Chapter 27 #3
A cheeky grin lit his face, his eyes roaming over both of us as we got off the bike and closed the ground between Cameron and the driveway.
His eyes met mine again, and the change in him was immediate as he caught the way my hand was gripping her hip, my hand inching up to splay over her stomach, a paltry attempt to make her stay next to me.
The lies you tell yourself are astounding.
“Not enough fucking today, love birds? Seems like just yesterday I had to force you both to stop fornicating like rabbits and remind you both to eat.” Curiosity lined his voice as if he was trying to place the reason Lenochka and I appeared to be less than relaxed after a ‘morning of fucking’ as he so eloquently stated.
Reasons I was sure Cam could figure out if he put his skills to the test, reasons that were much different for Lenochka than they were for me.
She didn’t seem interested in taking your name, though.
My mind whirled as I recalled her lack of excitement over my desire to become more.
She hadn’t run from it this time though, so I would take progress where I could.
Fissures started to form between the fierce persona I portrayed and the man who just wanted his woman to be ecstatic to have him by her side.
“Damn…”
Cameron’s whisper snapped my focus back to him, and I clapped him on the shoulder as I passed by him. Once inside, I immediately made my way upstairs to see Mishka before we got this shit show on the road.
“Be right back, make sure everything’s secure.”
“Aleks…” Lenochka’s voice was quiet as I turned my head, her face laced with tension as if she felt the distance slowly growing between us. Devastation felt a lot like this. Walking up the stairs, I wondered why she was so adamant to feign ignorance of the life I dreamed of.
One with me.
Turning away, I continued my ascent, stopping at the door across from mine and popping my head into the room to check on the boy who was the reason we were all allowing ourselves to be put through hell in the first place.
The first true smile lifted my lips since watching my Printsessa ready herself before we left her house this morning.
Mishka slept calmly for once, sprawled out with his feet in the air, his arm curled around a stuffed lion.
Salvation. My one reason to accept what Lenochka gave me was knowing that eventually, she would either have to take my name, or we would not be whatever we were anymore.
An hour later, I sat down at the table in our safe room, hitting the commands to turn both the projector and the computers lining the walls on.
I looked up, catching gazes with Cameron and Lenochka as they watched in silence, knowing that what we needed to accomplish here today would set us on a crash course that we would not be able to take back once Lenochka truly stepped forward.
“So, Little Queen, you’re ready to become an Ellsworth again?
” Cameron began, catching on quickly to what brought us here today.
An odd look appeared in his eyes as he looked over at the girl who accepted who he was with no fear or animosity.
Most would have refused to accept the treachery of how the elite families in this town deceived, stole, and lied to protect what they valued most, even if that meant sacrificing something or something they should care about.
“Yes. I need to discuss which title I should accept first with both of you. Ramifications will be steep for the side I choose to wait on.”
“Ellsworth.” Cameron’s reply was immediate and resolute, leaving no room for question as he continued.
“I assume the tension between you two when you showed up was because Aleks no doubt hinted at him wanting to wife you up. Again. Even after he’s asked a dozen times already, I’ve learned how to read between the lines you two are shit at hiding.
You’re not ready to accept the Antonov last name and everything it would entail.
Not if you’re not woman enough to finally accept an engagement to him. ”
“You’ve guessed correctly, Cam. Lenochka’s hesitant to tie her name to mine. Even though the time I have to find and announce my choice in fiancée is getting dangerously close to running out.”
A sharp intake of breath was heard as Lenochka’s face paled.
My words hit home for her, making her remember the deadline my family laid on me—the one stating I had to declare who I would take as a wife before my twenty-fourth birthday, so there would be time to be wed before I hit twenty-five.
As per the contract I’d signed when I agreed to take on the mantle and the responsibilities of the Volkovitch heir.
Like all the pakhans before me of my family line had done.
“Four weeks.” Lenochka’s voice was like a gunshot, shattering the tension that began building after Cameron’s comment.
“This is awkward…do you want me to go?”
“No!” both of us shouted in unison, causing him to jump in his chair as he grinned at us.
“So now that we’ve reminded everyone of Aleks' timeline to declare who he will be taking as his fiancée, let’s get back to the problem at hand—figuring out the best way for Little Queen to become the face of the Ellsworth name once again.”
“I have this feeling that the first game will force it out of me…something about the way the last trial played out…” My eyes zeroed in on Lenochka as she bit down on her lip.
Sighing, she picked up where she trailed off.
“They’ve been testing each of us…it makes me think that each trial going forward will get worse, and the first game is the perfect way for them to weed out anyone who they still believe is weak. ”
“It’s possible that they’ll force you to face where your true loyalty would lie. With your friends and family or with them—The Guilda. After all, it would be fitting for what one of the main cornerstones of The Guilda Sanguis Venenati is.”
