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She has freckles, I realize. They’re incredibly light and barely there, but I marvel with mild amusement nonetheless when I notice a thin train crossing the bridge of her nose. She has a tiny scar just above her right eyebrow, too. A childhood accident, perhaps? I want to ask her about it, but the longer I lay here, the more restless I become. There’s too much on my mind, too many problems I’m trying to juggle.
Konstantin being the biggest and most annoying of all.
He got too close.Waytoo close to her. I’m not sure if it was on purpose. My uncle texted me well before Aurora and her friend showed up at The Red Orchid. That couldn’t have been planned. But just because it was a coincidence, Konstantin now knows about her. He may not have all the details, but I wouldn’t put it past the bastard to look into her. The more I think about him, the more pissed off I get.
He’s in New York in the flesh. What the hell is he doing? This is getting out of hand. It’s one thing for him to harass me via call and text, but now? At least before when I thought there was an ocean and several countries between us, I had some semblance of security. There’s no way Konstantin would have been able to force us to join the Antonov Bratva from all the way over in Russia. But now that he’s here in person…
Things could get ugly.
When I entered The Red Orchid, I couldn’t tell if any of his men were with him. It was too crowded and too dimly lit. If I’m being honest, I wasn’t able to focus on much else once I realized he had his filthy fucking hands on Aurora. From here on out, I have to proceed with caution. I remember very little about my uncle, but what Idoremember is that he’s ruthless. The one guaranteed characteristic that runs through the Antonov family is we always get what we want.
I have ways of getting to you, dear nephew, is what he said to me just as I dragged Aurora out of there.You will join me, of your own free will, or… otherwise.
I can’t keep this from my brothers any longer. I need to tell them everything. It’s time for a family meeting.
Carefully, I roll out of bed. Aurora sleepily reaches for me, mumbling something that sounds a lot like “I’m cold,” but does not wake. As swiftly and silently as I’m able, I tuck her in and press a chaste kiss to her forehead. A part of me wants to stay but deciding what to do about my uncle unfortunately takes priority.
The first thing I do when I leave the apartment complex is call Dimitri.
“Dude,” he grumbles into the receiver. “It’s three in the morning.”
“Call Pytor, Luka,” I tell him, “and Mother.”
I hear something shuffling in the background. My brother must be getting out of bed. “Everything alright?”
“No, it most certainly is not.”
Chapter 13
Aurora
Charlotte huffs and rolls her eyes for the umpteenth time this morning. She stomps around our small kitchen, slamming cupboards and roughly shutting drawers as she prepares her breakfast.
“I didn’t realize making oatmeal was such a laborious process,” I comment dryly.
“You left without a word!” she snaps.
“I already said I was sorry.”
“Whodoesthat?”
“Charlotte, I really didn’t mean to—”
“Some weirdo came up to me saying he’d been instructed to drive me home,” she rambles on. “I swear to God I thought I was going to be kidnapped or something! I wasthisclose to calling the cops on the guy, but he really was an Uber driver. I tipped the guy triple because I felt so bad for calling him a predator to hisface. And then, to make things even worse, I come back to the apartment—bank account empty and my feet sore from walking all over the lounge in my heels searching for you—only to find the whole place smells of sex!”
I grimace into my bowl of cereal. “Well, when you put it that way…”
“What about chicks before dicks, hm? You could have at least shot me a text.”
My cheeks flush with heat. “We… left in a hurry. And after we were done, I was so tuckered I—”
“What? That you forgot?”
“I’m really,reallysorry,” I say earnestly.
Charlotte plops down in the chair beside me, her lips pressed into a thin line. She points the tip of her spoon at me accusatorily. “You owe me big, woman. I needallthe details. I was so busy looking for you that I shot down every guy who so much as glanced in my direction. This one-night stand better have been worth ditching me, I swear toGod.”
I lick my lips. Idokind of owe her an explanation; I just don’t know how explicit she wants me to be when she’s in the middle of stuffing apple cinnamon oatmeal into her cheeks like a chipmunk. I unconsciously rub my neck, fingers tracing over the very obvious hickey Mikhail left behind on my pale skin.
