Chapter 22
Sienna sits in Kaz’s office, curled up in the corner of his couch with a book splayed open on the rolled leather arm when I peek through the doorway.
“Sienna?” I say her name softly, not wanting to disturb her. Kaz mentioned she’s been studying for the Illinois teaching certification test so she can start teaching next school year.
She looks up from her book, relief washing across her face.
“Elana.” She flashes a genuine smile.
“I don’t want to disturb you,” I say, stepping into the office. Kaz has gone to meet Alexander and city council members trying to finalize plans for a casino resort they’re building.
“No. Please do.” She laughs, shutting the book. “I don’t know why I’m so worried about this test.”
“You really like teaching?”
“I do.” She nods, dropping her feet to the floor. “It gives me purpose, and kids are so eager to learn. When they finally understand something that had been confusing to them only moments before, it’s exciting.”
She swishes her hand through the air. “I know, it sounds weird.”
“No. I get it. I would imagine it’s rewarding to be the one to help them learn the world around them.”
She nods. “It is.”
“Kaz isn’t giving you trouble about it, is he? Sometimes my brothers can be a little…overbearing.”
She snorts. “That’s an understatement.”
I sigh. “Yeah.”
“But no, he’s supportive. So long as I teach in a good school district that’s not too far away, and there’s security at the school…and if there isn’t, he’ll send his own.” She lowers her voice in one of the best impersonations of my brother I’ve seen.
“That sounds like Kaz. Well, actually, it sounds more like Alexander. Kaz has always been the more permissive of the three.”
“Really?” Her eyebrows lift.
“Alexander has always been the iron fist. Kaz would champion my cause against him.”
“And what about Ivan?”
“He would side with Alexander more times than not. He’s the typical middle child, sort of goes unseen.”
“Maybe he figured between Alexander and Kaz, they had you covered.”
I lift a shoulder. “Maybe.”
Her eyes narrow a fraction. “You were young when you came to live with them?”
“Old enough to know my place in the family,” I say before I can stop the words from slipping out. “Anyway, I don’t want to keep you, but I wanted to give you something.”
I cross the room and hand over an envelope.
“What is it?” She takes it from me, undoing the clasp at the top and sliding out the certificates inside. Her eyes roam the papers, then lift to mine with astonishment. “Three million dollars in bearer bonds?”
“They were Tony’s.” I try to conjure up some guilt over taking them, but after everything I’ve learned about him, his brothers, and how the rest of the family treated her, I wish I’d been able to do more than steal a few million dollars.
“He gave them to you?”
I laugh. “No. Your brother was charming. An excellent manipulator. Even I didn’t see through his bullshit early enough. But overly generous when it came to money, he was not.”
“Yeah, that’s him. All of them, really.” A shadow falls over her smile. She tries to hand the envelope back to me, but I shake my head.
“No. They belong to you, or Tommy.”
She relents. “All right. I’ll put them in his account for when he’s older. If it were up to him, he’d buy three million dollars’ worth of those foam bullet things.”
“Megan mentioned Kaz has taken up armed warfare in the house.” I laugh.
“Yes, between the two of them, I have a good chance of being shot on a daily basis.”
“I feel like I should apologize, you being forced to marry him and everything, but from our short conversation this morning I can see how good you’ve been for him. So…I’m not really sorry, after all? I mean he’s always been fun, but now he’s happy, relaxed.”
“I’m not sorry, either.” She confesses, leaning forward. “But let’s not tell him how not sorry either of us are, it will just go to his head. He has enough ego up there as it is.”
“He does.” I laugh. “They all do.”
It’s probably easier to grow up with an ego the size of North America when it’s made clear you’re wanted and you belong. That when you express your feelings, they aren’t brushed off, and you aren’t abandoned.
“What’s wrong?” She grabs my hand. “The light just shut off in your eyes. What happened?”
I shake my head. “Nothing. I’m okay. Just getting back into the swing of things. I actually came by to give you the bonds, and to check out my room. I think it’s time I consolidate all my stuff and get my own place.”
“Your own place?” She puts the envelope on the side table. “I thought you were staying with Artem. Kaz said you two were together now.”
“Are we?” I try to stuff the bitterness down, but it’s been a full day since Artem bothered to show his face. After waking up alone yesterday morning, I went to bed with a text message from him that work was keeping him away, and he’d be home soon.
This morning I woke to a cold bed and a still empty house.
“What happened?”
I shake my head. She’s still healing from her attack. She doesn’t need my drama added to her trauma.
“Nothing. He’s just been busy since we got back.”
Her eyes narrow. “Busy? You’ve only been back two days.”
I nod. “Work.”
“So you’ve been staying at his place all alone?”
“No. There’s always someone lurking around the house.” I add when she looks confused, “Security guys.”
“Maybe he’s just catching up on things. He’s been gone a while.”
“Yeah,” I agree quickly, realizing that once again I’m the cause of the problem.
He’s had to chase me across the country, gotten attacked by a rabid raccoon, had to ask his estranged father for help, all while having a bounty put on his head, because of me.
“I don’t know Artem, having only met him the other day when you came home, but if he’s anything like your brothers, he’s not going to like the idea of you finding your own place.”
“It’s not happening today. By the time I find somewhere, he’ll be relieved. Everything happened so fast, it makes sense to slow things down.”
She looks doubtful but is kind enough not to argue the point. “If you say so. But there is also the issue of your brothers.”
“I’ve been on my own before. This won’t be any different than that. I just need to find a new apartment.”
“Why the hell would you need that?”
Artem.
