AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER1
“You still don’t haveanything for them for Christmas?” Penny asked me on the other end of the line. Her voice was filled with shock. “You still haven’t done any Christmas shopping? You know they’ve been planning your gift for weeks now, right?”
“I know,” I groaned and rolled over on my bed. I was hiding out after getting back early from a work trip. These days I spent my life finding the balance between my new job as a research biologist for a non-profit organization, life as Ivan’s daughter, and life with my Kings.
As much as I loved my work and spending time with Ivan, Amara, and Nat, my Kings won every chance I got. Our non-profit had just done a massive fundraising drive for the Christmas season, and I was exhausted now. I had two weeks off, and I intended to spend every moment of it with them.
The problem was they were nowhere in sight. Each one of them was just as busy as I was. Archer and Valen were working for their family businesses and were constantly overseas. They both worked in finance and traveled too much for my liking. Kingston was in a research study program that kept him busy with academics. And Ryker had moved on to start his own business. He’d never been the type to enjoy school as much as the rest of us, so he decided to become an entrepreneur. First, he opened a gym and fighting training center, then another, and now he owns several across a few different states.
We had pledged to spend our two-week Christmas break together, just like in the old times, those simpler times before life got in the way of us having fun, back when we had summer breaks and long, lazy afternoons when school was done. When we were all together, with no cares other than making each other feel good.
I wasn’t even twenty-five yet and already felt old and jaded over life. Part of me thought maybe I should just quit everything and live off Ivan’s wealth. Become a rich, spoiled girl and indulge my every whim.
Damn my work ethic and my need to stay busy while making the world a better place.
If only hired assassin was a full-time job, and if only people hired me to rid the world of people like those from the Organization of Maksim and Ilya.
“What are you going to do?” Penny asked. “You guys are leaving tomorrow, right?”
“We are, and there’s nothing on the way to the cabin,” I sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe I’ll come up with some way I haven’t had sex with them yet and pretend that’s their present.”
“First of all, ew,” she giggled. “Secondly, like there’s a single thing you haven’t done. Mark and I are only two people, and there isn’t much left on the table for us to try. I can’t imagine how empty your list is.”
“First of all, ew, right back at ya,” I laughed. “Secondly. Well, you’re probably right. I wonder if I should go look for something.”
“Going to the mall two days before Christmas? Are you nuts?” she asked.
“You know me well enough to know that, yes, I am quite crazy,” I said and sat up. I exhaled slowly and continued. “I don’t really have a choice, now, do I?”
“I guess not. Good luck with that,” she said, and we talked for a little bit before ending the call. She was getting her guy a kayak, something simple and something he wanted.
On the other hand, I had no idea what I would get my Kings. So I decided I’d figure it out after some food court food and a stroll through Oakville’s over-packed shopping center. Maybe I’d get a glimmer of inspiration on the way.
When I thought I was an adventurous person, I had things like being fucked on the kitchen counter with a zucchini or pegging each of my Kings one by one. Or maybe even hiking the Inca trail, like we’d done as a group last spring.
But I didn’t have the Oakville shopping center right before Christmas on my mind when thinking about adventure. It turned out I was wrong. It should have topped my list all along.
The place was packed, and I was forced to walk shoulder to shoulder among frantic crowds of late gift buyers like myself. And when I say walk, what I mean is being pushed along a river of fellow human beings with no way to control the direction or the speed.
Stores blurred past me, and somehow I found myself standing in the middle of the mall, taking refuge next to the oversized Christmas tree near the unending lineup for photos with Santa. People were talking, kids were screeching, babies were crying, and I could hear the jangle of old Christmas carols somewhere above the ear-splitting drone of it all.
Not exactly spirit-inducing, not exactly bringing the holly out of my jolly.
And then, to the side, seemingly empty, was the perfect spot.
A high-end jeweler specializing in exclusive brands, Tiffany baubles, and high-quality diamonds. The doors were closed, and a single security guard dressed as a nutcracker stood in front of them.
I decided to push through the crowds of people and somehow got across, only sustaining a few elbows to my ribs along the way.
I stood in front of the doors, looked up at the guard, and exhaled, blowing a lock of hair off my forehead.
“Rough crowd,” he chuckled and stepped to the side to let me in.
And as soon as I stepped through the doors, my plan unrolled in front of me, and I knew exactly what I had to purchase.
I made eye contact with a bored-looking saleswoman, and once she took a closer look at the quality of my clothing and the expensive jewelry I was wearing, her eyebrows went up. The minute she realized I had money, her entire demeanor changed, and she practically wiggled in anticipation of making a sale.
And she did. She made enough to leave her smiling broadly and waving while she begged me to come back to see her again. It was amazing how money made people love you. In the moment, at least, I knew the minute she got her commission, she’d forget all about me.
