“That she is.” Pushing up from the couch, Maxwell approaches me, and even though he isn’t actively glaring at me, my stomach twists itself into a knot. “I’m your Uncle Max, little one. And this is my Little girl, Victoria.”
He gestures to a woman dressed just like me, only in pink and with a matching tiara tucked into her dark curls. Looking up from where she’s playing with her friend, she smiles widely and jumps to her feet, rushing over to throw her arms around me.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, Izzy and I were so wrapped up in our game I didn’t even see you come in! I love your dress, it’s so pretty with all the sparkles on it! Daddy, can I have a sparkly dress like this one?”
My head is spinning a bit by the time she looks up at Uncle Max, her bottom lip pushing out in a pout so profound you could land a plane on it.
And to my continued shock, everything about Maxwell Stone seems to melt at that pout. “You have plenty of dresses, little thief.”
Little thief? What’s that about? I don’t remember anything about her stealing anything. That honor, to my understanding, went to Juliet. Rumors had been swirling about her sticky fingers for months before she disappeared from the social scene.
“But not likethis. Please, Daddy?”
Uncle Max sighs in a way that says Victoria is about to get whatever she wants. “We’ll pay Solene a visit this week and see what she can do.”
“Thank you, Daddy!”
The other man rises from the couch to scoop Isabella up into his arms. His voice is much softer, gentler than Uncle Max’s when he speaks. “Say hello to your new friend, little doll.”
Isabella smiles shyly and waves from her Daddy’s arms. “Hello. I’m Izzy. Um, Isabella, actually, but the others all call me Izzy.”
“And I’m your Uncle Gideon,” her Daddy says with a smile of his own that’s much more welcoming than Uncle Max’s stern expression. “It’s lovely to meet you, little Natalie, even if your arrival did create quite a stir here on the island.”
“In my defense, I didn’t know exactly what I was getting into when I got on that boat. I just wanted to find Juliet.”
“Did someone invoke my name?”
Turning, I lock eyes with Juliet Blackwood, her blonde hair in perfect loose curls around her face and a dress very similar to the ones the other Littles and I are all wearing. Only hers is a gorgeous shade of deep purple and the stones in her tiara match it perfectly. She looks as royal as she’s always thought herself to be, and some mean, bitter part of me wants nothing more than to see her brought to her knees.
The realization doesn’t sit well in my stomach. Is that the real reason I put so much effort into figuring out where she’s been hiding all this time? Because I’m, what, jealous of her wealth, her beauty, her status? Because I’m small and petty enough to want to see her ruined?
Pushing those nasty thoughts aside, I force a smile for her and Jasper, who is planted right behind her, one hand on hershoulder in a gesture so sweetly protective it makes my chest ache a bit to see it.
“Sorry. I was just saying that I didn’t really know what the island was all about, I was just looking for you.”
One pale eyebrow arches regally. “For your tabloid story.”
Temper sparks in my chest. “I don’t write for a tabloid.”
“Of course not.” Waving a dismissive hand, she lets out a short laugh of pure derision. “Just for a gossip column in a magazine nobody even reads anymore. Your parents must besoproud. After all, they made sure you got into thebeststate school they could afford, didn’t they?”
A hand comes to rest on my own shoulder, squeezing gently. “Enough, Juliet.”
I am not without my own protection it seems, and my heart stutters a bit at the realization.
The corner of Jasper’s mouth pulls back in a sneering sort of smirk. “So your Little girl is allowed to call me an asshole, but my Juliet can’t point out a simple truth?”
“Natalie was punished for her rudeness. And there is a difference between impertinence and cruelty. I will not allow my Little girl to be treated cruelly, especially in her own home.”
Before Jasper can respond, Uncle Max steps between them, his expression unreadable. “I’m calling a timeout on this conversation. Evander, why don’t you have Lucas take the girls somewhere to play for a bit while we talk this out.”
Crossing my arms, I glare up at him. “I’m not going anywhere. You want to talk about me, you can say whatever it is you want to say to my face.”
Uncle Max’s eyes narrow slightly and I instinctively take a step back, but my progress is blocked by the brick wall that is my Daddy. I’m not convinced Daddy wouldactuallylet someone else spank me, but I do know for absolute certain I don’t want to test that theory on the man in front of me.
I’m saved from that stern expression when Daddy gently forces me to turn around. He crouches a bit so we’re eye to eye, his expression serious but not severe like Uncle Max’s. “I’m going to talk to your uncles and Auntie Cat for a bit. Can you trust me to protect you, even when you’re not with me?”
Up until this point, I’ve put my trust in him in ways I never could have imagined. I trust him not to kill me, to harm me. But trusting him enough to leave the room while everyone talks about me?