Of course he would show up at the exact moment, I don’t want him to be within hearing.
Sienna’s eyebrows raise as she twists to look at him standing in the doorway, blocking anyone from coming or going from the room. A plane flying through a tornado has less turbulence than his glare.
“Artem.” I smooth my hands over my hips. I hadn’t expected to see him until maybe late tonight, or tomorrow, or maybe, if the universe has any pity for me, not until I found a place of my own.
There is only so much humiliation a woman can stand. And being completely brushed off after saying those three little words that carry such heavy weight is about as much as I can take.
“Maybe I should—”
I stop her before she can climb off the couch. “No, no. You stay. I’m going to go upstairs to my room. I won’t be long.”
“You should stay for dinner. Tommy will be home from school soon, and Kaz will be home by the time we sit down to eat.”
“No.” Artem answers for me, his eyes steady on me. “Thank you, Sienna, but we have dinner plans.”
“No, we don’t,” I retort, and Sienna surpasses a chuckle.
“We do. If you want to go upstairs to get some of your things, let’s go.” He turns to the side, offering me a path out of the room.
For a moment I consider telling him I’ll meet him later or telling him I’ve decided to stay here at Kaz’s. But he’s married now. This isn’t my place anymore. Or Alexander’s or Ivan’s. I’m an orphan with no home.
“I’ll talk to you later,” I say to Sienna, as I make my way across the room.
“We can discuss your comment about the apartment while you pack,” Artem says, his voice dangerously low.
He’s barely two steps behind me the entire way through the house up to my suite on the second floor. When I enter the room, I push the door closed, but he stops it from shutting and barges inside.
“What is wrong, Elana?” he demands as I throw open the closet door.
“Nothing.” I carry a suitcase to the bed and throw it on top, unzipping it and opening it.
As I cross the room back to the closet, he grabs my arm, pulling me to him. My body wants to soften. The smell of him, leather and spice with a hint of crispness from the chill outside reminds me of the safety he brought me in the cabin.
He spins me to face him, cupping my chin in his hand he makes me look up at him. Confusion and irritation mingle in his gaze. Like he’s not sure exactly what to do with me.
A feeling I’m all too familiar with.
“I left you alone too long,” he says.
“No.” I try to pull away, but he tightens his grip. His fingers dig into my cheeks. “Artem, it’s not that.”
“Then what?” He relaxes his hold.
I’m a child. A dramatic teenager at best. This man has gone to great lengths to keep me safe. But not hearing three little words from him has me ready to bolt.
“I’m sorry,” I say softly, gently pulling from his loosened grip. “The guys are all married now, so living with them feels weird. I’ve had my own place before, I just assumed…” I trail off, not wanting to lie but not able to tell him the truth, either.
“Do you want to live alone?” He drops his hands to his sides, searching my face. He reminds me of a lie detector when he looks at me like this. As though the truth will just pop right out of my eyeballs.
But with him, it probably does.
“I’m not sure what I want.” I skim the edge of the truth, testing to see if it holds.
He gives a calculating smile. “Then I’ll just have to help you decide.”
“Artem.” Kaz interrupts just when Artem looks like he’s going to devour me.
“Kaz,” I growl his name.
Artem laughs.
“What’s all this?” He ignores me and steps into the room, taking in the open suitcase on my bed. “What are you doing?”
“She’s packing a few things,” Artem answers, giving me a wink before turning to him. “How did the meeting go?”
A hard expression washes away the concern Kaz had over my suitcase.
“Not as well as we’d hoped. Corruption is expensive.”
“Are you becoming cheap in your old age?” I ask.
“I think she’s becoming more outspoken since you’ve been in charge of her.” Kaz raises his brow at Artem.
“In charge of me?” I add defiance to my tone, but I’m not at all unaware that’s exactly what’s been going on.
And I’m also acutely aware of how hot it makes me to think about how exactly Artem wields his authority. I’m going to need to change my panties if these thoughts keep circling my mind.
“No one is in charge of me.” Artem’s shoulders tighten, but I’m sure it’s from holding in a laugh and not out of irritation.
Kaz rolls his eyes at me. “Of course not.”
“What does that mean?” I take a step forward, ready to battle my brother, but Artem gently wraps his hand around mine and squeezes.
“Don’t kill him yet. He’s still useful,” Artem says playfully.
“I’m not sure I like this combination.” Kaz flicks his finger back and forth between us.
“Did you need something when you came up here?” I question, wanting to get back to being alone with Artem.
Spending those few weeks in the quiet of the woods quieted something inside of me. I crave the peacefulness that was there. Or maybe it’s being alone with Artem I need so much.
“Nothing that can’t wait.” Kaz’s phone buzzes, and he checks the screen.
“Alexander. The man can’t rest for five minutes without coming up with some other job he wants done.
Megan should take him on a vacation. A long, extended vacation far away from Chicago.
On a boat preferably, somewhere there’s no cellphones or internet. ”
“And here I was thinking marriage had aged you.”
When he glances back up from his phone, the carefree brother I grew up chasing with a water gun smiles back at me.
“I’ll talk with you later. I need to handle him before he gives himself a heart attack.” He starts typing feverishly on his phone as he leaves.
“Finish your packing. I have one more thing I need to handle. But tonight, I’m taking you out. Be ready at eight.”
“Out? Like to a club?” I scrunch up my nose at the prospect of all those people and noise. What has this man done to me? I’ve turned into a domesticated house cat.
“No.” He kisses my cheek. “Eight o’clock.”
Before I can ask anything else, he’s gone, too. And once more, I’m alone.