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“Stop it! You’re ruining my dress!”
Darcy flashed his eyes open.
Sakura? No. Surely he hadn’t been daydreaming and was now hearing Sakura’s voice? Surely not.
He heard a woman’s voice chuckling away merrily.
“We’re just fixing it for ya. Now don’t move, dear sister. You’ll look very beautiful in a minute. Isn’t that what you want?”
“You bitch! You slapped me!”
Darcy jolted up and rushed over to the edge of the diving board. He hung his head over and looked down. From his vantage point and to his great surprise, he saw Sakura standing dangerously close to the pool. Before Sakura were Tara and Alaina, threatening her. He watched in horror as Alaina marched forward and sent her hand smashing on Sakura’s left cheek. Tara, meanwhile, held on to Sakura tightly so the girl wouldn’t be able to escape. Alaina slapped Sakura again.
“Have you learned how to swim yet, my silly girl?” Alaina asked. “You haven’t? I can’t believe that. After all these years, after what happened that last time, you still haven’t learned?”
Darcy gritted his teeth as he realized what was going on. Tara and Alaina were bullying Sakura again. At this age? They were all adults now, for Christ’s sake!
He felt protectiveness toward Sakura surge through his being, and his temper flared.
“Don’t. Please don’t,” he heard Sakura beg.
“Sakura,” he said softly. “Don’t let them bully you. Don’t let them hurt you.”
Darcy felt an uncomfortable feeling rising in his gut. Shit! He knew something wasn’t right. Knew something horrible was going to happen to Sakura.
“Don’t? No, don’t. No, please,” Alaina imitated Sakura.
“Throw her in, Alaina. Throw the bitch in,” Tara urged.
“Time to go say hi to your maker,” Alaina said to Sakura. Then forcefully, she shoved Sakura back.
Darcy watched in horror as Sakura screamed and fell into the pool. His whole body froze in shock as he watched her struggling and fighting to stay afloat. But the merciless water dragged her down the harder she fought, shoving her back into its depths.
“Sakura!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, his body tense and ready for action.
Alaina and Tara looked up in dismay to see Darcy at the top of the diving board. They watched, dread and fear contorted on their beautiful faces, as Darcy, in jeans and T-shirt, ran off the board and expertly and smoothly somersaulted down, flying in midair.
His athletic body hit the water cleanly, and as he gained momentum within the deep pool, he swam toward Sakura, who was sinking toward the bottom.
Darcy reached out to her, fearful he might lose her. He kicked so hard and fast that the water turned into a whirlpool. He caught her by the small of her waist and pulled her up to him, hugging her against him tightly. With her safely in his embrace, he swam back to the surface.
Sakura sucked in air as they emerged from the pool. She coughed and spluttered water as she instinctively wrapped her arms around Darcy’s muscular neck, holding on to him tightly for dear life.
Darcy, too, tightened his hold on her and started swimming toward the edge of the pool. Once there, he lifted her along as he pulled himself out of the water.
He gently laid her on the marble floor, her back and head resting against his massive chest and his arm wrapping around her protectively. His heart was pounding with dread as he examined her face.
God! Please let her be all right. Please!
He felt his body shaking with emotions, with trepidation, as he gently touched his hand to her pale, cold skin.
“Sakura?” he said softly, his lips warm and his breath hot against her forehead. “Sakura?”
When he saw her responding to his soft calling and looking up at him, he sighed with relief and wanted to cry with joy. Then he noticed she was having trouble breathing and touched her forehead again, gently, as if he were stroking her, caressing her.
“Breathe slowly,” he said. “Don’t force yourself.”
Sakura, still dazed and lightheaded from the experience, did as she was told, the fear in her heart slowly fading away. She liked Darcy’s gentle, feathery touches on her face because it helped calm her down. By instinct, she snuggled her face against his chest, her body shaking uncontrollably.
Darcy responded by tightening his arms around her, drawing her even closer to him. He kept her within his embrace until she breathed normally again, until he was sure she wasn’t going to faint, until her slender body stopped shivering.
Sakura turned to look at him, her eyes large. It broke Darcy’s heart, for he saw the fear still lingering in her eyes. Her lips were quivering delicately. He knew she was about to cry but was fighting very hard to hold back.
He touched her cheek, gently guiding her face to rest back against the nape of his neck. Sakura couldn’t help herself, and tears began to pour from her eyes.
She softly sobbed in his arms.
“Darcy! What the hell are you doing?” Alaina shouted.
Darcy couldn’t control the raging of his beating heart, nor could he control the anger welling up in his chest.
No, he’d deal with them later. Now, however, he needed to comfort Sakura. So he sat there comforting her as she gently sobbed away while the whole time Alaina was shouting at him to leave her alone.
Just when he was about to have enough of Alaina and Tara’s barking, the door burst open and Toby raced toward his master. Sebastian, Nicolas, and Conrad were behind him.
