Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Poppy
Someone could pinch me; I was ready to wake up.
A freakin’ penthouse suite that overlooked Central Park? I mean, shut up.
My father’s penthouse was nice, but nothing like this. Nothing even close to this. This place had to cost at least…
“Forty million,” Jane interrupted my thoughts as we stared up at the building where the Uber driver dropped us off.
“What?” I asked, my jaw practically on the floor.
“That’s how much he paid for this place,” Jane chewed on her thumbnail as she scrolled on her phone, possibly looking at listing photos of our new home.
“Let’s get on with it then,” I gripped my bag like it was my lifeline, and a doorman greeted us at the entrance.
“Ms. Poppy Fairchild, what an honor it is to meet you. Mr. Donovan has told me much about you, and we are thrilled to have you here. If there is anything you need, please don’t hesitate to ask.
My name is George, and I look forward to getting to know you better.
” His eyes skipped over me kindly before landing on Jane.
He tucked his hands behind his back as he leaned forward to greet her. “And Ms. Jane, what a pleasure!”
He tipped his hat, and I watched as his bright white hair clung to the material before he put it back on his head. I decided then that I liked him and that it might not be so bad living here.
“Your private elevator is through the back there,” he motioned down a short hall. “And you have access to the gym and, of course, our laundry service if you are in need of it. Your elevator will also take you to your private parking garage floor, if you should need that, as well.”
“Thank you so much,” I said as he bowed his head and reached behind the desk next to him. He pulled out two cards and handed each of them to us.
“These will grant you access to anywhere you need to be in the building. Have a wonderful day!”
I was stunned as we stepped into the elevator.
Yes, my father had more money than I knew now what to do with…
but this… this was a different luxury entirely.
I was sure my father could afford this, I mean, I now knew he could, but he had his reasons for wanting to live the way he did, and we would never know them now.
The doors slid closed, and Jane whirled on me, her hair arching around her shoulders as her eyes went wide. “Who is Donovan Madden?”
The littlest bit of hope I had that she’d ignored that comment went right out the window. I thought I had a little bit more time to hide. “He’s my fiancé.”
Her eyes were so big and round she looked like a character out of a Disney Pixar movie. “Your what?”
I’d answered enough questions last night after I’d come back to the hotel room in a robe and with stitches.
I was honest with her because she deserved the truth, but this was different…
I was doing this for her, but she could never know that.
She could never know just how horrible our family really was, especially since our mother hadn’t spoken to either of us since the will reading.
She didn’t deserve any more heartbreak. We’d both been through enough already.
I blew out a breath and laughed a little. “Apparently, arranged marriages are a thing in our circles.”
Jane snorted. “Yeah, right, be serious.”
My shoulders slumped, and all the amusement on her face slid free. “You’re serious.”
“I wish I wasn’t.”
“Jacob and Jones?”
I nodded once. “They arranged it, but it’s just to keep our family safe. Everything that happened yesterday shouldn’t happen again now that we have his family’s protection.”
Jane’s brows pulled together. “I don’t believe you, but okay.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from spilling the beans. All I wanted to do was confide in someone. I didn’t want this burden on my own, but I needed to find someone else to talk to. I definitely needed a therapist.
The private elevator opened up in the foyer of my new home, and my jaw went back to the floor. Jane squealed and shimmied her shoulders. “This is so cool!”
A small smile stretched across my lips as her excitement rubbed off on me. “This is pretty interesting.”
I craned my neck to look up the staircase that stretched on the left side of the entryway. Jane jumped up and down. “It goes up to the library, private terrace, and solarium!”
I couldn’t help but laugh. To her, this was a very lavish vacation. I wished I could enjoy it like she was. “How do you know that?”
She wiggled her phone in my face. “I looked up the listing online! This place is… everything!”
I swept my hand forward. “Lead the way, then!”
“I thought you would never ask!”
We stepped past the foyer and right into the lavish sitting room that was already furnished.
Beige and white, fluffy couches and chairs surrounded a granite coffee table, and just beyond all of that were a few steps that led to glass double doors.
Which, of course, overlooked Central Park.
To the left was the living room that was also furnished similarly to the sitting area, and to the left, just beyond the wood-burning fireplace, was a hallway.
My stomach bottomed out, and a little gasp escaped my lips.
Standing in the doorway was none other than Ivan Cristof.
He leaned against the wall with one foot crossed over the other as he watched us take in our new home.
I should have freaked out, screamed even, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt we were safer now than we had been before.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” his deep voice rumbled over me, and I found myself forgetting everything about Donovan Madden.
“What are you doing here?” My voice came out breathless and wanton.
Jane elbowed me in the ribs and raised a brow at me. I was in trouble now.
He straightened from the wall, and with deliberate, sure steps, he ate up the space between us. “I am your new bodyguard.”
He… he was the one his grandmothers wanted to look over me? Of course. Of course. All the guns made sense now. They’d probably called him in long before they tried to make all of this happen. He wasn’t here for no reason; he was here to work for them… work for me.
Jane let out a little giggle. “Do you know which room is mine?”
“Last room at the end of the hall,” he hooked a thumb over his shoulder, and she skipped right out of the room, but not before she shot me the most diabolical look in existence. She was going to make my life miserable until I told her everything. I just knew it.
“When you accepted the job, did you know it was going to be me? Did you know when everything happened that you would end up watching over me, or have you been working secretly to watch over me until this moment?”
“I didn’t know anything about you or your family before I came to the city for my brother’s wedding stuff. I was simply here because of another job, and then after yesterday’s scare, I couldn’t turn down the contract even if I wanted to.”
Something about the way he said it made the hair on my arms stand on end. “What do you mean?”
