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RHYS
Finding out Valentyn could truly cook was a bit of a surprise. Finding out that it tasted divine was a shock altogether but it didn’t bring back my appetite. Even with the sweet words and easy conversation, I couldn’t gather up the energy to eat. A stern look from Valentyn and Dmitri had me eating another bite or two before I pushed it away, something akin to bile sitting at the back of my throat.
“I think I’m going to be sick.”
It wasn’t the food. I knew that much. But I couldn’t help it as I leaned over the edge of the couch, Dmitri shoving a trashcan under my face as I gave up breakfast. Tears streamed down my face as I choked on my spit, a small hand stroking down my back and whispering that I’d be okay.Paval.
God, these guys were too fucking much.
I continued to heave for a few minutes, the entire room silenced by my pitiful self, the embarrassment and judgment emanating from their expressions too much to handle. It could have just been my self-doubt reading those emotions but I couldn’t sit here. Scrambling off Gianni’s lap, I grabbed plates and made my way into the kitchen, hoping to avoid another shock to my system.
Shattered memories rushed back at me as I spit into the sink, dry heaving, additional tears gathering on my cheeks. The routine was the same—Owen would come, scare the fuck out of me, and then try to make it up with some kind of meal. I’d emerge and have to pretend that everything was okay.
Valentyn stood at my side, patting my back. “You’re safe here, with us.”
I turned away from him, still out of breath as I wiped my mouth on the back of my hand. “Am I?” I asked the same question from yesterday, searching his expression and hoping to find an answer but I couldn’t read him. I used to think I was a good judge of character but now Owen was in my life and I couldn’t seem to get rid of him. Hell, even my sister, Ada, thought Owen was a nice guy.
“Nothing has changed, Rhys but I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t say we’re being a little selfish by wanting you. You are safe with us but I need to ask you a few questions.” That was never a good start to a conversation. I looked out at the living room, Gianni and Dmitri whispering about something as Paval stole a potato pancake and began humming as he danced around the carpet. “Rhys, we’re going to be completely honest with you. We weren’t hired for a kitchen reno.”
My shoulders dropped even if I knew as much. “I figured.”
“And I’m sure you know that Owen hired us, yes?” I nodded, wondering where this was going and if it had anything to do with the terror that he had shoved into my life. Even the mention of his name was making me panic all over again because I had unlocked memories that I had really wanted to stay hidden. My fingers gripped the counter, my knuckles turning white from the strain but I couldn’t let Valentyn know just how much my ex had bothered me, how much he wasstillbothering me. “Whatever he’s mixed up in is pretty dangerous.”
I took a deep breath and nodded again. “It would explain all the bruises.” Valentyn stared at me for a moment just as I stumbled backward, his hands gripping my waist and lifting me onto the counter. “What-”
He pushed my legs open and stood in between them, his hands now settled on the counter on either side of me. “Because you’re about to pass out. You’re under a lot of stress. You’ve got triggers you don’t even know about and it’s going to take some time to figure out what those are. Sweetheart, was it breakfast or just everything else?”
A sob lodged itself in my throat at the way his eyes softened when he addressed me. I felt seen. It was a strange feeling but I wanted so much more of it. “No, the cheese.” A hiccup slipped through my lips. “He… he used to come in and then he’d tried to make it all better with dinner. With cheese.”
He pulled me into his chest as I clung to him. “Rhys, I had no idea. I’ll make a note, alright? Anything else?” I shook my head. “Okay, I’m going to try and ask you some questions but if you need me to stop, you let me know. He hired us to find some information, information he thinks you have.”
I pulled away. “What? I don’t have anything. I mean, my parents are a little rich I guess but I just go to school.”
“He mentioned your dissertation.”
My body locked up. My dissertation on statistics and probability was my baby and highly classified. “He always asks but he doesn’t even know what I’m doing. It’s classified.”
“Apparently, it’s not as classified as you think it is, sweetheart. And I’m pretty sure he’s planning on using it for something other than what you have planned.”
That didn’t make any sense. Owen was a BioChem professor, or at least that’s what he had told me. “What is he planning?” I was morbidly curious.
“Seeing as he seems to have a bit of a problem keeping money in his pocket, I would assume something along the lines of a payday.”
“He can’t!” I whisper-yelled, dragging my hands down my face. “It would ruin everything. That’s… that’s not what it was for.” I wanted to spill and tell Valentyn what it was truly about, how it was going to help so many people, how it was going to show people how to better budget their money and for corporations to save millions.
Valentyn stepped a little closer, the heat of his body scorching my chest as he looked up at me. I had kind of forgotten the precarious position he had put me in but I wasn’t keen on moving. Everything this man did felt protective and warm andright. Besides, I had been touched more in three days than I had in a year and I was fuckinglivingfor it.
“He believes otherwise, Rhys.”
I bit my lip, trying to figure out what to do with that information. What was Owen going to do with it? Was that the only reason why he had been here, with me? Did he even love me?
“Just tell me. Was France on purpose?”
Valentyn’s non-answer was answer enough as I began to spiral but fucking Valentyn had just the trick to pull me out of my head, his hands squeezing my waist until I arched toward him, my lips parted in a small o. His eyes darkened with silent promises for a future time before he started speaking. “You can tell me to fuck off, Rhys.” His voice had a slight rasp to it, his interest evident as his cock thickened between us.
I tried to ignore it, fuck I did, but my hips jerked forward anyways and an unconscious moan slipped into the air. I prayed for the ground to open up and swallow me whole but I’d never be that lucky.
Valentyn chuckled, leaning forward to press a chaste kiss on my lips. “Soon, Rhys. I promise. Tell me I’m overstepping but you’re going to take the day off. No work. No dissertation. Nothing. It’s just going to be the four of us today. And then tomorrow, you can resume activities as normal. With one minor difference—if you leave this house, one of us is with you.”
