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Stopping mid-stride, I turn to face her. “Are you implying something?”
“No need to be sensitive,” Catherina quips, patting me roughly on the back of the hand. “You don’t smell like a gold digger, I just wanted to be sure.”
“I’m not after Mikhail’s money.”
“Then how about his love?”
My heart skips a beat. “Love?”
“Yes, dear girl. Do you love him?”
“I don’t know.” I mumble under my breath. I’ve never stopped to think about it. I admire him and respect him. He challenges me in ways I didn’t know I wanted to be challenged. And of course he’s magnificent in bed. But do I love him? It’s much too soon to be thinking like that.
“Then why are you with him? Why is Konstantin trying to hurt him through you?”
I don’t have an answer for her, though her questions are perfectly valid. “What we have…” I start quietly. “It’s very new. I can’t speak on his behalf, but… Idocare for him. And I think he cares for me, too. Maybe that’s enough of a reason for Konstantin.”
Catherina gives me a curt ‘hm’ before we continue our walk through the gardens. She’s silent for a very long time. It disturbs me that I can’t tell what she’s thinking. And I thought Mikhail was impossible to read.
“What will you do?” she asks out of the blue. “If Mikhail decides to join the family business.”
“He won’t.”
“You sound awfully sure.”
I furrow my brow. This is the last thing I expected to hear coming out of her mouth. “He’s a good man, Catherina. He’d never do something so despicable as to stoop to Konstantin’s level.”
“Iwas a part of the Bratva, you know,” she says, holding her head up like it’s a point of pride. “You must understand, our ways are different. It is in our blood to rule.”
“You make it sound like youwanthim to join Konstantin.”
“That’s just it, dear girl. He is a part of it. My boys were born into this life, just as members of the royal family are born into the role. It will never change who they truly are.”
“I thought you left Moscow to escape this nonsense.”
“A temporary play to save our lives. Sometimes it is better to retreat than meet a certain end.”
Her tone makes my skin crawl. This woman… She hasconniving bitchwritten all over her face. I don’t care if she’s Mikhail’s mother, and I’m well past wanting to make a good impression. Something about her is off, and I’d be a fool to ignore the cold dread pooling in the pit of my stomach.
I’m not trying to be dramatic, but everything about Catherina makes me uneasy. She walks like she’s royalty,talkslike she’s royalty. In fact, the longer I listen to her, the more she reminds me of a banished queen conspiring to start a revolution to reclaim her throne.
“Mikhail doesn’t want to be a part of the Bratva,” I tell her, squirming out of her hold.
She arches a perfectly plucked brow. “He told you this?”
I nod slowly. “He did.”
“Well, it’s a good thing mother knows best.”
“What are you talking about? Is there a reason you brought me out here in the first place?”
“We’re waiting for a very special guest,” Catherina says calmly. “Trust me. You’ll want to be here when she arrives.”
Behind me, the sound of shuffling footsteps reaches my ears. I turn, a gasp of shock and horror ripping itself from my lungs. I see her red hair first, then the tears streaking down her blotchy cheeks.
“Charlotte!” I exclaim, running to her. I don’t give a damn that she’s surrounded by a team of ten bulky, hard-looking men. I grasp her by the shoulders, check her over, alarmed and disheartened by what I see. Purple welts around her wrists look painful. Her bottom lip is split and swollen. Charlotte trembles and sobs as she hugs me.
“Aurora. Aurora, what the fuck is going on? Who are these people?”
