hugged me as soon as she stepped in.
“Vivi, you’re scaring her.”
“Oh, am I?” She pulled back, holding my shoulders. “I’m Vivienne, but everyone calls me Vivi. Sorry. I’m a hugger.”
The other woman shoved her off me. “And sometimes she is very obnoxious. I’m Evelyn. Harrison’s wife.”
“Oh, good point,” Vivi stepped back in front of me, “Jamison is mine. Have you met them?”
I slowly shook my head.
“That is so weird, my jamjam said he met you.” She turned around, walking back to the door. “Emmie, get in here already! She’s so tiny and cute! Just like a doll!”
“I am sorry about her,” Evelyn turned the lounge room light on. “Trust me, you’ll get used to it.”
I nodded. Suddenly my nerves were eating at me very quickly.
“You are so adorable.” Vivienne tapped my head, walking past me. “How has Vincent not broken you?”
“Vivi, stop touching her,”
“Sorry,” she smiled at me.
They both walked to the couch, sitting down.
“Um, did you want a glass?” I asked as they opened the bottle.
“No, sit. I want to hear everything about you and Vincent. He is so obsessed with you.” Vivienne tapped the couch next to her.
I sat in the armchair across from them. I felt so out of my depth. Men, I could handle. I dealt with men every day of my life. Women, though. I only had my mother. I didn’t even have a relationship with my aunts. Not really.
“We were just friends.”
“That’s so cute,” Vivi sighed, “Jamjam and I weren’t friends. I hated him. He was such a big grump.”
Evelyn nodded. “I met Harrison after he killed my parents.”
My eyes widened.
“Oh, it gets better,” Vivi nudged her, “Tell her the rest of it.”
“He arrived at my wedding, killed my fiancé. Then he turned around to the church and announced our engagement.” She shook her head, “Crows. They are so fucking crazy. But they are our crazy, you know.” She smiled, offering me the bottle.
I shook my head. If I broke my mother’s fast, the consequences wouldn’t be worth it.
“Complete psychos.” Vivienne nodded. “Jamjam started a war for my attention after I ended our merger and went with another family.”
“A family that doesn’t exist now.” Evelyn winked at me.
“I ignored him. Until he broke into my room,”
Evelyn waved her hands. “It gets better. Tell her why he broke in.”
“He missed me calling him Jamjam,” she sighed, clearly very much in love with this man.
“Jamison Crow, as in Marcel Crows, brother?” I asked. Surely, she wasn’t talking about that beast of a man that I watched help tie my cousin's body to the back of my car.
“That’s my Jamjam.” She nodded, looking back at the glass door. “Why isn’t Emmie coming in? Eve, can you go get her?”
“Emmeline, as in Marcel’s wife?” I asked. They both nodded. Perhaps they hadn’t told them what happened.
I walked towards the sliding door. The night air was refreshing. Sure enough, a woman sat on the porch steps, staring at the tree line.
“Emmeline,”
She looked over her shoulder, immediately standing up. “I’m sorry. I was coming, I just.” She locked her phone walking towards me. “Marcel and I are still trying to think of the right thing to do.”
The right thing to do. I frowned, not understanding what she meant.
“Marcel set up a weekly delivery of flowers, but I told him after the funeral you won’t want flowers.
Let alone weekly deliveries. And um, I bailed up Vincent, he wouldn’t tell me anything about you.
” She rocked back and forth on her feet, crossing her arms. “I swear Marcel and I will earn your forgiveness. We can’t have family hating us. ”
The situation was messy. They lost their baby. The hardest thing in our world is accepting the grief and blood that seemed to connect us all together.
“I’m sure in time we will figure it out.” I paused, “and I am sorry for your loss.”
She smiled, taking a step towards me. “Can I hug you? I won’t just force myself on you. I’m sure Vee has.”
I stared at her open arms for a moment. I really struggled with being touched. After months and months of flinching every time, someone moved their hands. But I didn’t want to offend her. So I nodded.
Though I was grateful, it was quick.
“I haven’t missed the story about Vincent and you, have I?”
“No story. We were just friends.” I could hear how empty my voice had gotten over the months. But I just didn’t have the energy to put on a show. And now being at the Crow's estate on their island was making it all suddenly real.