Sebastian took one look at the scene and felt his stomach knot in dread. He rushed to Sakura and Darcy without a second thought.
“What the hell happened?” he asked.
Toby begged for Sakura’s attention by touching her arm with his wee paws.
Sakura turned to Toby. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were raw from crying.
“Sakura!” Conrad shouted her name, his voice wavering with concern. He came to kneel by her, searching her face. “Are you all right?”
Sakura nodded as she tried to control the tears that just kept on coming.
“You’re obviously not all right,” Sebastian said, a dark scowl on his face. “What the hell happened?” He looked at Darcy for an answer.
Darcy didn’t reply; he was staring at Alaina and Tara, his face a mask of anger. Sebastian understood immediately.
Nicolas narrowed his eyes and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Should take her up,” he said.
Sebastian nodded. He gently pulled Sakura from Darcy’s arms and lifted her.
Sakura wrapped her arms around his neck and hid her face against his chest. “This is so embarrassing,” she muttered under her breath.
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” he said kindly as he strode to the door. Conrad and Toby followed them as they headed out.
Darcy stood up and headed straight to his sister, his eyes dark, his body tense.
“What?” Alaina asked, folding her arms across her chest.
“You nearly killed her,” Darcy shouted. “How could you do that?”
“Oh, come on!” she snapped back. “She so can swim. She was just pretending. You know how—”
Darcy couldn’t control himself. His palm smacked against Alaina’s right cheek, sending her face swinging to the left.
Alaina blinked in shocked surprise. Darcy had never laid a hand on her before—ever. She touched her cheek, anger and hatred rising within her chest. She turned her eyes to look at her twin brother, tears brewing within them.
“Don’t you ever touch her again,” he said coldly. “If you do, you’ll regret it.”
Tara, who was behind Alaina, secretly hid a smile, though she managed to compose her face well and tried to look as shocked as she could.
“Why the hell did you hit me?” Alaina shouted, tears pouring out of her eyes. “Because of her, is that it? Why? Darcy! Why? She’s just a silly bitch! I did it for you.
I did it for us. I hate her. She took you from me. I hate it when you two are together. I hate it so much. We used to be really close, Darcy, you and I. But ever since she came, I lost you to her. To that motherless bitch!”
“Shut up, Alaina!” Darcy shouted. “Just shut the hell up! I said before if you ever lay your hands on her again, you’ll be sorry.” With that, he walked out the door.
Nicolas watched his brother go, and once they were alone, he stepped toward his sisters. “You know,” he said, “I expected more from you. I thought you’d changed, and you too, Tara.” He looked meaningfully to Tara.
Tara knew Nicolas was becoming all businesslike again. He was so like James in his way of dealing with things. He looked calm and collected, but inside he must have been reeling with anger. Though his way of dealing with unpleasant business looked as though he hadn’t done much, she knew the consequences of not following his orders were enormous. And Tara had learned that early on. Nicolas was a pleasant adopted brother to be with, but you wouldn’t want to cross him.
“So you heard him,” Nicolas said. “He doesn’t want you touching Sakura again. That much is obviously clear. You know how Darcy is. You’re his twin, after all.” He pulled his glasses from his eyes and brought them up to the light—a gesture he always did when he gave out orders and expected them done accordingly. He inspected the lenses for dirt, and when he couldn’t find any, he put them back on.
“And I want the same thing. Sakura is our sister, after all, and we don’t want her getting hurt.” He glanced from Alaina to Tara, who stared at him as if he’d gone senile. He chuckled. “You know Sebastian owns that apartment of yours in New York, and from the looks of things, he’s taking a real liking to Sakura.”
Alaina harrumphed. “He’d never like her.”
Nicolas cocked his head to one side. “No?” he asked, begging to differ. In fact, he’d known all along, since they were children, in fact, that Sebastian had always liked Sakura, though he had hidden his feelings from his siblings well because he’d been afraid of their disapproval.
“You understand my meaning, Alaina? Tara?” He watched them closely. “A word or two with Sebastian could save you from the streets.”
“What are you implying?” Alaina shouted.
“That he knew exactly what you did, and I don’t think he likes it.”
Alaina snorted. “He wouldn’t throw us out. We’re his sisters.”
Nicolas sighed. “Well, maybe he wouldn’t. But who knows? His behavior seems to have changed a lot since we got here. And by the way, I don’t suppose you know Dad has given me full control of the family trust.”
Alaina gritted her teeth. “Nicolas! You wouldn’t! You wouldn’t cut off my money. I have a right to it.”
“Seeing how fast you spent it, Alaina, your portion will not last very long,” he said. “Now then. Do we understand each other? It’s a warning, Alaina. I rather like Sakura now.”
Alaina couldn’t say a word because if what Nicolas had just said was true, then his words were law. She said through gritted teeth, “Come on, Tara!” Then she dragged her adopted sister by the arm and stalked out the door.
Nicolas watched them go and shook his head. They hadn’t changed a bit where Sakura was concerned.
