“What’s going on with you?” Alexei’s blond hair was gelled back from his face, and his ice-cold eyes assessed the room in the same manner mine did.
“I’m not sure I know what you mean,” I crossed my arms over my chest and looked at my older brother head-on.
“Well, for starters, you aren’t bored. You’re calculating, that’s new. You live on the other side of the country, doing God knows what. You don’t reply to texts or calls, or you don’t have service for them. Audrey asked you aboutfireworks, and before, you would have been all over that, but your reply was rather… I don’t know, forced.”
My eyes skipped over his pristine suit and the thirty thousand dollar watch adorning his wrist. He was still my brother, but he’d changed too. On the outside, he was stern, but I could see a kindness in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. I was sure I could thank Audrey for that.
“Do you think a bridal shower is really the place to do this?” My voice was steady and cold.
He blinked in surprise. “We miss you.”
It was my turn to be surprised, except when I turned my gaze back to my brother… everything flew out of my head. Right over his shoulder was—I frowned—Poppy?
I would know the slope of her neck anywhere. She flicked her hair over her shoulder, and I couldn’t even remember what I was speaking about with my brother. She turned her head slightly and noticed a pair of wide-rimmed black sunglasses over her eyes, and my frown only pulled deeper. It was overcast outside, and there was shade practically covering everything. Heaven forbid my mother get a sunburn in the middle of spring. Her skin was too fair to brave the elements. A beautiful blonde woman was plastered to her side without sunglasses. I somewhat recognized her from the lodgethatnight.
Alexei cleared his throat and followed my line of sight. He chuckled softly. “Ah, Poppy Fairchild, I’m surprised she even made it today. Rumor has it, she found her father’s body yesterday.”
It was like I was stuck in a tunnel. “What did you say?”
He snorted. “She is beautiful. I don’t blame you for being speechless, but don’t be a dick. Her father was killed yesterday. It was all over the tabloids. James Fairchild.”
I couldn’t even tell him I knew exactly what he was talking about. I ran my hand down the length of my jaw as everything seemed to hit me smack in the middle of the chest. I could hardly pull in a breath. She’d found her father? She’d found her father with a condom still on him and disfigured beyond comprehension? The bright light I had no business being around…
“What the hell is she doing here?” I seethed. I didn’t know if I was angry at whoever dragged her here today or angry with myself.
Both. It was choking me.
Alexei shrugged. “I would imagine her mother told her she had to come, for the sake of society.”
I stumbled back a step and decided I probably needed to escape now. But there was no escaping when she turned her sunglasses-covered eyes on me.
Chapter Eleven
Poppy
The last placeI wanted to be was at a celebration for the rich and famous. I didn’t want to congratulate the Cristof couple that would be getting married soon, but my mother practically dragged me out of the bed by my hair and told me in not-so-simple terms—You are a Fairchild. You will be strong like one. You will put on a brave face for the cameras and show the world that we are stronger than this. This will not break us. They want to scare us; whoever did this, they won’t.
Amelia helped with my hair and applied very little makeup to my face. I just kept crying it off until my mother caught wind of it and smacked me. “Snap out of it!”
I didn’t understand why I needed to show my face at this stupid celebration, but my mother had screeched something about the Cristofs being business partners with the Fairchilds, and in society, if we wanted their support, we would need to give ours. I didn’t care about society ormoney or any of this, but I knew that if I wanted to have a peaceful rest of my life… I would appease my mother on this.
The last thing I was expecting was to see Ivan. Shock rolled through me as I looked him up and down. His hair was shorter, but still curling around his ears, and he had a little bit of stubble growing on his jaw. There were dark circles under his eyes, but other than that, he looked even better than he had months ago. I swallowed thickly as all the sounds came rushing to me. He squinted at me as if he didn’t recognize me. He probably didn’t with the big glasses covering half of my face. They were necessary to hide my bloodshot eyes and the bags under them that accumulated in such a short time.
“Ms. Fairchild,” Alexei, the groom-to-be, turned toward me with a sympathetic smile, which was odd. I’d known Alexei for a long time, or rather known of him, and there was nothing soft or kind about him. Much like his older brother Ace. They were ruthless in business and illegal dealings, at least that was what my father said. He preferred doing business with their father. “I was so sorry to hear about everything that happened yesterday and a little surprised to see you here today.”
I pushed the sunglasses up on my head and looked at the man with new eyes. Maybe getting married was changing him. “It was… unfortunate, but my mother said we show up for people and that’s what we are here to do.”
My response sounded practiced because it was. It was practically drilled into my head on the drive over. The only thing that was getting me through all of this was havingAmelia beside me, but her jaw was almost on the ground as she realized Ivan was here too…
“Have you had the chance to meet my brother, Ivan?” He patted Ivan’s shoulder, and the man shook his head.
“I don’t believe we’ve had the chance to meet, no.”
Excuse me?
I pushed my sunglasses back down my nose and held out my hand for him to shake. His grip was unforgiving and reminded me of how his hands had felt on my breasts. I hated and loved it all at the same time.
“I’m Poppy,” I whispered as Amelia picked her jaw up off of the floor and elbowed me in the ribs. “I must excuse myself, congratulations, Alexei, I can’t wait to meet your bride-to-be.”
