My mother split a look between us, and the joyous expression that came over her face almost made me roll my eyes. So, my wife had me wrapped around her finger. Her presence would at least save me from shooting King on sight.
We entered the parlor room where the fucker was already in courtship mode with my sister. It was like I’d entered the Victorian era. Ivan was sitting there with a drink in his hand. At least the men were having vodka.
Jeremiah King stood up in his three-piece charcoal-gray suit. His hair was slicked back, and his clean-shaven face had an almost boyish look to it. I found him more tolerable than his older brother.
“Kirill.” He extended his arm.
I stared at it for two seconds before I shook it. I could almost feel the collective relief of everyone in the room. “King.”
“Mrs. Zahkarova, nice to see you again.”
Lucy shot him her fake smile, giving me fleeting relief that I wasn’t the recipient of it anymore and that I had a sharp woman backing me up.
Aralina came up to us and hugged me extra tight. There might have been a warning in there to behave. When she released me, she turned her attention to Lucy, but I grabbed her attention back.
I signed, “I’m away for a couple of days and you find yourself a boyfriend?”
Aralina clapped a hand to her mouth as if to hide a grin before signing, “Long story.”
I raised my gaze to King. “You know I’m never going to approve of this.”
Aralina looked pleadingly at Ivan.
“Son, I think you need to stay out of this.”
But what irritated the fuck out of me wasn’t my father, it was how King had his arms around my sister. “I’ll handle this. Don’t worry.” He kissed my sister on the side of the head.
What the fuck?
“Handle what exactly, huh, King?”
A malicious glint in his eyes turned me wary for the first time because it eroded his affable nature earlier. Sensing the tension spiraling inside me, Lucy stepped closer and linked our fingers.
My mother walked in with tea. “Let’s all settle down and talk this over like civilized adults.”
“What I’m saying,” Ivan grumbled. “And you thought I was the unreasonable one.”
“We know about the trust, Ivan,” I told my father.
“Great! Then there’s no need to repeat what we talked about last night,” King said. “I do have something to say to Kirill and Lucy in private.”
Aralina typed into her phone and showed it to King.
“Soon, baby. There’ll be no secrets between us, but this one is up to your brother to tell you.”
Baby?
My parents cast worried faces toward me.
Fucking hell. And I was supposed to be the one on the offensive. Could I just bury this prick in my mother’s rose garden? Unfortunately, he seemed to have charmed my sister.And Aralina right now was staring daggers at me. When did this fucking happen?
“The garden,” I said and clasped Lucy’s arm to guide her. No way were we talking in Ivan’s office. I’d always been careful not to say anything that my father could use against me.
“What do you really want, King?” I gritted. “Did your brother put you up to this?”
He chuckled. “You really think I’m Theo’s attack dog? No, he doesn’t support this.”
“I find that hard to believe. You’re always plastered to his side.”
