Chapter 4 "Running away, little mouse?"
Serena
The woman caught my elbow just in time, steadying me without a word.
“Easy, miss. They’re not patient men.”
We reached the bottom where the double doors stood open to a dining hall that could seat fifty. Crystal chandelier blazed overhead, and there was a long ebony table set with silver and candlelight.
Every head turned as I stepped inside.
At the head sat an older man, he was silver-haired, with sharp gray eyes identical to Saint’s. Power radiated off him like heat from coals. This was the patriarch. Mr. Rivers.
To his right sat Saint, dressed in an impeccable shirt. His expression was unreadable ice.
To his left sat Sin. Same shirt, same face, but his eyes were burning chocolate, and his smirk was already curling.
And scattered around the table were six more people.
I made the fatal mistake of locking eyes with the woman in crimson lipstick. Her gaze narrowed to black slits the second our stares collided.
She rose and started clapping. Every head snapped her way except the twins’.
Saint and Sin didn’t take their eyes off me for one moment. They were both staring at me like I was already stripped bare on their plates.
“This is the girl you wouldn’t shut up about?” she sneered, one hand on her hip, her red nails flashing. “My son will not marry a commoner with that plain face. The tabloids will shred us the moment one photo leaks.”
Her words echoed, and I froze halfway down the stairs, my heels rooted in place, heat crawling up my neck. The rejection burned worse than fear.
Saint’s eyes darkened to slate. He shoved his chair back with a loud scraping sound. He stood and rounded the table without a glance at anyone.
“What are you doing?” his father roared, banging his fist on the table . Wine flutes jumped, spilling red wine.
Saint ignored his father and mother like they hadn't spoken.
He climbed the stairs two at a time. When he reached me, he took my hand in his. It was firm, unyielding, and warm despite the ice in his voice.
He turned to face the table, my fingers locked in his.
“Family,” he announced in a voice of cold steel cutting through the tension, “meet Serena.”
There was a beat. “Serena… meet my family.”
Silence crashed in the room like a burning plane. Mrs Rivers flushed scarlet.
Mr. Rivers’ knuckles whitened on his glass. Sin leaned back in his chair, a slow smirk spreading on his face.
Saint’s thumb brushed my knuckles once, then he tugged me forward, down the last steps, and straight into the lion’s den.
“This is my fiancée,” Saint declared, his voice slicing the air like a blade. “My choice is final.”
Gasps rippled around the table, everyone's mouth opened in a silent ‘O’. Everyone except Sin.
Sin rose slowly. His chocolate eyes raked over me, stripping the dress away layer by layer until I felt naked under the chandelier’s glare.
“I have an announcement too,” he said, his tone deceptively calm.
At the far end sat a stunning woman with high cheekbones, flawless makeup, hostility radiating like poison. She stared at me like I’d stolen something vital from her.
“I’m ending things with Lara,” Sin dropped the bomb casually as if he was announcing the weather.
The woman’s face crumpled. “Sinclair, you can’t!” she cried, her voice cracking.
So that was Lara. The “arrangement” he’d mentioned. She wasn't family. Just something… convenient.
Their mother shot to her feet. “Are you out of your mind?”
Sin didn’t flinch. “Dinner’s over. I’ve lost my appetite.” He rounded the table in long strides.
Lara snatched her handbag, her chair screeching. “I won’t stand for this.” Her heels stabbed the floor as she stormed out, leaving fury in her wake.
Mrs. Rivers turned her icy gaze on me. “She’s your fiancée?” The word dripped with disdain. “Then she must pass our tests. If she fails, if we find her lacking, you will end this engagement. Immediately.”
The room held its breath.
“Deal,” Saint said without hesitation or motion.
“I will design the tests myself,” Mrs. Rivers added, her lips curving into something cruel.
“As you wish, Mother,” Saint replied, calm as glacier ice.
I couldn’t stay there for another second. I turned and started up the stairs, fast, my unsteady heels clicking on the marble.
This family was unhinged. The twins were worse, they were storms wrapped in identical skin.
I needed to find a way out before the silly tests began, before Mrs. Rivers turned me into some twisted proving ground, before the twins decided I was worth keeping, or breaking.
No one noticed I’d slipped away. The dining room had turned into chaos.
Back in the bedroom, I ripped off the black dress and yanked on the plain white one I’d arrived in.
Then I locked the door, crossed to the en-suite bathroom and started testing the windows.
It was high, but the villa’s stonework had wide ledges, decorative cornices every few feet. It was risky, but possible.
I hiked the dress up to mid-thigh, bunching the fabric so it wouldn’t snag, then I closed the toilet lid and tested my weight on it.
It was solid enough. I took one deep breath, gripped the sill, then hoisted myself up.
I'd only succeeded in swinging one leg over when the door burst open and the two billionaire heirs who had just turned my life upside down barrelled into the bathroom.
“Running away, little mouse?” Sin asked, a lethal expression on his face.
Fuck. I was caught in the act, and I knew I was going to pay heavily for it.