“Eat your dinner, and when you’re done, we’ll leave.” My voice is low, a whisper only Scarlett can hear. I pray to all that’s holy she obeys.
With a slight nod, she eats, and I smile, watching her enjoy the dinner. My appetite is gone, or rather, it’s shifted from my plate to the woman beside me. Lifting my gaze, I find Darius staring at me.
“Still in control,” he remarks, but I don’t respond because if I do, it will start a war. And that’s not what I want or need right now. “You can hate me all you want,” he tells me, talking over Scarlett who’s between us. The only sweetness amongst the darkness that’s lingering in the room. My brother and I are far too similar, and even though I don’t consider him family, or at least close family anymore, he is blood.
Blood is a bitter vow to swallow. The lingering metallic flavor of guilt and deception hangs between us, and I know it will never be cleaned. It will never change.
I turn my attention to my drink, swallowing back the biting bourbon, allowing the burn to trickle down my throat until the fire has reached my stomach. My gut churns with the need to escape.
“You know, little one,” Darius says, his voice loud enough for only me and Scarlett to hear. “He’s never going to love you like you want. Marrying him may be your end.” There’s no joking in his tone, but I didn’t expect there to be.
“I may one day grow old beside him, and maybe I don’t love him yet, and he may not feel the same for me, but I’m not ever going to regret doing this. My life is my own. Even if I’m under contract, Lycan has given me a choice to walk away…” She glances at me before looking back at Darius. “But I don’t want to.” Her final words to him have my chest tightening as emotions I don’t want or need take hold of me, and I’m soon lost in affection for the girl beside me, the same girl I bought from her father.
Affection is weakness, but I can’t stop myself when it comes to her. Scarlett does something to me. She knocks down walls, breaks through steel doors, and burrows herself in the darkness I’ve long since buried.
Darius doesn’t say anything, but the look he gives me tells me everything I need to know—he’s impressed with Scarlett.
And that can never be a good thing.
Scarlett
My nerves are shot. With Darius here, I know he’s only trying to goad Lycan to act out, but the man who’s now standing beside me is far too controlled, and I’m certain his brother knows that.
A stunning woman sidles up beside Lycan, so close I can smell her perfume. He stills beside me. His body turns rigid as he grips me tighter but doesn’t say anything. She moves past us, and I notice the sway of her hips and the way her long hair hangs in silky waves down her back. She casts a quick glance over her shoulder at my fiancé before she disappears amongst the rest of the guests.
His arm snakes around my waist even tighter, and I find it difficult to breathe as we head toward my gran to say goodbye. I find her eyes on me, watching, intrigued by us. And I wonder if she’ll tell my father about Lycan’s display. Lycan grabs a flute of champagne, handing it to me before he orders a scotch from the waiter who scurries off to get the drink.
When I sip on the bubbly liquid, I pray the alcohol will calm the erratic thumping of my heart and the flurry in my belly. I want to come across as confident, calm, but with the man beside me who draws every woman’s eye, I feel like a teenager beside him.
“Can I have your attention, please?” My grandmother calls out, clinking her glass with a silver knife. As the crowd falls silent, she continues, “Tonight is a very special one for the Bardot family. It’s a night I didn’t think would ever come to pass.” Her eyes land on Lycan and me before she speaks, “But I’m so happy to finally say that my granddaughter, Scarlett Bardot, is engaged.”
A flurry of murmurs fills the room after her announcement, and my cheeks heat as every set of eyes turn toward us. The strange, yet elegant woman who seems to focus on Lycan stares at him for a long moment before she turns her attention to me. Rage burns in the stare she pins on me, before she flicks her hair and rushes to the patio but doesn’t walk outside. She lingers in the doorway, and I notice her opening her purse.
“Who is she?” I whisper as I attempt to smile at my grandmother who’s embarrassing me more than I’ve ever been before.