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The woman before me wasn’t Peter Angelos’s Nerine—well, maybe the essence of her was under there, but she was buried deep under an aloof, hard disguise.
I longed to demand she bring back the girl who never hid that she was up to something or laughed and joked about the most mundane things. What I wouldn’t give to see the fiery temper that would punch someone in the mouth for getting in her face, instead of this very poised and controlled person she showed the world.
I couldn’t understand why she was trying so hard to hide the girl who made me and Xander do our homework and yelled at us to study?
An unleashed fury burned in her blue eyes now, telling everyone around her she wouldn’t forgive or forget easily for all that she’d suffered.
The girl with a snarky sense of humor and a heart completely open to expressing her passion and love for others had disappeared.
Andraius set his palm on Nerine’s thigh as he turned to face me, and she not-so-causally threw his hand off, whispering, “Don’t touch me, or did you forget that I hate you?”
“You’ll do as I say.”
“Or what?”
Pretending that I hadn’t witnessed the exchange between the couple, I waited for Andraius to speak.
“We need to have a quick discussion. Let’s go, Nerine.” He stood and pulled out her chair.
Frowning, she rose from her seat and followed, only glancing behind her at Nyx briefly as if passing some unsaid communication.
When we reached a quiet area in the hallway among a group of ivy-like plants, Andraius asked me, “Remember the discussion we had in my office?”
“Yes.” I resisted the urge to glance in Nerine’s direction. “We have everything arranged as you stated in our meeting.”
“We will move things up from the end of the evening to now.”
In my ear, Xander muttered, “What the hell happened to the order to search Drakos’s estate, fucker?”
“And the other duties we must complete during our time here?”
“I’m going to let you two conduct business and stand over here.” Nerine tried to move away from us, but Andraius caught her upper arm, holding her in a grip tighter than necessary.
“Stay right here. This discussion is veering into something requiring your presence.”
Nerine glanced up at me for a brief second and then asked, “Meaning?”
“Keep listening.” He set his hand on the small of her back, and she visibly arched and moved forward as if she couldn’t bear his touch.
Then, I saw something on her face that resembled a mix between sadness and shame. When she realized I caught her reaction, she shifted her attention to Andraius, who was completely unaware of anything happening around him.
“Put our previous plans on hold. There are other priorities you need to manage.”
“I’m not following.”
“Nyx is taking Nerine under her wing, as I mentioned earlier. And from their conversation before dinner, Nerine will spend considerable time at the Drakos estate training to be a proper wife, starting this week.”
“Well, well, well,” Xander hummed in my earpiece. “I believe Mrs. Drakos is jumping into the game as well. This whole thing is about to get complicated as fuck. I hope Drakos knows that his wife altered our plans and will probably do the opposite of anything and everything he tells her.”
Yeah, Nyx scheduling her one-on-one time with Nerine at the estate wasn’t part of the original strategy Xander and I’d arranged with Drakos. They were supposed to get Nerine involved in the botanical gardens project in downtown Boston. This way, she would be safely away whenever someone decided to make a move on Andraius.
This monkey wrench meant I couldn’t let Nerine out of my sight when she was with Nyx. I no longer trusted anyone but Xander with her.
Maybe I’d become a cynical bastard, but life had made me that way.
Acting as if I hadn’t heard anything Xander said, I responded to Andraius. “Understood. Should I inform the team now or after dinner?”
“As of now. I have a few people to visit, and then we will say our goodbyes to the hosts.”
