“Did Margot try to get you to go home?” Eli asks, his voice tight.
“Yeah, she said Corinne, my stepmom, wants me there. She’s frozen Margot and my brothers’ trust funds until I go back.”
Eli and Adriano exchange looks.
“You should know that we think your stepmother is still in contact with Parker,” Eli says. “She was due to gain fifty million after you were married and it seems as though she’s still pursuing the money, claiming she had no control over your abduction.”
I shudder.
“There’s more,” Eli says, and his sharp tone is betrayed by the concern in his eyes. “There’s a possibility your siblings were going to get a cut and they might feel… entitled to tell you to come home.”
I wait for the sting, but nothing happens. I don’t know that there’s anything about my family that could surprise me anymore. “Okay. Well, there’s no way they can get that money now, is there?”
“No,” Adriano says flatly.
“Your brothers can get fucked,” Doc fumes. “Trying to drag their kid sister into a snake pit for a few nickels.”
“Lachlan and Harris don’t know how to exist without my parent’s money. From their perspective, I’m sure they don’t have a choice.”
Doc looks like he wants to be mean, but he hugs me tighter instead. “You’re a better person than us, Tits. But I guess we already knew that.”
I smile into his chest. “I think you’re all good men.”
“That’s because we bent you to our will with mind tricks and hardcore fucking.”
I giggle harder than the comment requires. It just feels so good to smile. Then I catch the look on Adriano’s face. The brutal focus I recognize from the times he’s truly terrified me.
“No! Adriano, you can’t.”
His head jerks up. “Pryntsesa?”
“You’re not gonna kill my stepmom!”
Adriano glances to Eli who smooths his jacket lapels. “She’ll be dealt with in due time,bella.”
“But you’re not going to kill her?”
“No.” Adriano says.
“Definitely not,” Eli adds.
“Good.” I sway in Doc’s strong arms. “I’ve had enough drama for at least like… three years.”
“Make it twenty and that’s how I feel,” Bobby says, giving me his easy, open smile. Suddenly all I want is to be in bed with Doc on one side and Bobby on the other, watching videos on my phone as we fall asleep, knowing tomorrow I’ll see Eli and Adriano. I fight back a yawn.
“You’re taking this well,” Eli says. “Or are you in shock?”
Doc shoves two fingers against my neck.
I tap his hand away. “I’m fine. I’m okay with where I am.”
Judging from the guys’ skeptical faces, they don’t understand. But they don’t have to. I’m still crushed about Margot and my brothers, still mad at Corinne and worried about the look Mr. Parker gave me as he left the conference room, but I can accept it. And not in a stiff, angry way. The feeling inside me is softer than that. It reminds me of a word I’ve always liked, ‘yielding.’ You could see yielding as giving up, but to me it sounds more like giving way. Relaxing into what is instead of fighting the unknown and hurting yourself worse for no reason. I have no idea what’s going to happen, but like I told Margot, I’m willing to wait and see.
“Can we get out of here?” I ask. “I want to go home.”
That makes them all smile. Or Doc, Eli, and Bobby smile and Adriano just crinkles the corners of his eyes a bit.
“In a minute, Tits,” Doc says. “I’ve got a contract signing surprise for you.”
