15. Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Fifteen
Anastasia
“ A re you sure things are ok with you and Adrien?” Natalya asks me after our husbands leave.
I know all my sisters sensed the coldness between Adrien and I.
“It’s… not ideal,” I admit, slumping onto the couch.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Natalya sounds so hurt by the fact that I didn’t tell her my feelings. She’s used to being a second mom to me and my sisters that I know she takes these things personally.
“Because I didn’t want any of you to tell me I was wrong for marrying Adrien. I wanted an adventure but you all told me that I had to be careful. That I had to stay safe. I didn’t want you to be made to feel bad for my decision.”
“Do you regret it?” Irina asks in her soft voice, sitting down beside me. “Marrying Adrien?”
I think back to the day he put his mouth on me. How good it felt. How, for the first time, I had hope that we could grow closer. Our date at the museum. How it was actually fun just to talk with him.
But Adrien keeps putting space between us and I don’t know how to break through his walls.
“Maybe,” I whisper. “Maybe I do.”
“You can come back home with us,” Mom offers.
“No. Adrien would never allow that and you know it. I’m his wife now. I have to see this through.”
Mom tucks a piece of my hair behind my ear. “Even if it’s killing you inside?”
“I’ll be fine, Mom,” I say, pulling away from her. “I’ll be fine.” Maybe if I keep telling myself that, I actually will end up fine.
She opens her mouth to say more when we all hear something. A loud bang against the front door that makes all of us stand up. Even Natalya pushes herself to her feet fast, despite her large stomach.
“What was that?” Sasha asks.
“I have no idea,” I say as my heart pounds fast. Another loud bang on the door makes me jerk back and bump into my mom.
She wraps her hands around my arms, steadying me.
It’s pathetic but I’m glad my mom is here.
I wanted to be a woman so badly but sometimes I’m still just a little girl who needs her mommy.
“We need to know what’s happening,” Sasha says, walking forward without any fear. I need to be brave like she is so I pull away from my mom.
“Ana, no,” Mom says. “Let me go first.”
“I’m not a baby anymore,” I snap. She flinches back, clearly hurt by my comment. I quickly walk over to Sasha and we head to the front door.
I pull back the curtain over one of the front windows and peek out. The first thing I see is the dead man lying in the driveway. One of Adrien’s men. The next thing I see is Remy storming up the driveway with multiple men at his side. And they all have guns.
I step back with a gasp. “We’re in danger. Call your husbands. They need to come home. Now.”
“What’s going on?” Irina asks, not afraid of sounding afraid. Whereas I am someone who hates sounding afraid because it only reminds my family that I’m the baby.
“Remy, one of Adrien’s enemies, is here.”
“Can he get into the house?” Mom asks.
“I have no idea. Adrien never prepared me for this moment. I’m not sure he even expected Remy to do this. He killed Adrien’s guards.”
Another bang against the door. A peek out the front window shows Remy pounding on it.
“Adrien, let me in,” Remy says. “Or I will make this worse for you. You will give me back the money owed to me. Now!”
“Away from the door,” Mom whispers, ushering us back. “We have to hide. It’s our only play here. I couldn’t bring my gun through the airport. Ana, where does Adrien keep his guns in the house?”
I stare at my mom in confusion. “Adrien has never told me.”
“Ok. We don’t have time to check. We have to hide and we have to stick together. We all need to grab a knife from the kitchen and hide in a room. We have a better chance at fighting if we’re all together.”
The five of us run into the kitchen and arm ourselves with knives before we head down the hallway and hide in one of the guest rooms. I open the window in case we need to sneak out into the backyard.
But Remy’s men might already be circling the house.
We can’t just run outside and risk getting hurt.
The moment I hear the front door bang open, I whimper. This is not the sort of adventure I was hoping for.
Multiple footsteps invade the house.
They get closer and closer to our room. The footsteps stop right outside our door and there’s a moment where we all hole our breaths, waiting.
And then the door barges open and there’s Remy. His eyes fix right onto me.
“Where’s Adrien?” he asks.
“Don’t say a word,” Mom tells me. My sisters sent texts to their husbands so I know they should be on their way. But how long can I wait?
I have to be brave. I have to show my family that I’m no longer a baby.
So, I step forward. “I’ll go with you. Just leave my family out of this.”
“Ana, no!” Natalya cries.
Remy grabs my arm with a savage grin. “Deal.” He yanks me out of the room and into the foyer when the front door opens and in rushes Adrien with Mikhail, Nico, and Liam.
“Ana,” Adrien says, a tightness in his voice I’ve never heard before. He rarely calls me Ana.
“Give me back my money,” Remy warns, pressing a gun to my head, “or I kill her right this instant.”