Chapter Four
Donovan
The door to my home office flung open, a dark and stormy Magnum prowling toward me like a lion after its prey.
I was in no mood after working all day, attending the party, and now an unplanned trip to the States fast approaching.
Thankfully, I wasn’t one bit afraid of my baby brother; at twelve months apart, we were almost twins.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Don? Dragging Tuvy to the States to go after V—”
That was how he referred to his American fling, Valerie. V.
He glared at me with identical green eyes, the same ones our father’s family was known for, and I ignored him.
“Donovan, fuck off,” he came back with, slamming his fist into my desk. “Mom let me in on your plan. What I can’t seem to figure out is if you want to ruin my life or avoid yours. You know, the one Mom is crafting for you?”
This got me to look up at my brother; after all, he knew how to push my buttons.
“I wouldn’t talk about crafting to me. You couldn’t stand how much Mom adored Cinder, so you went and fucked around and got feelings, and now you want to rain hell down on us.
I’m not going to allow you to tarnish our family name. ”
He leaned on the desk, both palms flattened on the mahogany wood, and shot looks of venom at me. “You don’t know a damn thing what I did.”
If looks could kill, his would have taken me out in one glance.
He carried on. “Don’t you dare sit there at Dad’s desk and act like my father, ruling over me. Dad is gone and you’re hardly a year older than me, so shut it, Don.”
Our dad had passed away close to seven years ago, leaving me in charge of the family business.
And my brother still wasn’t over it. Magnum was furious that he wasn’t named my equal in running our family’s real estate portfolio.
It had always been the plan, me in first and Magnum as second-in-command.
Dad had readied us in his own way; the Malachites had carved the path for decades in investing and property management, helping others maintain Rubian wealth.
Magnum kept at it. “I mean, you still live at home like a damn child.”
It was the truth. I resided in the north wing of the house, and despite it having a separate entrance and a good deal of privacy, I stayed with our mother.
“And you ran away like the petulant son,” I tossed back. I raised an eyebrow while waiting for a response.
“At least I’m independent and go after what I want. V and I are in love, and if you do this, I’ll never forgive you. Who is to say Tuvy will either?”
“Enough! You need to cut her loose,” I roared, standing up and approaching Magnum.
“Get out,” I continued through gritted teeth.
“I am going to the States, and I will do what I need to do in order to protect this family and Rubia. It’s been a long-standing order from the Minister, no cohabitation with humans. ”
“I am human,” Magnum protested, his fists clenched like a child about to have a tantrum.
“You are humanlike,” I corrected. “Our powers make us unique, despite looking like a regular person. You know as well as I do that our DNA is different. And mixing human chromosomes with ours will water down the powers, bringing shame on our family.”
“You’re such a kiss-ass,” Magnum said while hitting the desk again, before turning and walking out, using his mind to slam the door on his way out.
Foolishly, I sent a zing of shock up his spine.
He didn’t have any right to address me like he had.
I was the only one with the family’s interests in mind, not to mention a stronger power.
Magnum could only move objects using his mental will.
It always bothered Mother that his ability was so mundane.
Blowing out a long breath, I listened to hear if he went to argue with the woman in question, and sure enough he did.
I wasn’t worried; my mother could handle herself with the best of them.
Tulya’s mother, Esmeralda, had been a notable friend in that way—teaching her the art of coercion and getting what one wanted by design.
Which was likely why Ceci was so hell-bent on this match; Cinder’s family came from extreme powers.
If anything, it was an arrangement to deepen our family’s capabilities.
Deciding that work had escaped me after Magnum’s tantrum, combined with it being late and Saturday fast approaching, I flicked off the light in my office.
Stepping into the corridor, I pulled the door shut and turned left toward my personal quarters, the hallway lit by only the faint floor lights. My eyes grew heavy.
After my dad passed, I turned his private chambers into my residence, leaving behind the small apartment I’d kept from my university days and moving back home into the care of my mother’s housekeepers.
When he was alive, my father used the massive bedroom to rest in the middle of the night or day, while he worked excruciating hours.
