My family, meaning my mother and my younger sister. My older sister, Jade, had her own home to go back to on the East Side. I doubted they would come stay here with us; they would probably go back with Jade.
“Let’s get you all cleaned up, and then we will look at room service,” I barely heard her as she led me out of the sitting area and into the ensuite bathroom. My eyes glazed over as I took most of it in. Everything was white, pristine, clean. I registered that she was running the water in the massive bathtub, but that was it.
When Amelia started tugging on my clothes, I moved almost robotically. We’d seen each other naked plenty of times, doing stupid stuff in grade school and then boarding school. But even if we hadn’t, I don’t think I would have found it within myself to care.
“What happens now?” My voice sounded far away.
Amelia helped me into the steaming water and knelt down beside the tub. “I’m sure an investigation. Make sure the mistress wasn’t involved. Then a ton of legal stuff that will make your head spin.”
I was pretty sure nothing else could make my head spin,especially after everything I’d seen. Things I should have never seen.
I nodded my head, and my vision blurred again. Amelia reached forward and brushed my hair back from my face. Since when was she so maternal?
“It’s going to be okay, honey,” she whispered. “Just breathe. Okay?”
I tried to listen. I tried to stay focused and not lose myself to the thoughts of my father, but it felt impossible. When the water was finally cold, though I couldn’t feel it, Amelia helped me out and dried me off.
“I think we should watch a movie!” She exclaimed as she dug through one of my many suitcases. None of the clothes were appropriate for New York City springtime, but it was all I had, and I wasn’t allowed to pack up anything in an active crime scene. I would need to go shopping which was the absolute last thing I wanted to do but the fleece pajamas I had packed were going to be stifling once I fell asleep.
I pulled them on anyway, but knew they would get old rather quickly. Shopping could wait.
Chapter Ten
Ivan
For the twelfth time,I yanked on my collar. This was too much, especially after living alone for the last two years with very little expectations on the way I dressed day in and day out. Most days, I dressed for warmth and practicality. There was nothing practical about this suit.
There was nothing practical about any of this. I was just thankful I didn’t have to drive out to my parents' home in upstate New York. That would have made all of this even more unbearable. I pinched the bridge of my nose as I considered getting blacked out drunk, and it wasn’t even two p.m. yet. Someone began setting up a fucking harp next to the bar, and I rolled my eyes.
Why was any of this necessary? We were on the top of some building in the middle of the city with flowers covering every single surface. My mother loved to go over the top for this shit. Somehow, she’d gotten Audrey to agree to all of this madness.
I rubbed my temples. If Ieverdecided—which was completely unlikely—to get married, I would elope. None of this shit would be allowed. Copious amounts of money spent, on what? To impress the elites they surrounded themselves with?
Grandmother snaked her arm through mine as she took a sip from a floral teacup. I was sure there was whiskey in there. She didn’t seem like thetea partytype, but I’d been wrong before. “I heard the news this morning.”
The news spread like wildfire once the tabloids got hold of it. Someone in the precinct didn’t like the Fairchild family and was quick to blab about James’ unfortunate demise with his mistress riding his cock. She hadn’t even bothered to remove the condom from his corpse. I hadn’t worried about reading anything else. I knew what I’d done, I didn’t want to revel in it, even if the bastard did deserve it.
I nodded as my eyes skipped over unfamiliar faces. I didn’t care to introduce myself to any of these people either. I was here for Audrey and my brother, that was it. As soon as I’d been here an appropriate amount of time, I was gone and back to my secluded cabin in the mountains.
“A rather scandalous way to go, wouldn’t you think?”
I shrugged as I fought a grin. I probably could have been more discreet, but oh well. Stupid fuckers who played around in sex trafficking deserved the worst fate, and I hated that he couldn’t go slow and painfully.
“The sons are just going to take his place,” I muttered out of the side of my mouth.
Grandmother shook her head as she looked over the topof the teacup as she pressed it to her lips. “No, we have reapers for them.”
It had been a long time since I’d heard that term. The reapers were low-level criminals who would do my grandmother’s dirty work. There would be no money trail that would lead them back to my family if they went down, and I was pretty sure Dimitri had every police officer in his pocket by now. If he didn’t, someone else in my immediate family did.
“When?” I licked my lips. I wanted to know, I wanted it to be painful. I wanted them to suffer.
It was her turn to shrug. “When the time is right.”
She patted my arm before she walked off, and Nana met up with her on the other side of the room.
“I know this isn’t exactly what you’d like to spend your Sunday doing, but I’m glad you showed up. It means a lot to Audrey.” Alexei easily slid into the space our grandmother had vacated.
I nodded as my eyes continued to assess the room. I didn’t know what to say to him—to any of them, really.
