Page 47 of Midnight Revelations

“Good to know!” He laughed again. “Since you and I are both dateless for the evening, why don’t I accompany you to dinner and you can tell me a little more about the world of jewellery making.”

It was stupid, but at least he was paying me attention. I didn’t want to think about Ash or the woman hanging on his arm, or his brother who wanted to kill me.

“I think I’d like that,” I replied.

Ivan held his arm out to me and I linked my hand through it. Xavier shot me a look as we approached, but Papa’s smile said he approved, drawing us into the conversation. I nodded in the appropriate places, but my heart and mind resided somewhere else. Xavier and Jordan joined us for dinner, Papa the host at our table.

When the starter was cleared, I excused myself to make a visit to the bathroom. I had emerged and was making my way back when a strong arm curved around my stomach and lifted me into a concealed doorway.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Ash growled in my ear.

Every part of me wanted to melt back into him and ask him to tell me that he still loved me. “Attending a charity dinner,” I replied. “You?”

“Is there a reason that that fucker Ivan is all over you?”

I shook myself free and spun to face him in our small, dark corner. “Just don’t,” I warned him, my finger up in his face. “Go back to fucking your latest toy and leave me alone. While you’re at it, tell your brother to stop stalking and threatening me.”

“What the fuck?” He genuinely looked surprised.

I tried to walk away, but his hand latched onto my arm. I flinched and cowered back. “Just stop, Ash. Your brother has already left bruises on me. I can’t do this anymore.”

He turned my arm over and studied the flesh, his expression darkening until Hell and damnation resided there. “Which one?”

“What?”

“I have three brothers. Which one touched you?” His voice was calm, even as a storm raged in his eyes.

“It doesn’t matter,” I replied in a low tone. “Nothing does anymore.”

“Lucrezia…”

I shook my head and backed away, turning to return to the room with sightless eyes. I never thought that anything would hurt more than when Sofia left for university. She had been our rock and part of our little circle, but this was even worse.

Papa assessed me with his shrewd gaze and I sat down and pretended to join in the conversation. Ash hadn’t denied his relationship with Poppy, so it was true after all.

I picked through my dinner and joked with Jordan about his latest snowboarding adventures. “Are you not going to teach me?” I implored. We were all experts on the ski slopes, but Papa had never let us strap both our feet to a board and throw ourselves down a mountainside.

“Lucas would kick my ass,” Jordan replied.

“Indeed I would,” Papa said with a laugh. “You know the rules.”

“I have a ski lodge,” Ivan chimed in. “We host skis and snowboards.”

Papa scowled at him, but I giggled and touched his arm. “You just became even more interesting,” I told him, and his ears went red with the hint of a blush.

Jordan stopped eating just to give Ivan a death stare. The poor guy didn’t just have Papa to deal with, but two overprotective brothers as well! He sunk back into his chair a little.

“Stop harassing my date for the evening,” I chided Jordan.

He wasn’t my date, but if Ash could have a date, then so could I. Papa didn’t raise a quitter, and I refused to let the world see that inside I was crumbling into a heap of misery and pain.

My smile was a little too bright, my reactions a little too chirpy, but those who didn’t know me would never be able to tell… And those who could, probably already knew that I was barely holding myself together and was just waiting to pick up the pieces.

***

Chapter Seventeen

Ash

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