One time, an ex-girlfriend of mine from high school had suggested he took lovers.
I ended that relationship immediately. There were many constructive criticisms of Donovan Malachite Senior, and adulterer was not one of them.
His temper and tenacity in business relations and deals were seated in his need to love, care, and provide for his wife and family.
Opening up the door to my bedroom, I turned the light on, sliding the switch down to dim the chandelier. I wanted to lie down on the mahogany sleigh bed I’d purchased as soon as I moved in and spend a few days in the sheets, avoiding what was to come. But I had to pack.
Traveling to the States, chaperoning Tulya, was not on my wish list. Yet when I opened my armoire, I pulled out sweaters and shirts I was certain would make her look at me.
While spending the next few days, weeks, or whatever it took to seek out Valerie while being near Tulya was less than desirable, it was also my greatest fantasy.
The redheaded, fair-skinned, angelic beauty had my eye since we were in middle school, maybe before that.
She’d handled everyone with such grace, always smiling and sending warm and caring looks.
She’d speak softly, thanking the teachers, trying to go unnoticed.
Back then I didn’t know what the feeling was in my gut, and later in my groin, when I’d spot her in the hallway or class.
But in high school, when she was still in eighth grade and I was a junior, I became educated in the biology of it all.
It was only then that Tulya began to understand the depth of what she could do when every brokenhearted high schooler asked her to take their pain away.
While I was on an opposite path. At first, I couldn’t harness my ability to cause agony, and Tulya obliged almost every request to remove it.
We were two ships passing at night for lack of a better description.
Sadly, ingesting all the suffering began to take a toll on Tuvy’s own heart and energy.
There was simply too much breaking up and making up and then ending things all over again among teenagers.
The roller coaster of it all made her go weak, and she spent a few weeks at home rehabilitating her strength.
It was during this time that I learned my mother would never permit my feelings for Tulya.
Ezza was her closest friend, and she understood the magnitude of her daughter’s power.
Ezza would never allow Tulya and her skills out of her grasp; she’d wield them for all they were worth, milking them for additional abilities lying in wait, among other concerns my mother refused to get into.
I began to resent the women’s friendship and the inside knowledge my mom seemed to know.
But there wasn’t much I could do. Ezza was a dominant force, and my own mother was desperate to be marked as Rubian royalty.
I didn’t buy into any of it other than my father’s making me promise to see to my mother’s happiness.
One thing for sure, I’d never be fool enough to shower Ezza with my brand of magic.
So when it came to the two older women, I learned to play by the rules.
Which was how I came to be assigned the task ahead of me, shuttling Tulya to an assignment she didn’t want, in a place she’d only been once or twice.
Ezza always had an eye for the Minister’s role.
She wanted to be the first woman to hold the office, and her daughter was her ticket.
My mother was the lemming, who thought she was a part of it all.
Deep in thought, I finally realized I’d laid out enough clothes for a month, including a swimsuit, dreaming of Tulya on the beach.
Blowing out a breath, I scolded myself, tossing everything into a suitcase, thinking I’d buy incidentals in Miami, before yanking off my shirt and pants, letting them fall to the floor, and lying down in my briefs.
Morning was moments away, and I’d need as much energy as possible to deal with the actual mission, let alone keeping my feelings for Tulya corralled.
Earlier, my talking to her, touching her arm and spending time close to her, had been a momentary lapse in judgment.
I had to try harder.
My fist met her door with a severity even I was ashamed by, but I had to resist the pull to be a comfort to the woman; this was family business.
“Tuvy,” I hollered, my voice echoing around me, using her nickname, trying to maintain boundaries.
I’d already complimented her full name, saying it was for a woman, and now I was her chaperone.
The door flung open and there stood my worst nightmare and my life-sized fantasy.
With her scarlet hair down and flying all around her delicately made-up face, I forced myself to shut my mouth in record time. Under other circumstances and with anyone else, I would have said something like Morning, gorgeous, but wrong place, person, and time.
“I need two minutes,” she said, leaving the door wide open and pivoting the other direction.