I huffed a humorless laugh. “Define normal.”
But before she could answer, the doors slid open, and two large men stepped out—my mother’s private security.
“Ivan Cristof,” one of them said with a nod. “Your mother’s expecting you.”
Jane held up a hand. “Wait. A. Fucking. Second.”
My sharp gaze slid to her. “You should really watch your language.”
“And you really shouldn’t give my sister googoo eyes all day when she’s going to marry someone else, but here we are.”
I sighed. “Okay.”
She wasn’t wrong.
Of course, she wasn’t wrong.
Teenagers had the infuriating superpower of seeing through every lie adults tried to tell themselves.
“You’reIvan Cristof?” she demanded, stepping in front of me now like I’d personally betrayed her. “As in—Cristof Cristof? Like…Dimitri Cristof?The Dimitri Cristof?”
I closed my eyes. “Yes.”
“And why,” she continued, poking me in the chest foremphasis, “is someone likeyoubabysitting us? Why are you our bodyguard? Why didn’t you tell us you were basically New York royalty with a side of… I don’t know—murdery muscle?”
“Jane—”
“No. No, no, no.” She circled me like a shark now. “This whole time, you’re over here acting like some broody, mysterious guy with a tragic past and a weird allergy to smiling—and turns out you’re from theCristof family?Do you know how many TikTok edits Dimitri has? Poppy is going to spontaneously combust when she hears this.”
“Jane.” My voice dropped. “Stop.”
She stilled. “She knows, doesn’t she?”
I nodded my head.
A loud smack came a few seconds later as her palm met her forehead. “Of course. I’m so silly. You were at that engagement party, and then you were staying in that expensive ass hotel that we were in. I don’t know why I didn’t put it all together sooner.”
Don stood behind us with a smirk on his face. “Because you’re a teenager, which means you spend more time in your room with your face in your phone than you are watching the world around you.”
Her cheeks stained pink, and she motioned for us to get on with it. I dreaded what was waiting for me on the top floor, but it wasnow or never.
The front door opened to my mother’s home, and she rushed out to greet us. Ever since everything happened with my father, she’d changed. She was the woman I knew from my childhood, the woman that raised me in secret. The woman our father never treasured, nor cared to. She smiled more, ate what made her happy, and was always in the city instead of the stuff old money in upstate New York.
Don’t get me wrong, she loved her snotty, rich shit. But she missed her boys, and this was the best way for her to be close to them because no one wanted to go back to that empty, depressing mansion again. Her blonde hair was longer and hung in loose waves around her shoulders, and surprisingly, she wore sweatpants and a sweatshirt. I was sure they were designer, but for the first time in my life, I couldn’t tell where they’d been created. There were more smile lines around her blue eyes than normal, and where she’d once been skin and bones… She’d filled out some.
Mother wasted no time pulling me into a crushing hug. “Ivan! I didn’t think I would see you again until the wedding. I missed you.” She pulled back and looked over my shoulder at Jane. Her face softened as she took in the now-shy teenager lurking behind me. “Who is this pretty thing?”
Jane raised her chin and took a step forward, all confidence and grace. “I’m Jane Fairchild, ma’am.”
My mother’s eyes warmed in a way I rarely saw. “Fairchild,” she repeated gently, as if tasting the name. “Well, aren’t you just lovely?”
She opened her arms.
To my absolute shock, Jane stepped into them. My mother hugged her like she’d been waiting to do it forever.
“Oh, sweetheart,” she murmured into Jane’s hair. “You’re safe here.”
My throat tightened—not something I would ever admit out loud.
