She sends another attachment with the cookies and tea.
We decided to shop for bridesmaid dresses next week. Let us know when you’re free.
My heart warms at their insistence on making this whole experience a family thing, where we can get closer to one another. While these two will always have a special place in my heart…they are still my brothers’ women, and they have no secrets from each other.
And as such, I can never trust them with mine.
So a genuine friendship is impossible between us.
“Interesting choice of literature.” I almost jump out of my seat when Levi drops into the chair opposite mine, goose bumps popping all over me at his rigid muscles when he removes his jacket and showcases all his tattoos. He throws it on the chair next to him before resting his arm on it, seemingly staring right into my soul, his blue eyes turning almost navy under the library’s dimmed lights.
Annoyance travels through me for noticing such things about a guy who is a decade younger than me and who almost ruined my first adult social event. I should not find this guy attractive, and nervousness swirls in the pit of my stomach at his presence. I press my feet harder against the floor, resisting the urge to sprint somewhere and hide out until he leaves.
Levi Scott can go fuck himself if he thinks he can intimidate me, my confusing emotions be damned.
“Well, thank you. I don’t know what I would have done without your stamp of approval.”
He ignores my sarcastic jab and continues. “I never took you as the Scandinavian gods type.” He taps on my book. “I’d think your interests ran more along the lines of fairy tales or Greek myths.”
Gripping my book tighter and pushing it back toward me, I raise my brow at this. “Why?” I know I should not engage in these conversations because the last time I gave him any time, he ended up making me feel sorry for it.
I hate when people make assumptions about me since everyone and their mother had assumptions about my condition for years, yet no one guessed shit.
He cocks his head to the side. “Because of your brothers.” I blink at this, my hold on the book loosening as I try to make sense of his words. “Rafael blackmailed Emmaline into marriage, so she was forced to break off her engagement to Anthony and marry him to save herself and her family. A true Hades, inviting his Persephone into his underworld and keeping her there, no matter how much the King family wanted to save her. Eventually, she fell in love with him. I wonder, though, if maybe she just had no other choice.” He hisses through his teeth, and I still at this, casting my gaze down as a sense of shame fills me.
And while Rafael’s story is way more complicated than that, the fact remains that yes, in a way, he started his marriage because he hated his wife for what she did to him in the past.
“She loves him. I mean, they both love each other, and my brother never forced her into anything.” That was one of the things I got clarification on right away.
I could never live with my brothers if I knew any of them forced themselves on women. They took some of their choices away, yes, but they never laid a finger on them without theirconsent. They cherished and protected them even when they wanted to hurt them, as contradictory as that sounds.
“That’s human nature. In dire circumstances, we do our best to survive, and sometimes that means convincing ourselves we have feelings for our captor.”
“Rafael wasn’t her captor. They entered a fake marriage. He didn’t kidnap her or lock her up.” The minute the words spill from my lips, I know I’ve made a mistake because the energy around us changes instantly.
It becomes tense and heavy, weighed down by the harshness of his stare as his face darkens, and his eyes become even more vivid when fury glazes over them.
“You’re right. Wyatt’s sister, in that regard, got the better end of the deal. She married a world-renowned lawyer after all. She could see her family, and he never restricted her freedom. My sister wasn’t so lucky.” He leans forward, and I push back a little, taking a deep breath, mentally preparing myself for his verbal blow. “Rush kidnapped Aileen to your family island to use her as a weapon against our father due to some misguided sense of revenge. He kept her there in a trueBeauty and the Beastfashion, recreating the fairy tale down to the smallest details. Locked her up and tried to punish her for someone else’s sins, all the while you were there and did nothing to stop him. So much for women's solidarity.” He chuckles, the sound so cold it can freeze hell, as he takes out his lighter, twirling it on the table. “In fact, as far as I remember, you even choked my sister. Apparently, she had bruises after the assault.”
His words hang between us, their weight so strong I feel crushed under them as my breathing speeds up as unwanted memories play in my head over and over again, never letting me rest.
I grip the book harder, desperately trying to hold on to the present and not let the past swallow me up again. “It wasn’t likethat.” I manage to whisper even though each word feels like a nail scraping against my throat.
I can’t think about that day. I can’t.
If I do, I’ll become crazy again, and I worked so hard to pretend to be sane to lose everything because of one bump in the road.
Levi’s voice drops a few octaves and sends shivers down my spine. “Did you or did you not have your hands wrapped around her throat and squeeze it while screaming in her face? Your brother had to use a sedative to pull you away from her. Now, it would have been forgiven if you were really sick, but we both know that wasn’t the case.” He clicks his tongue. “Which means you were aware of what you were doing.”
My breathing seems especially loud now to my ears, and I swallow once again, almost choking on my saliva from the effort it takes. “It was more complicated than that.”
“My name is Lavender,” I say carefully, measuring every word, studying the gorgeous woman standing in front of me who holds my hand so gently, rubbing her fingers over my bruised knuckles and bitten-off nails. Her kind blue eyes are such a contrast to the constant cruelty surrounding me. Who is she?
My brothers never bring women to this island, and I remember everyone working for us. That’s how I know their schedule and sneak outside at midnight, like now, to enjoy the ocean air in solitude without everyone looking at me like I’m a walking, ticking time bomb. “Like a flower.”
“Yes. A beautiful flower that symbolizes purity and grace, among other things.” I cast my gaze down, studying my feet, dirt smeared all over them. I prefer walking barefoot in our garden and taking a shower only when everyone leaves me alone. The white flannel nightgown that reaches my anklesalways scratches my skin, and I despise it with a passion, but at least it hides the shape of my body.
No man would desire me, and that’s the main goal.
