AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No, go look. They’re kind of blue, but it’s not your normal blue color. It’s like ice blue now. Almost white, love. This is scarier than your demon eyes,” he said.
I got up from his lap, walking quickly to the bathroom. I wasn’t sure how quickly they changed, so I was trying to beat them. When I looked in the mirror, I saw exactly what he had described. The normal three rings of color were gone and my eyes were almost white, with just a hint of blue. Adrik had followed me into the bathroom to see my reaction. I just stood and stared at my reflection, almost like I didn’t recognize myself. “I’m gonna need contacts. I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to hide this if it keeps happening every time I have an emotional reaction.” I turned to look at him, trying not to smile. “Have you met me? Do you know how insanely emotional I am?” I asked, trying to be overly dramatic for effect.
He just laughed at me, pointing to the mirror again. When I looked this time, my eyes had changed to green. But it was the normal green that was there all the time. The green had just overtaken the brown and blue rings. It was much easier for me to recognize myself this way.
“Apparently, white means fear and green means sarcasm,” he said as he wrapped his arms around me. “I can also have contacts made for you, if that’s what you want.”
“I don’t know how else to hide this. I don’t know it’s happening. I was only just starting to be able to tell when my eyes go dark and now they’ve just gone completely rogue and are out here freestyling. I said my stomach was untamed, but clearly it’s my eyes that are untamed,” I said.
Adrik pulled me to him, laughing. “We’ll talk about it more later. I said I didn’t want to tell the guys about it because I was feeling selfish when it comes to you. I never mind you around them. It’s not that. I only just got you back completely though. I didn’t want to share. We might not have a choice with that though.” He took a deep breath, still thinking out loud, he said, “I don’t mind the guys knowing about this eventually, but I don’t know how I feel about anyone you talk to being able to see this. Contacts might be necessary in certain situations.”
“You mean so I don’t scare off all your business partners?” I asked, grinning at him. “What about Ghost? Didn’t he used to be the wealthiest guy in the city? Well, yeah, until he fell in love with this stone-cold weirdo who couldn’t control her emotions and scared everyone away. Now, everyone is afraid to do business with him.”
“That won’t happen, love,” he said, shaking his head at me. He grabbed my hand, pulling me with him out of the bathroom. He stopped briefly to send a text to Viktor, then grabbed my hand once more. He walked to the closet and grabbed my coat. “You’re going to need this,” he said. “It’s colder on the helicopter.”
I grinned at him. “You already arranged for the helicopter, so you’d get home faster, huh?”
“Guilty,” he said, holding my coat up for me so I could put it on. He adjusted the collar, moving my hair out of the way, then pressed his cheek gently to my neck. “I’m secretly very happy that you’re coming with me today. I was not looking forward to being apart from you,” he said as he wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly against him.
That afternoon, while Andrei, Misha, and I were in the penthouse waiting on Adrik’s meetings to end, Ms. Jackson called Misha to ask if she could see me. He gave her an excuse of not being with me, but said he would find me and call her back. Ms. Jackson said, “Don’t worry, son, I don’t want her to come down here.” Then she added very quietly, “It’s about Giana.” Misha promised to call her back in a few minutes after he found me and found out what my schedule was.
“Giana’s been kept to her apartment since we got Armando, hasn’t she?” I asked.
“She was, but they’ve recently let her go see Ms. Jackson. She’s under heavy guard though. She can’t go anywhere on her own right now. She apparently threw a tantrum and threatened to kill herself and all kinds of nonsense, so they finally let her go see Ms. Jackson a few times a week just to shut her up,” Andrei said.
“Huh. Wouldn’t have guessed that would ever happen,” I said, as sarcastically as possible.
“It’s up to you if you want to deal with this or not. I can call Ivan too. We’ll go fetch her again if you want to see her. I can let Boss know too,” Misha said.
“Ms. Jackson wouldn’t call if she didn’t have something important. Does she know about Armando and what he did to me?” I asked.
“I don’t think so. Nobody’s told her. She called a few times when you were still hurt, but I told her we were away. I didn’t think you’d be up for any kind of company,” Misha said. He looked worried that I would be mad at him gatekeeping my nonexistent social life.
“You were right to do so, my adorable Russian guardian. I couldn’t have handled talking to her before,” I said, smiling sweetly at him. I thought for a minute. “I don’t want her to come up here without Adrik knowing. He’s feeling extra private lately and I want to make sure I honor that.”
Misha quickly sent a few texts. “I told Viktor to talk to Boss about it. If he’s okay with it, he’ll send Ivan up and we can go fetch her.” Viktor quickly replied, meaning Misha must’ve caught Adrik between meetings. He read the message, looking somewhat perplexed. “He said it’s okay if she comes up, but not before he’s done for the day. He wants to be here when you talk to her.”
I smiled, knowing exactly why he wanted to be present. “Then Ms. Jackson can wait a little bit until he’s done for the day. He doesn’t have much longer anyway, does he?”
Andrei looked at his watch. “I think his last meeting should be starting shortly. I don’t think they’re going to see Armando today either. I think he wanted to go back to the house as soon as he was done.”
“Whatever Ms. Jackson has to tell us shouldn’t take too long. Only a slight change in plans,” I said. I got off the couch, walking to the kitchen. “It does, however, mean that I’m gonna need a snack.”
“No talking, gazelle. I’m not supposed to be with you,” Misha said as he dialed Ms. Jackson’s number to tell her when I’d be available.
I stood quietly while he had the conversation, trying not to laugh as I thought about how much it felt like we were doing something wrong. Once he ended the call, I asked, “I feel like we’re kids making plans to sneak out of the house later. Why do I feel like we’re about to be in trouble for lying?”
They both laughed at me. “You clearly never snuck out of the house when you were younger,” Andrei said. “This is nothing, comparatively speaking.”
“Fair. Totally fair. I was a good kid. I only snuck out when my life was in danger. That’s completely different. Just know that I’m going to blame everything on you two when we get caught. That’s what little sisters are supposed to do, right?” I asked, laughing at the thought.
“That’s what my little brother always did, so that seems accurate,” Andrei said.
“Bubba, I can’t imagine you being a bad kid,” I said, rummaging through the refrigerator.
“You should talk to my mom then. She’ll gladly tell you differently,” he said.
I turned to look at him, then to Misha. “I would expect this development from Misha, but not you. You’re so thoughtful now. I just always assumed you would’ve been the same as a kid.”
