Chapter 33
Chapter Thirty-Three
Alexei
Much to my displeasure, I stayed away from Carina and Audrey. I knew she needed her time with her friend but I was itching to see her. I didn’t know why, I couldn’t even tell myself. But I knew if I didn’t see her at dinner, I would go up to her room and bother her until I saw her smile. Even if it was a ghost of a smile, that’s all I needed. I knew it was dangerous to see what Brian did to her because I didn’t think anyone could stop me from hunting him down after. Ace had muttered something about too much makeup when he went to retrieve them from the theater room.
I was early to dinner, scared I would miss her if she snuck down for just a moment. So I sat there and waited for everyone to come down the stairs. Grandmother and Nana were first. They glared daggers at each other in show, but we all knew they were secretly besties. Grandmother didn’t agree with Nana’s approach to fun as we were supposed to be kings but she respected her for killing off her husband too. What a family we were from. Ruthless killers all around. It made for interesting stories, that was for sure.
Ace and the rest of my brothers trickled in. Ace sat catty-corner to me while the other brothers were scattered about, trying to avoid sitting by our parents or the grandmothers. I sat in the middle of the table like I usually did. By the time everyone sat down, there were two seats left. One across from me, next to Nana, and the other next to Ace. At least I knew where Audrey would be seated if she ever made her grand appearance.
When I heard them suffering down the stairs, their hushed whispers echoing in their wake, I sat up straighter. She was a free woman now—I hoped—and that meant she was game to any of my brothers. I was surprised they hadn’t left an opening beside any of them for her to sit. But I knew they were focused on not sitting beside our grandmothers. They knew better and would try to get to Audrey some other time on this trip. I would have to watch carefully at the bridal party tomorrow or they would make a quick move. They weren’t good enough for her and I wouldn’t let them come on too strong or get too close. She needed to heal now.
No one else, besides Ace, cared about the girls coming into the room. Everyone was too focused on the food being placed in front of them or the conversation they were trying to avoid with either Nana or Grandmother. I’d spent the day with Nana trying to shadow Dimitri to keep him away from the girl’s day. We’d been successful most of the day until he pretended he was drunk and ran for the golf carts. He slashed all of the tires but his own and went on a drinking spree. When he finally found Carina and Audrey, he was plastered. It was an interesting show and I was sure it made the girls smile. That was all that mattered, so I left him alone to it. I knew better than to try to get him to behave and he had some weird obsession with a stripper. The last thing he wanted was Audrey, even though he acted like he was interested. I knew better. Dimitri was a good liar, but not when it came to love. I’d watched him fall in love many times since we were little. He had psychopathic tendencies and a big heart. I wasn’t sure how both of those things fit with him but they did.
Nana got her words in with me on settling down and starting a family while we walked around the grounds. I nodded and pretended to listen but all I could think about were ways I was going to make Brian pay. Audrey was the only thing on my mind and I didn’t know how to get her out of it. I didn’t know if I wanted to.
I’d expected a face full of caked-on makeup but as Audrey came into the room, I was stunned. Not only by her natural beauty but by the fingerprints marring her skin. Her eyes flitted around the room as she squared her shoulders and walked to the seat across from me. She wore it proudly and unashamed. The girl’s day must have done her some good.
My mother’s face fell as she looked between the girls. I couldn’t tell you what Carina was wearing or how she looked because quite frankly, I didn’t give a damn. All I cared about was the woman seated across from me.
“How are you feeling, Audrey?”
The conversations around the table slammed to a stop and the room focused on the battered woman before me.
“Much better than I would have if I’d been at home and dealing with this alone.” Audrey’s voice was confident and sure. It was the first time I’d seen her completely comfortable in her skin, despite the imperfections there.
“What on earth happened to you, dear?” Nana looked at her with so much concern, I felt like my heart was going to explode out of my chest.
Audrey tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and her cheeks turned pink. “My fiancé didn’t like how attentive your grandsons are.”
Nana blinked slowly as she raised a tattooed brow. “Is he still alive?”
Before Audrey could answer, my mother gasped, “Mother!”
