It could be dangerous, too.
That was something I’d learned from my father, even though I hadn’t realized it at the time. I had simply never wanted to be stared at the way the KZ models were. Assessed. Admired. Objectified.
Shaking away my thoughts, I stepped into the elevator and jabbed the button that would take me up to the twenty-ninth floor. I checked my Shinola watch. Five minutes early. Excellent.
Stefan hadn’t said much in his email last night. Just that we needed to have a family meeting, stat. I twisted the strap of my bag nervously between my fingers. With everything that had happened to the business—to our family—in the past year or so, I’d gotten used to these meetings being full of bad news. It didn’t feel like today’s would be any different.
Though things weren’t all bad.
Ever since KZM had become Danica Rose, the atmosphere had changed. I came to work and saw smiling faces. People seemed more relaxed, no longer shrinking back every time my father stormed down the hallways. The models who had decided to stay with us (although technically, they signed new contracts with DRM) were happier, too.
And as for me and my brothers? For the first time, it felt like we were a real family. One that didn’t keep secrets.
I’d always looked up to my brothers, and I knew they loved me, but we’d been raised very differently. I was the baby. Coddled, sheltered, and, in so many words, a bit spoiled.
Stefan and Luka, on the other hand, were brought up in my father’s image, brought up to be a certain type of man. The type that was the head of a typical Eastern European family. The type that was like my father.
It created distance between us because their lives were so different than mine. Separate. I knew now that they’d been forced to do things they hated, that my father’s special attention—especially the type he bestowed on Stefan, his heir—came with painful consequences. It had nearly cost our family everything.
Thankfully, our father was out of the picture, and things were heading in the right direction. Both of my brothers had married amazing, genius, incredibly decent human beings, and Tori and Brooklyn had changed my brothers’ lives. And mine.
I’d wanted sisters my entire life, and with a few “I do”s, I got to have two.
Soon, they were both going to be mothers. I was going to be an aunt. Auntie Em.
I was beyond thrilled.
The elevator doors dinged open and I headed down the hallway with an extra bounce in my step, waving at our receptionist and a few agents, all who smiled and waved back at me. Knowing everything we’d gone through to get to this point, I felt a surge of pride.
No matter what Stefan had to say today, I knew I could hold on to that feeling.
Despite being a few minutes early, both Stefan and Luka were already waiting in the conference room when I swung the door open. Both of them looked tense. As expected.
“Morning,” I chirped, trying to lighten the mood. “Is that carafe full, or do I need to swing by the break room for some fresh coffee?”
“Damien just dropped it off, along with some pastries,” Luka said. “Help yourself.”
Gosh, it would’ve been nice to have an assistant of my own at my beck and call. Always ready with the piping hot coffee and donuts. When I popped open the pink box, I locked eyes romantically with the guava cheese pastry, which I then snatched up before Stefan could grab it. Then I took a huge bite and got comfortable in my chair, waiting for the verbal bomb to go off.
Stefan let out a long sigh.
“Whatever it is, I can handle it. Just spit it out,” I said. “Also it’s making me nervous that you’re both standing there looming over me. Can you two sit down?”
They dropped into chairs across from me, but the vibe stayed anxious.
A year ago, the sight of both of my brothers in a conference room, side by side, ready for business, would have been a real shocker. Stefan had always been devoted to the company, sometimes to his own detriment, but Luka? Luka wouldn’t have been caught dead doing anything resembling work when he could have been out banging models and getting drunk.
It was amazing how much they both had changed.
Now, Stefan wasn’t living at the office, working around my father as he tried to find a way to save the women who were being trafficked through our company. My oldest brother was still busy as all get out, but he was devoted to Tori and I knew he was over the moon about the newest little addition that would be joining the family soon.
And Luka, well. He had finally stopped looking for himself at the bottom of a liquor bottle. He’d become a completely different person since marrying Brooklyn. Thank God for that.
There were times I felt a slight twinge of jealousy, knowing they got to go home at the end of the day to a partner who loved them, while all I was going home to was Munchkin.
I loved my rescued French bulldog—seriously adored him—but it wasn’t quite the same.
Studying Stefan and Luka more closely, I realized that something else was off. Usually Tori and Brooklyn were present for these family meetings. Not today, apparently.
