Avrora
At the sight of Mikhail, my throat goes dry and panic rattles my brain.
Although Gytha is standing next to him, I don't really see her.
All I see is him.
Him dressed in his usual attire which, minus the leather, isn't that much different to Anatoli's style. Like Anatoli, Mikhail wears dark clothes, but he looks like my Mikhail.
The same one I loved all my life and counted down the days to marrying.
That familiar air of authority and desire to protect me emanates from his presence, and he still looks at me with the same adoration.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Anatoli's angry voice rips into my daze and I shudder from deep within. The playfulness we shared moments ago is gone and the ruthless devil is back once again.
He drops my hand like a steel weight and when he marches up to Mikhail, I instantly realize this is my fault. My one and only text weeks ago resulted in this visit. This is around about the time Mikhail said he would drop by. I just never had a date or hour, and then I forgot altogether that he was coming.
I can't believe I actually forgot. When I first got here, holding on to the idea of seeing him was all that kept me going.
"I was invited," Mikhail replies with a smug grin.
"Fucking invited by whom?"
I rush forward, resting my hand on Anatoli's arm. "Me."
His gaze snaps to mine and rage flares in his eyes like the untamed fires of hell.
"You?"
"You said, remember?"
"When the hell did I say-?"
"When I first got here, that's when. You allowed me one text."
He narrows his eyes, and I feel the hard muscles on his arm flexing beneath my fingers. "You didn't know I'd be back today. I specifically said I needed to be around if he was going to come here."
"That's my fault." Gytha speaks up, standing a little taller, setting her shoulders back like she's posing for the camera. "I informed your brother you'd be back, and I didn't think it would be a problem for him to come today since Avrora had invited him."
She really is one messy bitch. One look at her and I can tell she's loving this. She took what I started and fashioned it into something else that worked for her.
I haven't seen her since that day she was watching me with Anatoli. It was clear she hated seeing us together when she's supposed to be the queen.
People like her look for any opening to screw with you. Especially when you allow them to.
Like I have to do now. No matter how conflicted I am about my feelings, I owe it to Mikhail to speak with him. Even at the cost of Anatoli's wrath.
"I need to see him, Anatoli." I tug on Anatoli's arm then drop my hands at my sides.
The same fury continues to blaze in his eyes, but if there's one thing I know about him it's that he's a man of his word.
"We'll just be in the living room." I nod as if he asked me something and I'm giving a response.
All he gives back to me is a stony glare with no words and no other emotion besides rage.
This is the first time I've seen the brothers together since the wedding. I knew they didn't like each other by what Anatoli did during that phone call, but I didn't realize how much he hated Mikhail until now.
"Come, we have things to talk about too." Gytha takes Anatoli's arm and tugs on it, but he doesn't look away from me.
I already know he's going to be mad at me when Mikhail leaves, so I just walk into the living room with Mikhail following.
We sit opposite each other and neither of us speaks until Anatoli walks away, Gytha in tow with her runway strut.
Mikhail sighs and relaxes his shoulders as he softens his expression.
I can't believe how long it's been since we last saw each other. Nor all that's happened to me since.
But what's happened to him?
Seeing him has brought everything home and pushed me out of the fantasy I was in with Anatoli. Now I'm back in reality, I remember how our dream wedding was ruined, and so was the life we thought we were going to live.
"I'm sorry about that." I speak first because I should. "I should have made sure he knew you didn't know when you'd be able to see me."
"That's not your fault, Avrora. It's his. He's the psychotic asshole who made me wait this long to see you. I'm sorry I couldn't give a specific day. Things have changed a lot for me since he took over the company, and the delay in his trip delayed me too."
As his voice seeps into me, the familiarity of him returns, but I know I've still changed.
"It's fine, I understand."
"Are you okay, Avrora?"
I feel like there's no right way to answer him, given that last phone conversation where he heard me orgasm and Anatoli told him not to call me again.
"I'm fine." I decide on the simple answer as it feels safer, although it sounds wrong. "Are you okay?"