She didn’t take her eyes off of Audrey. “Well?”
Audrey nodded her head, all of sudden unsure of herself.
“Why the hell is he still alive?” Grandmother chimed in at the other end of the dinner table. She reached for her cane and Dimitri very casually kicked it away from her. We all watched it roll across the floor. Grandmother narrowed her eyes at him, all while he looked at anything but her. Griffin sunk down into his chair while Ivan scrolled on his phone. He didn’t care about these family events and hated that he was forced to attend them. He gave answers when spoken to but other than that didn’t contribute.
Audrey’s golden eyes met mine and she looked panicked. I went in for the rescue but a smirk still curled my lips. “It wouldn’t be wise to spill blood during someone else’s wedding festivities.”
Both grandmothers scoffed. Nana patted Audrey’s hand on the table. “Is he still your fiancé, if he’s still alive?”
She looked down at her lap before she answered. “I’m not sure if he knows it yet, but no. I planned to break things off with him before this.” She waved her hand in front of her face and grimaced.
“I don’t see why any of this is dinner talk or why it is our business,” My father interjected and all conversation at the table ceased. He hadn’t even looked up from his phone, which he always brought to the dinner table. I didn’t know why he even came to dinner with us as a family. He didn’t care for any of us besides Ace and I was pretty sure the only reason he put up with the oldest was because he couldn’t trust any of us to be heirs.
Mother’s lips thinned as she looked down at her plate. I wanted nothing more than to put my father in his place, though it would do no good. I would be outnumbered. No one would ever side with me if I went head to head with the man who kept us fed and living the lavish lifestyles we did. Most of the time I was okay with not standing up for myself, but seeing Audrey’s shoulders hunch forward did something nasty to my insides.
Everyone ate in silence.
After dinner everyone met in the foyer after we waited for our father to slink off to his office, or what we called The Lair. All he cared about was business and watching his profits soar. He would log in to his computer and watch numbers all day. If the numbers weren’t satisfactory then he would ultimately call someone to bitch and complain or even fire them. I’d seen that side of my father a lot as a child. Now as adults, we chose to stay away from that. If our father saw us, it was at parties that our mother forced us to attend or it was for dinner that our mother forced him to attend and he was rarely there emotionally anyway.
Griffin rubbed his hands together and looked like he was ready to plot murder. “What’s next?”
Audrey watched everyone with a weary expression. I could see the exhaustion in her features and watched her out of the corner of my eye to make sure she was okay, though I didn’t directly address her either. I wanted to, but I bit my tongue. There would be time for snarkiness and bad behavior but that day was not today.
Ivan cut Audrey a sly grin and I clenched my fists at my side. “Audrey has a Godawful engagement ring she’s ready to dispose of.”
That was interesting.
Ivan pulled something out of his pocket and I rolled my eyes. A stick of dynamite. How lovely. Leave it to Ivan to carry something around like that. Audrey’s giggle cut through my gut. “I thought we were going to send it off properly with fireworks?”
They’d spoken about this already? When? I thought there were no dicks allowed. How had Ivan gotten past? The sneaky bastard pretended he didn’t care so he could slide under the radar. I knew it.
Ivan tucked the explosive back into the pocket of his baggy jeans and folded his arms over his chest. “Of course. I just wanted to bring out the big guns first. See if you were interested in something else.”
She shook her head and beamed at my brother. How could I get her to look at me like that? I swallowed thickly and tried to think of anything else.
Dimitri put his hands on Audrey’s shoulders and grinned. “Fireworks it is.”
Why were my brothers even here? Was I really having to compete against them?
I stopped the thoughts right there. Compete? Compete for what? I didn’t even understand my brain anymore. I wanted her. But I couldn’t give her what she wanted. She would eventually want kids and a picket fence. I wasn’t a suburban dad who grilled on the weekends and dropped kids off in a carpool. I wasn’t meant for that life. I was meant for roughening up thugs and opening up strip clubs. I was meant for a dangerous life, not this safe existence she sought out in Brian. I needed to keep reminding myself of that or I would destroy the one precious thing I actually cared about.