Chapter 63: Chapter—Persephone

I take a breath of the cool air and allow it to cleanse my lungs and my head.

I’m sitting on a bench in the rose garden just outside the hotel restaurant taking a much-needed break.

Everyone is still inside. The men are talking business, Alecia and Aunt Marissa were absorbed with planning their next charity event, and Raven was texting someone. Or more like sexting.

I managed to slip away after the dessert I didn’t want and retreat out here where I could think and regroup after seeing Lukiyan.

I didn’t know he was going to be here today, but there’s no surprise really. He’s supposed to do the same job as everyone else, so why wouldn’t he be here?

Seeing him again so soon was just unexpected.

I can still feel the strength of his gaze on me. It was as potent and brutal as his touch was last night, accompanied with the reminder that we never happened.

I didn’t sleep after our wild encounter. So, now exhaustion has worked its way into every inch of my body.

I hardly had the strength to walk into the restaurant and pretend that seeing him again didn’t shatter my world. Or remind me of the sweet nothings he spoke to me in Russian and that I was covered in his cum.

I can’t believe that was us. I had his cock in my mouth again, and the way he punished my mouth left me spent yet aching for more.

More of what I shouldn’t want.

Now I have to live through the rest of today.

My family and I are going to the church in a little while to meet the priest who’s supposed to conduct the wedding ceremony.

I’m going through the motions only because I know I won’t be following through on the real thing and because falling in line allows me small doses of freedom.

I’m coming back here later to dance. I practice at home, but it’s not the same as using the stage in the theater here. I’ve been doing that every day for the last few months.

It’s undoubtedly been the only thing to save me from going One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest crazy.

“There you are,” Raven says, cutting into my thoughts.

She rounds the corner and slides up next to me with a little smile.

“Please don’t tell me they’re summoning me back in.” My shoulders slump.

“No, not yet.” She breathes out a heavy sigh and tucks a lock of her hair behind her ear.

“Thank God. I can’t go back inside yet.” Not with Antonio grabbing my leg under the table and trying to feel his way up to my panties.

I saw him talking to Lukiyan. I don’t know what he said, but I don’t think it was anything good.

Raven rests a comforting hand on my shoulder. “I would have come out here before to check on you, but I thought you might need some time to yourself.”

My cousin is one of the few people left in this world who truly know me.

“I did, but I’m glad you’re here.”

Mischief lights up her eyes as she reaches into her bag, pulls out a little roll-up and hands it to me. It’s a joint. If anyone caught us with it, we’d be so dead.

Raven gets away with all sorts of things. She keeps me in touch with the outside world.

“Thought you might need this.”

“I do.”

She takes out a lighter and lights the end for me. When I take a drag, calmness soothes me.

“Feel better?”

“No, but I guess my head doesn’t feel like it’s going to explode anymore.”

“Talk to me.” Her eyes fill with concern.

“It’s best I don’t.” I shake my head and breathe deeper, wishing I could talk to her about everything. Like Lukiyan and my escape plans.

But I can’t. I can’t talk to her about either, especially the latter.

Not only will her knowledge of my plan jeopardize my escape, but it will undoubtedly get her in trouble too. My father is a ruthless man who’s known for his savage ways. While he holds his family close to his heart, that doesn’t mean he’ll be hesitant to dole out punishment. If the crime fits, it won’t matter who you are to him.

The person helping me is Maya, my former nanny and head maid in our household. She’s been looking after me since I was born.

She’s Brazilian and worked for my mother’s family before my parents got married.

She witnessed Antonio’s aggression toward me months ago and became my savior when she offered to help me escape.

She’s been my only hope of freedom in this mess.

If she succeeds in getting what I need to leave, it means all will go to plan at the fundraiser.

My father probably trusts her more than anyone. I trust her the same way, so I know she won’t let me down.

She begged me to keep the plan between us, and I have. We’ve been planning between ourselves and gotten this far. I know, though, that if I make it out, everything is going to be much harder. I’ll be on my own then and won’t have anyone to turn to.

“Fuck knows who they’ll marry me off to.” Raven gives me a weary smile.

“Let’s hope it’s someone nice.” I pray my absence won’t mean she’ll have to marry Antonio.

I doubt that since Raven won’t be inheriting the empire.

With me gone, it will go to Frankie. It’s weird the way our inheritance works. It stays with the eldest family member and their heirs before it jumps to their siblings.

“So, I kind of saw the new bodyguard looking at you,” she states with a saucy smile. “And I saw you looking at him, too.”

God, I can’t have this conversation with her now. I already feel bad she still thinks I’m a virgin. When she lost hers, she told me, and I always planned to tell her when my time came.

Athena and I were scarily close and had that shared twin mind people talk about, but Raven has always been my best friend. It’s hurting me that I have to keep my secrets from her, but it’s hurting more that after Friday, I won’t be able to see her ever again.

“I just happened to see him.”

She smirks. “Are you kidding me? You didn’t just happen to see him. The man is fucking hot, and he looked at you like he wanted to fuck you.”

My body heats at the mention of fucking.

If she knew that I, Miss Goody-Two-Shoes, had a one-night stand with the hottest man I could find in a night club, her head would implode.

“I’m sure it’s just you who thought that.”

“No, it wasn’t, and Antonio totally saw too. I’m certain he said something to him about it.”

I think he did too.

“Like what?”

“Who cares? I saw the way Lukiyan looked at you. If I were you, I’d work that and let him do whatever he wants to me.”

I wish I could tell her I already have. “You know I can’t.”

“Oh, please, you know Antonio is getting it from any nubile girl who’ll ride his dick.”

“I know.”

“All the more reason to ride that stallion, or whatever Lukiyan is. I can’t figure him out other than the fact that he’s hot.”

She can join the club. Although I think I know a little more than her in the department of figuring Lukiyan out—as in one little thing. I think he has some Russian in him. He doesn’t look it, but the way he spoke Russian to me felt like it was as commonplace to him as English. I’m not even like that with Italian or Portuguese, and I’ve always been encouraged to speak both.

“At least he would keep your mind off things.” She chuckles. “He’s pretty to look at, and you could do stuff. Wild sexy stuff.”

Like last night?

No, thanks. Even as I think that, the hunger inside me clings to the memory of being devoured and desired.

“Raven, I can’t do that.”

“Just remember I gave you the green light. I love anything that rubs Antonio the wrong way. I wanted better for you, even more than I do for myself.”

She gives my hand a gentle squeeze.

“Thank you.” I feel like a hypocrite sitting here with an exit strategy and not sharing it with her.

“I miss the old days.” She gives me a reminiscent smile. “We’d be getting ready to go to Brazil again in a few weeks.”

I smile at the memory. “I miss those days, too.”

When I was little, we’d all go to Brazil three times a year.

We only go there now because Father owns Mom’s family business. When we see family, it’s brief. But it’s something. That’s why I was so excited to go on that last trip.

I have to say goodbye to that, too. I won’t be able to see that side of my family ever again, and my avó —my grandmother—is getting old and frail. I was hoping to see her again before she dies.

“Maybe we can have those days again.”

We can’t, but I’ll humor her.

“Maybe.”