“Um, it’s Carmichael now. Sir,” Brandon corrected. His fingers tightened around mine, twisting slightly as I felt a slight, nervous jitter in his hand. “And that’s okay. We figured if we came early enough we could make a special request.”
Jonas glanced down at our hands, causing me to slightly move myself between him and Brandon protectively. If there was going to be anything said about this, even as an off-hand comment, I wasn’t going to have it. It’d break my heart to fire any of the staff that had been here for most of my life, but intolerance of any kind wasn’t going to fly.
No matter whose mouth it was coming from.
Jonas’s brow simply rose further but he said nothing else on the matter. Instead, he gestured with his chin down the hall to the kitchen while saying, “Better go let Hazel know now before she starts putting something elaborate together. You know how she gets.”
His casual words had me relaxing a bit. Behind me, I adjusted my hold on Brandon’s hand, running my thumb over the top of his palm in a soothing way and nodded to Jonas. “Some special occasion coming up?”
“Not that I’m aware of. But last week, she made a whole quiche, so anything’s possible.”
I breathed out a laugh. “Got it.”
“Thanks, Jonas,” Brandon said, moving from behind me.
The second his eyes met mine, a small smile crawled across his lips, melting my heart. It seemed that all time stood still. Here, with Brandon, in the foyer of my childhood home, memories rushed through my head. Of us standing in this exact spot a million lifetimes ago and saying goodbye for the last time.
It killed me to leave him behind. Even more so when we lost contact.
This time around, I wasn’t going to mess this up. Not when I finally felt alive for the first time in ten years.
I started for the hallway leading down to the kitchen, Brandon following along while keeping in time with my footsteps. After breakfast was done, I was going to take him up to my room and lock the door behind us so that I could finally bare all of my feelings to him without anyone else interrupting us before I could get everything out.
Behind us, the door’s bell chimed, the sound of it echoing against the empty space of the marbled floors and grand ceiling.
I stopped and turned to the sound, confusion bubbling up inside of me.
Who would be visiting at this hour? Moreover, who the hell had gotten past the gate?
No one had been following me and not close enough that they’d be able to sneak in right behind me without being noticed in the rearview. I wasn’t expecting any guests.
A visitor for one of the staff, then?
It wouldn’t be completely unheard of, though at this hour, it was rather strange.
I felt Brandon’s curious gaze fall on me—clearly wondering the same thing as me—before he, too, faced the front doors.
With a sharp heave, Jonas grabbed and parted the left one from the frame, sticking his head out into the morning air.
“Is there something I can help you with?” he asked.
A man’s voice answered. “Yes. We’re here to assess the property.”
What the hell?
Nothing was supposed to be touched with the litigations between my and Steele’s law offices were still ongoing. At least, not without proper documentation and a fucking meeting first.
Letting go of Brandon’s hand, I stormed over to the door just as the other one was pushed open. The sound of heels clicking against the stone steps was the first thing I heard, even before seeing whoever it was on the other side push their way through and step into my foyer.
Blonde hair caught my attention first, the thick waves of it cascading down over her narrow shoulders. Her large sunglasses covered up half of her face and were dark enough that I couldn’t see her eyes through them. Her lips were painted a cherry red, eye-catching against her pale skin and a stark contrast against her dark clothing.
One of her hands came up to rub at her protruding baby bump that was pulling at the tight fabric of her dress.
My feet instantly stilled as she turned to me, red hot anger igniting inside of my chest.
Ana Liapovich.
“Get out of my house.” The words were gritted through my teeth.
