Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Ivan
For the twelfth time, I yanked on my collar. This was too much, especially after living alone for the last two years with very little expectations on the way I dressed day in and day out. Most days, I dressed for warmth and practicality. There was nothing practical about this suit.
There was nothing practical about any of this.
I was just thankful I didn’t have to drive out to my parents' home in upstate New York. That would have made all of this even more unbearable. I pinched the bridge of my nose as I considered getting blacked out drunk, and it wasn’t even two p.m. yet.
Someone began setting up a fucking harp next to the bar, and I rolled my eyes.
Why was any of this necessary? We were on the top of some building in the middle of the city with flowers covering every single surface. My mother loved to go over the top for this shit. Somehow, she’d gotten Audrey to agree to all of this madness.
I rubbed my temples. If I ever decided—which was completely unlikely—to get married, I would elope. None of this shit would be allowed. Copious amounts of money spent, on what? To impress the elites they surrounded themselves with?
Grandmother snaked her arm through mine as she took a sip from a floral teacup. I was sure there was whiskey in there. She didn’t seem like the tea party type, but I’d been wrong before. “I heard the news this morning.”
The news spread like wildfire once the tabloids got hold of it.
Someone in the precinct didn’t like the Fairchild family and was quick to blab about James’ unfortunate demise with his mistress riding his cock.
She hadn’t even bothered to remove the condom from his corpse.
I hadn’t worried about reading anything else.
I knew what I’d done, I didn’t want to revel in it, even if the bastard did deserve it.
I nodded as my eyes skipped over unfamiliar faces. I didn’t care to introduce myself to any of these people either. I was here for Audrey and my brother, that was it. As soon as I’d been here an appropriate amount of time, I was gone and back to my secluded cabin in the mountains.
“A rather scandalous way to go, wouldn’t you think?”
I shrugged as I fought a grin. I probably could have been more discreet, but oh well. Stupid fuckers who played around in sex trafficking deserved the worst fate, and I hated that he couldn’t go slow and painfully.
“The sons are just going to take his place,” I muttered out of the side of my mouth.
Grandmother shook her head as she looked over the top of the teacup as she pressed it to her lips. “No, we have reapers for them.”
It had been a long time since I’d heard that term.
The reapers were low-level criminals who would do my grandmother’s dirty work.
There would be no money trail that would lead them back to my family if they went down, and I was pretty sure Dimitri had every police officer in his pocket by now.
If he didn’t, someone else in my immediate family did.
“When?” I licked my lips. I wanted to know, I wanted it to be painful. I wanted them to suffer.
It was her turn to shrug. “When the time is right.”
She patted my arm before she walked off, and Nana met up with her on the other side of the room.
“I know this isn’t exactly what you’d like to spend your Sunday doing, but I’m glad you showed up. It means a lot to Audrey.” Alexei easily slid into the space our grandmother had vacated.
I nodded as my eyes continued to assess the room. I didn’t know what to say to him—to any of them, really.
“What’s going on with you?” Alexei’s blond hair was gelled back from his face, and his ice-cold eyes assessed the room in the same manner mine did.
“I’m not sure I know what you mean,” I crossed my arms over my chest and looked at my older brother head-on.
“Well, for starters, you aren’t bored. You’re calculating, that’s new.
You live on the other side of the country, doing God knows what.
You don’t reply to texts or calls, or you don’t have service for them.
Audrey asked you about fireworks, and before, you would have been all over that, but your reply was rather… I don’t know, forced.”
My eyes skipped over his pristine suit and the thirty thousand dollar watch adorning his wrist. He was still my brother, but he’d changed too. On the outside, he was stern, but I could see a kindness in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. I was sure I could thank Audrey for that.
“Do you think a bridal shower is really the place to do this?” My voice was steady and cold.
He blinked in surprise. “We miss you.”
It was my turn to be surprised, except when I turned my gaze back to my brother… everything flew out of my head. Right over his shoulder was—I frowned—Poppy?
I would know the slope of her neck anywhere.
She flicked her hair over her shoulder, and I couldn’t even remember what I was speaking about with my brother.
She turned her head slightly and noticed a pair of wide-rimmed black sunglasses over her eyes, and my frown only pulled deeper.
It was overcast outside, and there was shade practically covering everything.
Heaven forbid my mother get a sunburn in the middle of spring.
Her skin was too fair to brave the elements.
A beautiful blonde woman was plastered to her side without sunglasses.
I somewhat recognized her from the lodge that night.
Alexei cleared his throat and followed my line of sight. He chuckled softly. “Ah, Poppy Fairchild, I’m surprised she even made it today. Rumor has it, she found her father’s body yesterday.”
It was like I was stuck in a tunnel. “What did you say?”
He snorted. “She is beautiful. I don’t blame you for being speechless, but don’t be a dick. Her father was killed yesterday. It was all over the tabloids. James Fairchild.”
I couldn’t even tell him I knew exactly what he was talking about.
I ran my hand down the length of my jaw as everything seemed to hit me smack in the middle of the chest. I could hardly pull in a breath.
She’d found her father? She’d found her father with a condom still on him and disfigured beyond comprehension?
The bright light I had no business being around…
“What the hell is she doing here?” I seethed. I didn’t know if I was angry at whoever dragged her here today or angry with myself.
Both. It was choking me.
Alexei shrugged. “I would imagine her mother told her she had to come, for the sake of society.”
I stumbled back a step and decided I probably needed to escape now. But there was no escaping when she turned her sunglasses-covered eyes on me.