"Don't worry about me. I'm still pissed as fuck that I haven't been able to do anything about this situation."
"I know you would have done what you could."
"I did. Has he told you any of what's going on with the family?" He searches my eyes.
"No."
"What has he told you?"
Straight away I think about the shit about Dad and know I should hold my tongue. It's strange how I was able to confide in Lorelai, knowing she'd take my secrets to her grave. But these are secrets I don't think Mikhail would keep. He's a Knight. A high-ranking one who lives by the oaths they take and would die for them too. If my father's crimes are as terrible as Anatoli says they are, it would be Mikhail's duty to report them.
"He hasn't told me anything." I school my expression so he doesn't suspect the lie. "I just know what the marriage contract stipulates. Is there anything else I should know? You mentioned what's happening with the family." I guessed there was so much more outside of what my father did to Anatoli but, as always with him, he's kept it from me.
"It's nothing you should worry about." He tries to school his expression too, but his eyes give him away and I can see he's keeping things from me. "That guy has issues."
I agree, but I have issues too. And they didn't just come out of nowhere. Anatoli doesn't like Mikhail, that much is clear, but that deep-seated fury was there from hello. I saw it at the wedding and I know it was directed at Mikhail, not the others.
That is what he's talking about and won't tell me.
"Have you seen my father?" I decide to change the subject.
"Not so much. I heard he's making preparations to go to Russia."
"Russia? To live?"
"Most likely. He hasn't said much to anyone."
Because he can't. Knowing my father, he'll do his best to cover things so seamlessly no one would question his moves. But him going to Russia means it would be even more difficult to see him than it is now.
Mikhail reaches out and takes my hand. "Don't worry about your father, Avrora. He can take care of himself. His one mission in life was always to take care of you, so please focus on that."
"I will, and I am okay. I'm back at college and just focusing on my studies."
As he studies my face, I know he's thinking about me being here with Anatoli. I sense if Lorelai picked up on the shift in my emotions, he does too.
He's the only other person I'm close to who would know me that way.
I feel that I have to say something, if only to apologize.
"I'm sorry about that phone call." My words come out in a stutter.
Now that he's right in front of me, I realize how right I was about him being hurt. He is.
"Has he done anything else to you?" His jaw clenches. "Like force himself on you?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I didn't mean for what happened to happen. It just did."
"It doesn't matter."
"Doesn't it?"
"No, it doesn't." A shadow of worry washes over his face and his eyes turn dark. "Listen to me, Avrora. Anatoli is a dangerous man. Try to remember that and don't get fascinated by him."
God. Don't I already know this? But it's too late, and I'm embarrassed that Mikhail has to give me this warning, because he already had firsthand evidence that I'm fascinated with Anatoli.
"Are you listening to me?" His voice takes on that hard edge of authority he uses with his guards.
"I'm listening."
"I'm telling you this for your own good because I love you."
All the time we've been together, he's never said that to me. Those three words of deep sentiment every girl longs to hear-I love you.
And I'm so stunned, I'm speechless. Speechless hearing him confess his love, and by my reaction.
I've waited all my life to hear those words from him. Now that he's said them, when it should matter most, I don't know what to say. Or feel. My heart should be leaping, but it's still conflicted.
"Nothing has changed the way I feel about you." His gaze intensifies. "I know you feel the same way about me. We had dreams we wanted to fulfill, children we wanted, a life we wanted. Do you remember that?"
My heart squeezes just listening to him talk with such fervency and I feel so much worse. "Of course I remember."
"Then they're worth fighting for. So I won't stop trying to get you back. If there's a way, I promise you I will find it."
"I would just love to see you try," Anatoli answers from the door. His voice carries across the room hard and loud.
Neither of us saw him standing at the door, but now that my gaze darts between him and Mikhail, I can see Mikhail doesn't look fazed, and I feel like he would have said what he did in Anatoli's face.
It's the perfect vision of the alpha when standing his ground.
But what happens when you meet your match?
I hope I don't find out. Because Anatoli looks like he's ready to kill Mikhail.