Emma, his daughter, is younger than the twins, but not by much.
With no words coming out to thank him, I step forward and pull Matvei into a hug.
“Oh,” he laughs, patting me awkwardly on the back. “It’s my pleasure, Selene. The kids already love them. We love them.We’re so happy to have them here. And you. It’s nice to grow the family,” he says.
I step back, still teary-eyed but smiling.
“Let’s have some breakfast?” Adrian says, breaking the ice.
This time, on this family visit, no one asks me anything that makes me feel interrogated. They all, even his brothers, treat me as though I am welcome and like I might even belong. They treat the twins like family, teasing and playing with them in ways my brothers never did.
It makes my heart hurt to think about my brothers.
I miss them like crazy. But not who they are now. And certainly not who they have been for the past five years.
While my father kept me captive, a prisoner in his home, quietly and painfully tortured both physically and emotionally… my brothers let it happen. He brainwashed them. They were manipulated and fooled into believing that he knew best. It’s no excuse on their part, and it hurt me greatly that they didn’t stop him. But I understand what they have been through, too, ever since my mother died. He has been sculpting them, controlling them, and making sure they are exactly whohewants them to be.
I couldn’t even tell them when I planned my escape. I couldn’t risk it because I couldn’t trust them not to tell my father.
It hurts. It hurts to see them as theseworstversions of themselves. I miss who they were when our mother was still alive. I miss who they used to be.
I guess I miss who I used to be, too.
My eyes drift over Simon’s family, a real family. Genuinely warm with each other, kind and full of love. I want this for my twins…I want this for me.
My eyes move towards Simon. He’s looking at the twins with a massive grin on his face. He is such a beautiful man. The perfect features, the most gorgeous body. But that’s not the only thing that attracts me to him. There is so much more. So much that confuses me.
He’s gentle and patient with our children. He always has time for them, no matter what they ask. He’s even been patient with me, which, given the circumstances, I’m not even sure I deserved.
Would I be patient or even slightly kind to someone who hid my own children from me for five years?
I let out a slow breath. Simon appears next to me.
“Did you enjoy breakfast?” he asks, pulling a chair closer. When he sits down, his thigh is pressed against my leg, and heat instantly spills through me, distracting my thoughts.
“Your brothers have been so kind,” I say quietly.
“You are family, Selene. Even though things are happening in the background, concerns, you are still part of the family because of the twins.”
“Just because of the twins?” I ask, my heart hammering in my chest.
I glance at Simon, and he is staring right at me, his eyes piercing into me.
“Is there another reason you were thinking of?” he asks in a husky tone that makes my skin burn, flushing with desire.
I bite my lip and smile, quickly looking away and hoping he didn’t notice my blush. “No, um, it’s lovely to see the twins being so welcomed.”
Simon reaches over the arm of the chair and takes my hand. “Let’s take them for ice cream afterward?” he asks, his voice full of hope.
“Really?” I say, surprised.
“Sure, I’d love to. It’s a beautiful day,” he says.
An hour later, Arron and Solenne are holding ice creams that are melting faster than they can be eaten. The beautiful, hot summer sun beats down on us as we walk around the park. Admiring the flowers, searching for insects, and finally settling down next to a pond filled with ducks.
Simon has a bag of seeds he purchased from a vendor in the park, and the kids are taking turns putting their sticky hands into the bag to grab a handful of seeds to throw at the ducks.
Every time they toss a new batch of seeds, the ducks go wild with excitement and start squabbling over it.