I acquiesced as I drew my knife from my pocket, flipping it open and closed in sets of three, thinking about how she was barely functional and struggled to walk for the first few days after the events of Trial Three.
“Either way, it would be a relief to shed the Yates name. Especially after all the truly fucked up shit they had me do upon showing up in The Cove at six.”
“Da. Those fuckers are worse than shit,” I growled, knowing exactly what she was referring to and cutting it off before anything she might remember triggered her.
“Do you plan to publicly announce it before Game One? Or will you wait and keep it as an ace up your sleeve for the last half of The Ludi? You know they’ll have more fucked up shit planned…”
“That’s what I’m unsure of…there are benefits to both, but I think I’ll start to put some fail-safes in place in case they try to prevent me from accepting my name—both the Yateses and The Guilda.”
“Play the game. Be ready to go public with you taking control of the Ellsworth holdings, your inheritance, and all the titles that line will entail, both before and after the first game.”
Cameron nodded at my assessment, eyes calculating and seriousness taking over his face.
“King has a solid point. Plan for the worst. That puts you just shy of three weeks from now, which means…” His voice trailed off as he looked over at me. His pale green gaze filled with sympathy, realising that in just four weeks, it might truly be the end of Lenochka and me.
“Which means I will have just over a week to decide if I will take Aleks up on his obsession to give his last name to me,” Lenochka finished, a slight blush tinting her cheekbones, her eyes flitting between us.
“Lenochka, if taking my name is that hard for you…” I hesitated, forgetting where my thought was going since there was not a single thread in my universe or plans that ever included her truly walking away from us.
From me. She was already shaking her head, igniting a single spark within me once again.
“I’m just afraid, Aleks…if I say yes…” Dusk-coloured eyes locked with my dark navy ones as a sheen appeared over hers. “Then they have something they can take away from me. One more thing they will try to hold over my head to force secrets and compliance from me…”
My heart cracked as her truth was finally revealed. A fear that began a little over two years ago and only heightened once we all took an oath to protect Mishka at any cost, even our lives.
“Printsessa, no.” I stood, walking over to her. I picked her up from her chair and slid underneath, settling her in my lap as she curled into me.
“My family would accept you as our own. The Guilda would have to second-guess anything they wanted to choose to put you through, especially if you can prove to the Antonovs that you’re strong enough to accept your mother’s family too.”
“The Antonovs never fully cut me off. We all know that even if they stayed away, they didn’t once stop watching me.
” Her breaths ghosted over my neck as she turned her attention to the table again.
“I’m less afraid of them welcoming me back into the fold…
I have time to accept them, time to prepare and make sure the current heir has no standing to fight me on. ”
“They would likely require you to return to the homeland. Prove your worth to their matriarch, your babushka1, which is not realistic while you are completing The Ludi right now.”
Nodding, Lenochka listened to my concerns, as she began to sort through all the information she had learned over the past few days. Since her half-brother set both Cam and me on this plan to convince her to become who she was always meant to be.
“It would be something to think about—publicly taking the Ellsworth name and accepting one of Aleks' thousands of proposals to become his wife. It would add an extra layer of protection for Mikhail—er, Mishka, too. We would no longer have to look over our shoulders when others enter the house.”
I tensed at Cameron’s final words. The protection of the boy, of his identity, we kept hidden in my house.
The child so few people had known about the existence of, and even fewer loved.
We will do what we must. The words I told Lenochka weeks ago haunted my mind as I decided that I would do anything to convince her to truly become mine, now more than ever, because of something that drifted across my mind today while I watched her getting dressed.
“Okay, okay.” Lenochka slapped the table, leaning back into me as my hands traced patterns on her thighs.
“I’ll pull together a plan for when it would be best for me to publicly announce my reclaiming of the Ellsworth name. I’ll have to put feelers out within the London Outfit, drop hints that I’ll be making my way home for the first time since they shuttled me out fifteen years ago.”
Cameron knocked his knuckle on the table, signalling that we needed to wrap up this meeting.
“Just out of curiosity…you two are being safe this time, yes?”
Lenochka blanched, going stiff in my arms, no doubt thinking about all the times I had ridden her bareback over the past few months, pumping her full of my cum without a care…until now.
“Da.” My answer was resolute, even as the thought that had been circling my mind since this morning once again refused to go away.
“Good. That’s good. Wouldn’t want to put any more trouble in the way of Lenochka being able to take her place…and your name.”
1 Babushka (Russian): Grandmother