Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Alexei
It was a long three hours from the airport to the villa. Thankfully, my flight had gotten in right before Audrey’s or I would have been extremely upset to have to sit in the car for 6 hours so soon after being on the plane for 9 hours. I didn’t care to sightsee, I didn’t want to be stuck in this stupid private car, and honestly, the last thing I wanted to do was small talk.
Fortunately, and unfortunately, something dull caught my eye. I grabbed Audrey’s hand before she could stop me. With a death grip on her fingers, I inspected the pitiful excuse for a diamond ring. “What’s this, Wilde?”
She tried unsuccessfully to yank her hand free from my grip. “It’s none of your business.”
“Have you told Carina?”
She rolled her eyes and tried to yank her hand free, this time I let her fingers slip and her back hit the door with a thud. “I hate you.”
“The feeling's mutual, babe.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Why because you’re engaged?”
She looked so deflated. Defeated . Nothing of what an engaged woman should look like. She didn’t look anything like Carina. She looked so sad and the ring didn’t even look big enough or good enough to be for a political alliance. As far as I knew, people that didn’t marry for money or alliances, married for what they thought was love. She didn’t have the love glow. Happiness didn’t radiate from her like Carina and Ace.
It was going to eat me alive.
“Where’s the glow?” It slipped out before I could stop it. But I wasn’t so sure I actually wanted to hold my tongue.
“What glow?” She crossed her arms over her chest and looked out the window.
“The glow that says you’re a taken woman. The glow that says you’re off limits.” I leaned in close to her. “Where is he now? He’s missing your first trip to Italy?”
I almost missed it with her face turned toward the window but thankfully it was a bright day out and I was able to see the blush creeping up her neck. “I don’t know why that matters.”
I was a foolish man, I knew that for sure. I should have looked away. I should have stopped trying to push but instead, I vowed to myself that I would show her everything she was missing. It would be the death of me but I would show her that mediocre men weren’t worth it.
“It matters because you should be wooed, Milaya.” Her head whipped around and she stared at me with wild eyes. It was the first time I’d ever been serious with her. I was in way over my head but I couldn’t have stopped even if I wanted to. Maybe it was her defeated, turned-in posture, or the way she looked embarrassed as I inspected the ring.
I turned toward her on the bench seat, our knees almost touching. I decided it was best to change the subject now. She would see this city in the fullest capacity, even if I had to bribe one of my brothers to do everything. It wouldn’t take much bribing, they wanted a piece of Audrey almost as much as I did. The difference was that they wanted to piss Ace off. It started out that way for me too, but now things seemed different.
“How long have you known Carina?” I hadn’t cared before, but it seemed important now, though I couldn’t tell you why.
“Our whole lives.” She shrugged and I envied her. There were a few relationships I had outside of my brothers, but none stuck around that long. The closest friend I had was from boarding school but it seemed more like a business partnership now than an actual friendship. I’d never had an example of what true friendship looked like and my father was too terrifying to entice others to come around as children.
“I’m sure you’re going to miss her.”
Her eyes flashed and she looked back down at her wedding ring. “Yeah, it won’t be the same without her. It’s going to be pretty boring.”
I didn’t care . That was what I told myself over and over again in my head. I absolutely didn’t care but the questions came out anyway. “What do you like to do for fun?”
She looked at me as if I’d grown a second head. “What do you mean?”
I was finally able to look away from her and take in the scenery. “Do you have any hobbies? Do you like to do things for fun with or without Carina?”
“Coming from the man that has a huge family, I’m surprised you aren’t saying my only hobbies should be to pop out children and raise them.” Her words came out so scathing, they could have burned me.
I raised my eyebrows at her in surprise. “Oh? You think I would think that?” I crossed my arms over my chest and watched her cheeks turn pink again.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to project.”
“Does someone think you should only worry about children?”
She waved her hand and tried to dismiss it but I knew better and something about the conversation was burning me up. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this Brian fellow sucked ass.
I didn’t know many things but the one thing I knew without a shadow of a doubt was that I had to stay away from Audrey Wilde. I wanted her. I wanted her too badly and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure it out. I hated that she was all I could think about, especially knowing our rooms were right next to each other, but there was nothing I hated more than seeing her sad. I wanted to see her radiant. I wanted to see her smile. I wanted her joy and I didn’t deserve it. Hell, I would never have it but I could try my hardest to see it.
Carina was slipping out of her bedroom when I was going up the stairs. “Can I have a minute?”
She frowned. She hadn’t seen Audrey yet and that was probably where she was headed. My mother was too busy giving her the grand tour. It would take hours. We all knew better than to stop Mother when she was excited about something and when she saw Audrey’s sad eyes, she went full mom mode.
“Of course, is everything okay?” She brushed her black hair behind her ear and tilted her face up at me.
I couldn’t tell her that Audrey was engaged. I wouldn’t ruin that for them, but I would hint that Audrey was sad. “I think something is going on with Audrey. She looked really sad when I picked her up from the airport.”
“Was Brian with her?” She didn’t look so surprised when I shook my head. “Stupid, fucking, idiot.”
I nodded my head a few times. “He is.”
“Did she say anything?”
I shrugged. “Just be sure to do all the sightseeing with her. I know you’re here for Ace and all the wedding festivities but I think she needs you right now.”
And the last thing she needed was me. I couldn’t get involved or I was going to do something we would both regret.
“You’re a really good guy, Alexei.”
I didn’t bother with telling her that she was wrong. I was merely doing this for selfish reasons. I knew that if I kept pushing and I kept going after Audrey, I would ruin everything. I knew I would mess everything up. She didn’t need me coming into her life to fuck everything up. But she did need a wake-up call. She needed to see that she could have everything she could ever want. I would be damned if she married that stupid fuck. But I wouldn’t be the one to end it. I would just be the one waiting when it finally happened.