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“Yourwhat?” Archer says, jumping to his feet.
“Sit down,” their mom snaps, and I watch in fascination as he slowly sinks back down onto the box he’s claimed as his chair. Is that the power of a mother? My grandmother is powerful in her own right, but it isn’t quite the same.
Celeste’s mother crosses her arms and raises one brow as she stares her son down. “Your sister is right. This is her home, and we barged in without notice. Not only did we invade her privacy, but you also assaulted her…guest. Apologize.”
Archer looks at his mother, his face filled with betrayal, and it’s surreal. He’s well on his way to becoming a multi-millionaire, having co-founded a Fintech firm that tripled in value in just the last three months. Yet you’d never guess that looking at him now, faced with his mother. It’s odd how strangely jealous I find myself. I’d give the world to have my mom chastise me over something, to witness how much she cares. “You can’t be serious, Mom.”
She just stares at him until he grits his teeth and turns toward me. “I apologize for punching you,” he says, but he looks like he’d like to add something to that sentence. Likely the wordsonly once.
I merely nod at him. I have no desire to fuck with him, not now, and not ever. If I play my cards right, he’ll end up becoming my brother-in-law, after all.
Celeste’s father rises to his feet and extends his arm toward the garden. “Why don’t we have a chat outside,” he says, throwing his wife a reassuring look. She sighs and nods, but Celeste tenses.
“No,” she rushes to say. “You’re not taking him anywhere.”
I bite back a smile and turn to look into her eyes. I gently brush her hair out of her face and shake my head. “I’ll be right back, okay?” She parts her lips, her expression conveying her worries, but I simply cup her cheek, the two of us communicating wordlessly until she nods in resignation. I’m so tempted to kiss her forehead, but I just know that’d earn me another punch from either of the men behind me, so I smile at my girlfriend before turning to follow her brother and father into the garden.
ChapterTwenty-Four
Celeste
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I ask over the phone as I cross the road to my favorite coffee shop, my gaze drifting to the two women who seem to be following me, both dressed in sunglasses and baseball caps that don’t match their expensive outfits and high heels.
Zane sighs. “Celestial, how many times do you need me to tell you? Archer, your father, and I just had a chat, and everything is fine. Just focus on prepping for next week’s conference, alright? I have to make a good impression on your grandfather, especially now that your parents know about us.”
I sigh as I queue up, only to glance behind me and notice both women hover by the glass door, clearly debating whether to enter. “I’m worried because you won’t tell me what they said to you. It’s weird how the three of you walked back in acting like nothing happened. Even my mom thought it was weird.”
He chuckles, and the sound makes my stomach flutter. “Don’t worry, baby. I promise it’s all good. If there truly was something to worry about, I’d tell you, okay?”
“Hmm, sure,” I murmur as I place my coffee order. “Speaking of something we may need to worry about. I think I’m being followed.”
“That’s impossible,” Zane says, followed by the sound of typing. “I have two bodyguards on you that provide round-the-clock protection.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
Zane clears his throat awkwardly. “They, um, they protect you, but they don’t report to me about what you do,” he tells me, and I sigh, not even as surprised as I probably should be.
“Don’t you think that’s something you should’ve mentioned at some point?”
“Yeah, and you can be mad about that later, but you’re right to say there’s something for us to worry about. According to the Windsor security team, youarebeing followed.” He groans, piquing my curiosity. “Celeste, it’s my sister and her best friend. Fuck.”
I suppress a laugh and lift my coffee cup to my lips, my gaze dropping to my sheer nude nails, another shade I bought for Zane. He couldn’t stop grinning when I told him it was calledBBF Best Boyfriend.“Interesting. Is this payback for what Archer did?”
Zane chuckles. “Absolutely not. My sister is just fucking psychotic. Give me five minutes, and I’ll have our security team intercept her so you can get back to the office uninterrupted.”
“No,” I tell him, oddly curious about Sierra Windsor. She’s a couple of years younger than us, so I never had an opportunity to get to know her, but from everything I’ve heard, she’s incredibly smart, if not a little intense. Out of all the Windsor siblings, she appears to be the most eccentric. I can hardly blame her — her five older brothers must be so overbearing. “I’ll handle this.”
“Celestial, that’s not a good idea,” he begins to say, but I merely grin as I walk back to the exit.
“Gotta go. Love you, bye!” I say before ending the call and walking out. Sierra pulls her cap further down her face, like that could possibly hide her long dark glossy hair and that aura all the Windsors have. Even as she tries to shrink herself to evade my attention, she’s dripping power. So does the woman standing next to her. I raise a brow when I realize it’s the model I saw Zane with a few months ago — the one I’d been so insanely jealous of, only to find out that he wasn’t lying. From everything I’ve heard about her throughout the last few months, she truly is like a sister to him.
“So,” I say, glancing between the two women. “Sierra Windsor and Raven Du Pont, right?”
They both tense, and Sierra sighs before pulling her cap off. Her sunglasses follow, and I smile when I notice her eyes are a perfect replica of Zane’s. There’s something odd about the way that instantly endears her to me.
“Sorry about that,” Raven says, following her best friend’s lead and pulling off her cap. “I tried to discourage her, but it’s really hard to make her change her mind once she’s decided on something.”
Sierra crosses her arms and stares me down, her gaze unexpectedly intimidating for a girl who’s barely even in college. She’s what? Nineteen? “So you’re the reason my brother has a large bruise across his jaw,” she says through gritted teeth. “I’ll give you exactly three minutes to explain before I give you a matching bruise.”
