Grandmother had her cane out, and she was ready to use it. I took a step back from the woman I never wanted to let go, and only because I didn’t want to get beaten half to death by one of my grandmothers in front of the rest of my family. I would never live it down.
“Go be useless somewhere else,” Nana smirked as she took Poppy’s hand in hers. Poppy looked between them with a mix of amusement and caution. Good. She should be cautious.
My grandmother might’ve been five-foot-nothing with a cane, but she could level a man twice her size with that stupid thing. They were lethal.
I backed up a step, jaw tight, chest still heaving like Poppy had stolen the oxygen right out of me. Which, honestly, she had.
Nana released a dramatic sigh. “Lord help us, he looks like a kicked puppy.”
“I do not,” I growled, even as Dimitri barked out a laugh across the lawn.
Poppy’s lips curved into the kind of smile that felt like hope and ruin at the same time. “Go,” she mouthed quietly to me, her cheeks warming.
As if I had any control left. As if she wasn’t the one puppet-mastering every instinct I had. But I forced myself to step back again, shoving my hands into my pockets before I grabbed her and undid every good decision she’d ever made.
Nana looped her arm through Poppy’s and tugged her forward, like she’d just won her in a raffle.
“Come along, sweetheart. Let me see what we’re working with.”
I nearly choked.
Poppy’s brows shot up. “Working with?”
Nana tisked. “Posture, grace, the ability to walk in heels without tripping over that brainless rock on your finger.”
My spine snapped straight. “Nana.”
She waved me off like I was a passing gnat. “If he were any sort of real man, he’d have bought you a ring that didn’t require its own zip code.”
My fists clenched so tight my knuckles cracked.
Poppy flushed, instinctively covering the ring with her other hand. “It’s… a bit much.”
“It’s hideous,” Nana declared. “But we’ll fix that later.”
What the fuck did that mean? Were they plotting something else? I could never keep up. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to know.
“Why are you so stiff?” Grandmother got in close to Poppy and tapped her with her cane. “Men like Ivan need women who can bend without breaking. You’ll need to relax a bit.”
Poppy opened her mouth to protest.
I nearly swallowed my own tongue. “Jesus Christ, Grandmother?—”
“Quiet, Ivan. No one is talking to you.” She flicked her cane in my direction without even looking at me. I flinched, I couldn’t helpit.
Dimitri smacked me on the shoulder. “You might as well let them do their thing. If you don’t, you’ll suffer.”
“Are you going to tell us about her?” Dimitri prodded for the first time, which was surprising enough. Ace was watching us from across the dance floor with a glass of whiskey in his hand. His brows were raised as if he could hear every word we were saying.
I rolled my eyes. Thank God Alexei was too wrapped up in his wife and wanting to do husbandly things to care about anything happening over here. He would manage to push me right over the edge. “What’s there to know?”
Dimitri’s lips thinned out in displeasure. “You could start with telling me why your hands are all over her, you look like a kicked dog, and she’s wearing an engagement ring that would buy a small village.” He elbowed me in the ribs. “It wouldn’t have anything to do with you murdering her father, would it?”
Glass shattered behind me, and we both whipped around. Jane stood there, white as a sheet, watching both of us with her mouth in a perfect O. “What did he just say?”
“Jane, I can explain?—”
She held her hands up and took a few steps back from me. “Why would he say that? Does Poppy know?” Her head snapped around as she looked for her sister.
