Chapter 31
Eva
Iwatched in the mirror as Amelia meticulously piled the curls of my hair on top of my head into a fashionable updo.
Ketti and Olivia were chasing my nieces and nephews.
Charles was sitting next to me, watching as Amelia finished up my hair.
All of us had yet to change into our gowns, but we were running out of time.
We needed to leave in the next ten minutes.
Thankfully, we were leaving the children behind—except Charles—with a babysitter and guards.
There wouldn't have been enough time to get them all dressed and out the door.
The whole family flew back here to America a few days ago so Father and I could speak with Harold Wayworth.
We all came because Harold was going to be throwing a party.
Father liked to have us all attend these kinds of events to show that he wasn't only a duke, or a businessman, but a family man as well.
Wayworth Industries was planning to build manufacturing plants in the U.S.
In doing so, a lot of the steel that Luxembourg exported and relied on would end up being sold in the United States and our country would lose one of its top money makers.
The meeting with Harold hadn't gone well.
Father thought he could brow-beat the man into staying in the current arrangement.
I wasn't sure who Harold was planning on working with, but he kept mentioning a new American investor. Father had come home yesterday angry and out of sorts. I could only guess that Harold had decided to take the investor up on his offer.
Father was hoping that by showing at the dinner, it would be an act of goodwill.
And since I'd worked with Harold in the past to negotiate tariffs and such, he was hoping that by me being there I could convince Harold to, at the very least, slow the rate at which he would build new American factories.
"Quit fidgeting," Amelia ordered. She followed the demand up with a kiss on my cheek.
Ketti managed to snag her daughter in the impromptu game of tag they began a few minutes ago and came to sit on the other side of me.
The other children were running and giggling, but Jeanie needed to have her hair brushed out before bedtime and her mother was the only one she allowed to do so.
Ketti began brushing it out, shooting me worried looks.
"What?" I asked with a sigh. They all had been keeping a close eye on me for the last two weeks. It was different from what my father and mother were doing. My sisters cared about me and were worried.
"I've only seen you smile a handful of times since you've been home," Ketti told me, sharing a knowing look with Amelia.
"You've hardly told us anything about your time here in America," Amelia added.
"I can't," I told them. "It hurts too much."
"I knew it!" Olivia crowed. She stopped chasing the children long enough to say the words, but she was panting as she did, ruining some of the effect.
"You met a man," Amelia prompted. It wasn't a question.
I met her gaze in the mirror, then shifted my eyes away. "It was more than that." Two weeks away from Idaho had reinforced what I knew deep down. I loved him. That was the real reason I gave him my innocence.
"What do you mean?" Ketti asked, pausing in the act of brushing out Jeanie's hair.
"I think I'm in love with him."
Amelia's eyes widened and Ketti's jaw dropped open.
Olivia squealed with joy and began dancing around the room with the children.
She was the youngest of us sisters, only twenty-two and a hopeless romantic.
She'd been dreaming of knights on white horses for the majority of her life.
She and I were the only two sisters not married.
"Wait," Ketti said, shaking her head. "How is that possible? You just met him."
I shrugged. "I know. But I am. I'm in love with Idaho."
"What kind of name is that?" Amelia asked, jabbing a pin into my curls.
I winced as she scraped it along my scalp.
Letting her do your hair was an exercise in torture most days, but she did it the best. Father didn't like bringing in hair stylists and make-up artists because it allowed more people into our personal space.
That opened us up to more danger and at the very least, gossip.
The gossip magazines always managed to get little tidbits about our lives and ran with them until wild accusations ended up published at least once a month.
Last month Amelia was supposedly cheating on her husband.
Anyone who knew her would realize the lies for what they were. Amelia was head over heels for William.
"It's a nickname," I told her. "His name is Levi."
Amelia shooed Charles off the chair and sat next to me, taking my hand into hers. "You're sure?"
"Positive," I sighed.
"That explains why you haven't been eating much," Ketti mused.
"And the sulking," Amelia added with a teasing smile.
She wasn't wrong. Mother and Father were the recipients of my cold shoulder, and I wasn't planning on changing that any time soon. I could never hate them, but I was very, very angry with them. They had ruined everything. Idaho had been right there and they took him away from me.
"I'm going to miss you," Amelia said, squeezing my hand.
"Me too," Ketti added.
"Miss me?" I asked, confused.
"Mama and Papa will have to listen to reason if it's love," Olivia said, plopping down on the floor at my feet. A sheen of sweat glistened on her forehead.
"That's a beautiful sentiment, Liv, but I've tried talking to them. Nothing is going to change. They're going to imprison me at home until Papa finds a suitable man for me to marry."
Amelia frowned. "That's not right. You're the third sister. Even if Charlie couldn't take over as Papa's heir, my William would. Or my little Stefan, if William couldn't. You're not in the line of succession. You should be allowed to marry whoever you like."
I gave her a sad smile. "But Papa will never allow me to marry an American."
"Because he'll take you away and we'd never see you again," Ketti said with a small nod.
"I'd come to visit," I insisted.
My sisters shared determined looks.
"You should be able to move here and live with the man you love," Olivia insisted.
"We'll help any way we can," Ketti added.
"I have an idea," Amelia said with a devious smile. She looked around at us as it grew bigger. "Here's what we're going to do."
* * *
My whole body was trembling and it was taking all my willpower to keep calm. Amelia's plan was probably dangerous, but I didn't care. I needed to know the truth. Did Idaho really want me to stay with him? I had to find out.
A hand grabbed mine and I smiled over at Ketti.
I really did have the best sisters. They would love the old ladies at the club, whenever they had the chance to meet them.
