“Perfect. The clerk already had someone put your items in the boot. Is there anything else you need?”
My husband, a shower, and calamine lotion. I put my hand over my stomach. “If we can just stop by the chemist’s? I need a few lady products.”
He makes a slight face of disgust at the mention of ‘lady products.’
I hold in the eyeroll, but a memory of Parker pulling my tampon out with his teeth like the safety pin from a grenade just a few weeks ago flits across my mind, and I blush. He stayed above the string only to get annoyed by it, pulled out my tampon, and ate me silly. Then fucked me to within an inch of my life. Maksim found us, and with every vile, hard thrust of his hips, he kept praising me, telling me how beautiful my blood looked on him. They’d looked like they'd been to war. And won.
The sheets were utterly ruined.
Then Maksim called me his little strawberry shortcake when their cum started leaking out of me.
Parker laughed hysterically.
I did not.
I freeze for a moment, counting back the weeks.
But I have an IUD…
“Right,” Kane says, standing. “Let’s get you sorted then, shall we?”
I grab my purse, the one holding the gun I DIYed to make pretty, and Parker’s favorite switchblade I know I’m going to use on Kane if I can’t use my gun.
“It’s crazy you had time to grab that,” he says nonchalantly, eyeing my purse.
“It has my phone and my passport,” I quip back steadily, doing my best to keep the sass out of my voice. “Plus, it was on the sideboard by the door. I also had time to grab my coat. As did you.”
“Right,” he nods as we leave the boutique. When the driver stops by the chemist, I tell him to wait there. He didn’t need to see the products I was going to purchase. That I’d like to leave some mystery between us. He agrees, and off I go.
Two hours later
We drive past the Barclay Manor… then the Winters’, which is looking completely empty. As it should.They’re doing their part. I’m doing mine,I chant silently. But my heart is beginning to betray me, not calming, but spiking in pace. I have to will my knee not to bounce and for my fingers not to tap my thumbs. I withhold every tremor.
Don’t break.
We arrive at the Ainsworth Estate, which is heavily guarded on the outside despite the snow falling around us. When the driver opens our door, Kane gets out first, helps me, and then holds out his arm for me to take. The guards don’t greet us, only eyeing me suspiciously for seconds at a time as we pass them. You’d think they were the Queen’s guards. Practical statues.
Once inside, it’s the same. More guards standing around all dressed in black, and I’m beginning to feel both in and out of my element. I pretend this is just another building with Maksim’s men. It is showtime after all. I square my shoulders, raise my chin, and let Kane lead me. The space, while opulent and immaculate, reminds me of the Barclay manor, except the floors are polished honey oak and there’s a matching grand staircase that splits, leading up to the second floor. The furniture is modern but with antique flair. Lots of dark colors instead of light, like Mama chose for all of our homes.
I follow Kane to an office on the first floor, hearing voices within. We pass the threshold to see Kane’s grandfather sitting behind the large antique desk. His light blue eyes find mine, and he holds a finger up to us. “Yes, that’s fine. We’ll see you tomorrow,” he says and hangs up the call he had on speaker. Fuck. Another landline.
Clearing his throat, the old badger stands and comes around the desk to greet us. First his grandson, then me. “Hello, Sabrina. It’s been a long while.”
I return the partial hug. “It has, hasn’t it? About… a decade or so?”
Because he was at Charlie’s funeral. With Kane. Mr. Ainsworth nods. “Seems about right. How’s your father?”
“Doing well,” I lie, “about to open a new firm in California.”
He steps away from me and goes back to his desk. “Oh? That’s news to me.”
It should be. “Yes, seems to be a quite recent development. Heard it from his lips just before I left New York.”
He nods, staring at me.
Don’t break.
“Kane tells me you’re to be a guest… for a little while.”
