Page 10 of Emerald

“I was there, Elena,” Zoe says, using my real name. “They made sure you were kept away from us. And on the off chance that we were all together, we were all too scared to talk about anything. You couldn’t have stopped what was going on. They made sure of it,” Zoe explains as tears well in her eyes.

“What the hell is going on here? Why are you upsetting my sister?” Sophie asks, glaring at me as she steps into the kitchen with Brooks, Damon, and Mackenzie behind her.

Here we go, round what is it now?

“That’s it, I’ve had enough of all this,” Zoe says, standing up abruptly from the breakfast table. “Family meeting in five, in the living room. Grab your food and meet me in there. Wake Grace and Max, too, they should be here for all this as it involves them.” With that, Zoe storms out of the kitchen with Tomas and Mateo hot on her heels.

Sophie is about to say something when her mother cuts her off. “Sophie, don’t. You heard Zoe, five minutes. Grab breakfast. You must be hungry after working out, then you can interrogate Ellie all you want.” And with that, Elizabeth leaves the kitchen.

“Well, this has been a lively breakfast. Welcome to the family, Ellie,” Frank says as he folds his newspaper under his arm and walks out of the kitchen.

I sure know how to clear the room.

Sophie talks in hushed tones to Brooks as she shuffles around and piles food onto her plate before pouring herself a coffee and then disappearing from the room.

I pop a strawberry into my mouth and shrug as Mackenzie gives me a warm smile.

“It’s going to be fun having you around.” Mackenzie chuckles as she grabs a slice of Frittata and juice and joins the rest of her family in the living room.

“Remember, no killing anyone,” Damon says as he fixes his plate with breakfast.

Brooks chuckles as he does the same.

Once everyone has left the room, I get up and grab myself the coffee that Tomas abandoned as he ran after his woman. I take a sip of the liquid and feel the caffeine hit my veins instantly, I’m going to need it to get through this family meeting.

Stepping into the living room, the mumblings fall silent as I pick an armchair next to Frank, that should be a safe spot for me. I can feel Sophie’s glare on me the entire time.

“Grace and Max are on their way, as is Sergei,” Mackenzie explains to Zoe.

Moments later, Grace and Max appear through the door, looking deliriously happy and tired. I can only imagine they did not sleep at all last night.

Max scans the room until he finds me and gives me a small smile. He questions me silently with his eyes, and I shrug my shoulders in a ‘who knows’ fashion.

“Sorry, I’m late. My head hurts after one too many vodkas last night,” Sergei says, walking in and taking a seat beside Maxim.

Zoe stands up and addresses the room. “Thank you all so much for attending this family meeting this morning. It’s been a wild twenty-four hours, emotions are running high, and I think we need to get everything out in the open over what’s happened since Moscow.”

The room is silent.

Maxim looks over at me, and his normally dark eyes, now blue thanks to contact lenses, are wide at hearing Zoe’s words. “What the fuck happened?” he mouths to me across the room.

I shake my head.

“Before we start talking about bad stuff, can I say something first?” Grace says, standing up.

Zoe nods and sits down.

Grace clears her throat as she steadies herself. “I buried my old life yesterday. A life that I’ve been mourning for the past couple of weeks. The thought of creating a new one without Maxim was unfathomable to me. I buried the love of my life yesterday, and I never thought I would ever have a chance at finding love again until you, Max Clark, walked back into my life,” Grace says, her voice hitching with emotion. “You see, I never thought I would be able to let Maxim Vasiliev go. That man held my heart in his hand, and no one could ever replace him. Until you,” she says, looking down at my brother. “Today is the first day of the rest of our life, Max. A new life. One that neither one of us imagined nor planned for. So, I want to know if you, Max Clark,” Grace asks as she drops to one knee.

Everybody in the room gasps.

“Will spend the rest of this new life with me, Grace Clark.”

My brother is shocked as he stares down at Grace. He’s unable to find the words to answer her. The fool better say yes. It’s a little unconventional that Grace is the one proposing, but from what Maxim told me, he proposed to Grace before the Russian ball in case anything happened. Guess it’s on brand then.

“Yes. Of course,” Max says as he reaches down, picks Grace up off the floor, and kisses her passionately.

The rest of the room ignites into whoops and hollers at the proposal. When Max finally stops kissing his fiancée, he turns and looks around the room to where Frank is sitting.

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