I was determined to make it happen one day.
But to do that, I needed to talk to Idaho.
Needed to make sure he wasn't content with me being gone and out of his hair.
"You look beautiful," Ketti told me as we stepped out of the car. People were milling around outside the building, but my eye was caught by the men in formal black suits. They looked much like our bodyguards, with that dangerous air surrounding them.
Only some of these men had tattoos showing on their necks and knuckles.
In some ways they didn't resemble the usual security teams who we were used to.
I frowned as Amelia grabbed my hand and dragged me into the ballroom.
It was filled with people, some of whom I recognized from other events we'd attended in Luxembourg, others were new faces.
"How long should I wait?" I whispered to my sister.
"At least thirty minutes," she replied. "You know Papa's going to come check on us every ten minutes until things are well underway and he's relaxed enough."
People were already drinking, eating, and beginning to dance. The party was under way. I nodded at Amelia and she gave me a quick smile, then turned away to greet someone who was calling her name.
Olivia and I watched as Ketti was swept across the dancefloor by her husband, Henry.
We were all in jewel toned gowns. Not the huge poofy things women used to wear back in the day.
Mine was an emerald green and the thin material hugged all my curves.
It left my back completely exposed almost down to my butt.
"Ladies."
We turned and found our father scowling at us.
His eyes dropped down and his face reddened as he realized Olivia's dress dipped down between her breasts, ending just above her navel.
Amelia and Ketti's dresses, a satiny white and deep sapphire blue, were a little less revealing but they still clung to them like a second skin. Father was not pleased.
"I see I'll have to start approving your wardrobe choices from now on," he told us in a frigid tone. "You look like prostitutes."
Olivia gasped, her hand flying up to cover her mouth, but I wasn't going to stand for him treating us like that. "Papa," I snapped. "You can't speak to us that way."
His brows shot up in surprise that I was back talking him. "Your time in America has made you forget your manners, Tatiana."
"No," I denied, "it made me realize that we let you walk all over us. We're your children, but we're adults. If you want to order someone around, go find Mother," I snapped.
A muscle in his jaw clenched. "Don't speak that way about your mother."
"Then don't speak that way about us," I countered, glaring at him. My hands fisted, in order to keep them from trembling and giving me away. This was one of the first times I'd really stood up to him, and in public, no less. People were beginning to stare.
"I expect your best behavior for the rest of this party," he growled in a low voice. "Or there will be consequences."
"There will be consequences," I mimicked in a nasty voice. Too bad he'd already walked away.
"What's gotten into you?" Amelia said from behind me.
I hadn't realized that she, Ketti, and their husbands had approached while I fought with Father.
"I'm so tired of him bossing me around," I muttered.
"That. Was. Awesome!" Olivia said with a grin. Her enthusiasm made us all smile.
"Am I the only one?" I asked, looking around at all of their faces.
Even the men were ordered around by Father and I knew for a fact it bothered William.
I suspected it made him more angry when Father ordered Amelia around than when it was him taking the brunt of Father's commands.
He loved her too much to let her be treated like that.
"We're used to it," Amelia said with a shrug. It was obvious she was biting her tongue.
"You don't have to be," I told her. "You know he's going to punish you when he finds out you helped me?" I searched her gaze. "I don't want you to get in trouble."
"It doesn't matter," Amelia told me, voice firm. "It's not like he'll beat us. We'll just have to sit through a lecture about the family name and-"
"Our legacy," me and my sisters mimicked with groans, then laughter when we realized we all said the same thing at once.
"I'm still worried about you," I said to Amelia.
"Don't be," she told me, giving me a hug. "We're all here for you." She pulled back and gave me a firm look. "It's important to us that you're happy. That's all that matters."
"And that you get true love," Ketti said, slipping her hands inside her husband's.
"Everyone deserves that," Olivia added.
Henry cleared his throat. "Helped you with what?" he asked, suspicion coloring his tone. Ketti's eyes widened as she searched for some excuse.
We hadn't let the men in on the secret, mostly because they would try to talk us out of it.
They were strong men, in their own right, but they knew better than to mess with Father.
He could make life hell for them if he wanted to.
I didn't want my sisters, or them, to be punished by him because of something I'd done.
"Nothing," Amelia said quickly.
"Just girl stuff," Olivia added.
The men just shook their heads and wandered off to go find their friends to talk to.
We knew exactly what they were doing, getting out of the way so we could continue to plan.
It was as much permission as we'd receive from them.
I had the best brothers-in-law. We sat around, drinking small amounts of champagne and laughing together as Father continued to do his rounds.
Amelia was right. He'd already checked in on us three more times.
"That should be good," Ketti whispered, holding her glass to her lips to hide her words from prying eyes. "He's already settled in to speak to some of the council."
"That will keep him busy for at least twenty minutes," Amelia said. Her eyes shone with unshed tears. "Now's your chance. Just promise me one thing?"
"Anything."
"Please keep in touch. And if you can, come see us?" She swallowed hard, trying not to cry. "We'll meet you anywhere in the world. To hell with Father. But we need to know you're safe."
It was almost impossible not to pull them all into the group hug we'd been doing since we were kids. My arms twitched upward, but she shook her head. It would draw too much attention. "I promise," I told them. "I love you all so much."
"Us too," Olivia said. She sniffled as she discreetly wiped a tear from her eye. "But I think you have to go to the bathroom."
Giving them a sad smile, I walked away and went upstairs. It was unfortunate for me that the bathrooms weren't on the ground level. I went into the women's restroom and studied the tree outside the window. This was going to be risky. I'd be lucky if I didn't break my neck.