He raked his fingers through his hair as he frowned. “It doesn’t matter. I’m here to watch over you and make sure what happened yesterday doesn’t happen again. I’m to be your shadow and your hired gun, that’s all that matters.”
His words were so sad, I wanted to prod, but then the elevators in the foyer dinged open and Ivan shoved me behind him as my brothers came into view.
Ivan let out a small growl that was only loud enough for us to hear. “I need to know everyone who has a keycard to that elevator.”
“We have a maid that will come twice a week,” Jones started, and Ivan held a hand up.
“No.”
“What?” Jacob laughed.
“No, if she wants to come up, she will be let up by the doorman after we approve it. Continue.”
His commanding tone did something to me, and I found my stomach clenching. I fought to press my thighs together.
Jones rolled his eyes. “Okay, Donovan Madden,” Ivan didn’t interrupt for him, but his eyes darkened, and I swore I saw something pop in his jaw. “Both of us and the doorman.”
Ivan nodded. “You aren’t allowed to show up here unannounced again. This is Poppy’s home, not yours.”
Jacob wrinkled his nose. “Excuse me? Who do you think you are?”
“Look, I doubt very much that you would come here in the middle of the night,” he paused and made a face.
“I don’t know any of you very well, but in case you decided to, you would be left holier than Swiss cheese.
This could also happen at any other time because anyone coming up should be approved first. Have the doorman announce your presence and call up, I don’t care, but if not, you might find yourself a little dead. ”
Both of my brothers looked visibly shaken, and if it wasn't for the fact that Ivan was my new bodyguard, I probably would have shoved him into my new bedroom and christened it in every single dirty way I could think of.
But this was just a job, and I was just a check. His standing up for me was nothing but a part of his contract. Though I would have been lying to say it wasn’t affecting me entirely too much. My panties were easily soaked through. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
“Have you swept the house for cameras or microphones?” Ivan asked my brothers, and they shook their heads. Ivan’s smile was grim as he yanked cords and what looked to be tiny cameras out of both of his pockets. “Then I presume these don’t belong to either of you?”
They shook their heads again and Ivan dumped the stuff on the floor before he began stomping on it all. “I’ll do another sweep, and of course, a sweep after the housekeeper comes each time, too.”
My brothers looked at each other with unreadable expressions before they nodded once. “I see we have our sisters in good hands.”
Jones crossed his arms over his chest. “We would like to speak to our sister in private.”
Ivan was gone in seconds.
I mirrored my brothers’ stances. “Yes?”
“We only wanted to make sure you were settling in well and had met the help.”
I wanted nothing more than to point out that Ivan’s family wasn’t only much richer than ours, but they were also working with my brothers in some kind of capacity.
I wouldn’t risk that if I were them, but I knew better than to open my mouth.
I didn’t want any more problems, and I knew if I talked back, they would only make this situation much worse.
I didn’t think it could get any worse, but…
I wouldn’t put it past my brothers, especially since they were using Jane against me.
I nodded once.
“Good,” Jones continued. “Don’t fuck this up, Poppy. Do you hear me? Don’t go fucking your bodyguard, don’t go fucking anyone else, and do not piss off Donovan Madden.”
“Okay,” I said slowly but what I really wanted to say was duh.
“Okay, what?” Jacob seethed quietly.
“Okay, I won’t sleep with my bodyguard or anyone else. I’ll mind my manners.”
“Fantastic.” Jacob stalked across the room to look out across to Central Park. “We will have weekly check-ins. Donovan Madden doesn’t want to wait.”
“What does that mean?” I scowled.
Jones let out an exasperated sigh. “It means that he would like to announce your impending engagement soon, but he can’t do that until you’ve both been seen together publicly. You have to do a couple soft launches before the big one.”
“Are you expecting me to sleep with him?” I didn’t want to discuss any of these things with them, but I knew if I didn’t, I would only make them mad, and it would get taken out on Jane. I wanted nothing more than to ship her off somewhere they couldn’t touch her.
“No,” Jacob said at the same time Jones said, “Yes.”
“Which is it?” My eyes rolled to the ceiling.
“No,” Jacob repeated while he frowned at Jones. “You will save yourself for your wedding night like you’ve been doing all this time. He wants a virgin, and that’s what he’s going to get.”
“How do you know I’m a virgin?” I laughed, almost incredulously. The audacity.
“You’ve never been on a date, you’ve never really looked at the guys in our circles, and,” Jacob stopped as if he was unsure of giving away more details, but Jones was quick to fill in the gaps.
“And your friends are rather chatty. They think you’re a prude.”
I snorted this time. “What’s new, I guess?” Amelia was the closest thing I had to a friend, and I wondered if she was the one who gave them this information. She loved to wine and dine rich men in her free time. She told everyone it was one of her hobbies and how she gained information.
“So keep saving yourself, don’t make us regret hiring a Cristof to come live in your home and…
” Jones clenched his jaw. “Don’t tell Donovan that a Cristof is living here.
Ivan has changed enough from university and boarding school days to be mostly unrecognizable, but the moment he finds out a Cristof is living under this roof, he might change his mind.
We have to be careful about information. ”
I nodded. If he wanted to dig into who was watching over me, he could do it himself. I wouldn’t trust or want anyone else in my home. I wouldn’t be the one to screw this up.
Jacob clapped once and rubbed his palms together. “We will see you next week, then?”
They were gone just as quickly as they came, and I let out a deep breath.
I hated them. It hadn’t always been that way, but now that I was in all this mess, I didn’t want anything to do with them ever again.
I wanted to run away with Jane and never look back, but I knew they would find us.
They would spend their entire fortune to make sure I paid for it.
I sank down onto one of the couch cushions and buried my face in my hands. What the hell was I supposed to do? How did I even tell Ivan? Did it even matter?