Tomorrow I’d be marrying Vince. Hell. Tomorrow night, these women would be watching him fuck me. Everything about their family was so fucking twisted.
For the first time, I regretted meeting him. I should have just left my car in that car park. If I had married Noah, none of it would have happened. Dad would still be here. Or at least if he was to die, it wouldn’t have been my fault.
“Emmie!” Vivienne opened her arms for her. I watched as the three women took over the couch. They were clearly very close. “We were just telling Maddy how we met the boys. So, we can be very nosy and ask about her and our Vincent.”
All three of them looked at me. “Nothing to know. We were friends.” I had lost track of how many times I had said that.
“Harris and I have a theory.” Evelyn sat up on her knees. “You two have been secretly dating for years.”
I shook my head, “We haven’t. Just friends.”
“So you two haven’t had sex?” Vivienne tilted her head, very closely watching my reaction. I had a feeling this woman was a human lie detector.
“No.”
The three of them shared a look.
“Probably a good thing, considering.” Evelyn added.
“Considering what?” I sat back down across from them.
“Crows can’t date.”
“They do. Vince’s brothers all date” I had seen his brothers with multiple women. Roman was engaged to Ava before she died. And I swore Bastion and Luca had a new woman every month. Sometimes the same woman. Though, I wasn’t sure if their dates were always aware of that.
“No, Roman, Bastion and Luca date. They answer to Vincent and Nikolai. All the other crows follow the full oath.”
“The full oath?” I asked.
“They can date, but their woman is considered prey. So they have to be prepared to share, if the handler calls for it. Which is Damius, so.” She shrugged. “No way in hell that sick bastard wouldn’t lay you out for all of them.”
“But if the Crow is married, they can choose not to participate.” Vivienne added, seeming slightly uneasy. “I have a very set rule with Jamjam about it.”
“Our family works by all of as having as many children as possible. It stops any Crow from settling outside of the oath. Nothing like we might all rip your girlfriend apart to keep them focused on business and only settling with their pet.” Evelyn added, “and no one can touch you once you are considered a pet.”
This twisted, fucked up family. I stared at them as they used words in contexts that should be concerning, not endearing. But the way the three of them lit up at the word pet.
“So why are Vince’s brothers different?” If anything, that just made less sense. All of his cousins answered to their grandfather after their parents died.
Damius wasn’t capable of any emotion, let alone deserved anyone to care about him.
But if what happened to him, happened to anyone else.
I would feel sorry for him. Losing his six sons, their wives, his five brothers and their wives.
Basically, two generations wiped out at once.
Vince’s father might have won that war, but he still died, even if it was at his own hand.
“They did some type of deal and got the younger kids. It isn’t spoken about. The father is always the handler, and well, after their dad’s suicide. They should have all answered to Damius.” Vivienne handed me the bottle again.
“No. I’m fine.”
“Anyway, that might be why Vince never touched you.” She shrugged. “Well, it all worked out in the end.”
“I’m not even sure how I ended up here. Now everything feels…” I stopped. Instead, I shrugged. Like normal, I found myself lost for words.
“Now that sounds like the foundation of every successful crow's marriage.” Emmeline laughed. "Are you nervous about tomorrow? I would do anything to do it again.”
“It was so hot,” Evelyn sighed, leaning back on the couch, “that look in his eyes when he did it. It still gets me.”
“I beg Jamjam every anniversary to cut me. Just to get that look back.”
“Take our advice, enjoy the claiming ritual. You only get it once.”
Vivienne nodded with this wishful look. “Even reenactments aren’t the same.”
“The claiming ritual.” I repeated, just to make sure I had heard them right. “Where he cuts me and then everyone watches us have sex?” Why would I ever want to reenact that? Let alone enjoy it.
“That was my reaction, too. Heck, it is everyone’s reaction. Until after it. And as for everyone in the room, you won’t notice us. You will be way too focused on your husband.”
My stomach twisted. They would be in the room. Their husbands would be in the room. Damius. Suddenly I felt sick again, and this time it wasn’t from lack of food.
Everything about Vince's family was so fucking twisted. My only friend and, of course, he had to be from one of the most psychotic bloodlines.