Chapter 192 THE TIMES
AURORA’S POINT OF VIEW.
Three days.
Three fucking days. That’s all Silas gave Kai and me to prepare for the announcement of the century. I remember Kai walking up to me, phone in hand, with the same emotionless look in those eyes. “Silas wants us to prepare. Your father seems to have suggested hosting the merger announcement this week, instead of next year like I proposed.”
“What?” I’d blinked, my chest tight, my mouth gaping……my emotions awry. Announcement?! What the hell does that even mean?
“We’re gonna go public.”
“Public???” My voice came out choked. I knew what that meant. Usually, the public would mean within the bounds of this school. The Ravenscroft High blog, gossip pages, and the very apps created by the school for its students. However, I didn’t think a man like Silas, or a man like Armando, wanted such news to stay in school alone. Kai flashed a photo to me.
“Fuck.” My face, along with his, in a photo I didn’t even know was taken, was right on the front page of a magazine. No, not just any magazine.
The fucking Times!
We’d met right at my house. I paced the length of the street, his calm exterior aggravating me. He leaned against his blue Lamborghini, his hands nestled in his pockets. “You’re too fucking quiet, Kai.” I walked to him.
“Do you realize what this is? If we’re on the actual news, as in the one other human beings other than our schoolmates read, my entire life will be poked at! I…. don't think I can do this.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. I knew what this was.
Hell, I’d lived it once before. In our society, a marriage, or engagement, was nothing as simple as a joined union between two individuals. It was rather about two companies, two high-class societies, the Vaihalla and the Orsini, coming together to become one.
My bloodline was from the Orsini, and his from the Vaihala. They would drill, grill, and turn me over until they decided I was fit for them.
Shit!
“What are you stressing about, Roar?” He pulled from his car, walking over to me before trapping me between his body and the wall. I felt my words stop at my throat; the feel of his clothed, firm body against mine left a familiar fuzzy feel in my underbelly.
He pulled my head up so we made eye contact, the once emotionless orbs of his now filled with something I couldn’t name…..I don’t think I could dare name it. The ghost of his fingers rubbed circles on my hip, the small action settling the buzz in my ears, my blood pressure once sky high returning to normal with each stroke.
“Calm down.” Two words….but his tone left no room for argument. My body instantly obeyed, my once-tense shoulders slack, my body leaning against his. “We’ve got this.”
“How sure are you, Kai?” I whispered, my heart rate threatening to spike. The icy hands of the feeling of utterly drowning in dark waters, unsure if there were crocodiles all around you, waiting to take a chunk of you for dinner. “If this goes public, they’re going to see me for the first time in years. They’ll ask after my mother….and I don’t think I want them to have anything to do with her.
She’s suffered enough.” I sniffled, the plethora of memories pulling in like they were from an open Pandora’s box.
Before I knew it, his arms wrapped around me, one stroking gently at the back of my head, while the other rested on my hip, still drawing those calming circles. I stood there, anchored by his scent; cedar wood, tobacco, rum, and a hint of something……familiar.
This wasn’t just a high school stunt anymore… There was blood in a water full of sharks.
“They won’t get near her.” He reassured, the rumble and vibrations from his chest with every word settling the fear in mine. “I have a plan.”
He pulled back just enough for us to stare into each other’s eyes again, a fierce protectiveness in his own, along with a lethal smile. “Do you trust me?”
I nodded without hesitation. I hadn't known Kai long; however, he was more of my family than anyone else.
“Good girl. Let’s make sure you’re ready.”