Page 37 of Obsessions of the Heart

My face fell. I hurt for these boys. I knew that I had been left in the woods, my parents not having wanted me, but they’d had parents that loved them. That lost must’ve been a hard thing to process.

“I’m sorry.” I bowed my head for their loss.

Ravi snatched my hand and squeezed it, drawing my hand up to rub his cheek along my palm. I rubbed my thumb over his cheek, giving him the comfort he was begging for. With Ravi, it was easy because he was always the first one to take that step forward.

Roux’s voice tightened as he rolled his eyes at Ravi. “This happened when we were about five. A family friend had promised our parents that they’d take us and raise us away from all of it, wanting us to have a simple life.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Does that mean you lived with this family friend for four years before you came to the orphanage?” My eyes ping ponged between them. They’d never really told me their story, and although it had always seemed like a sore subject, I did not expect this.

“Yes.” Rion took a breath and responded, “We actually thought she was our mother, but our uncle showed us proof that she wasn't.”

My mind was still reeling from the news. “Then how did you end up at the orphanage?”

“She realized my uncle had caught on to what really happened, so she told us we were taking a long trip. She packed us up in a van and drove around neighboring states for days, trying to lose his tail. She eventually ended up at the Virginia state line, where she put us in the bed of a truck and told us we were going to live in a new home from now on.” Rion kept his face neutral, but I knew that had to have hurt.

Clutching at my hand, Ravi added, “She never told us what was going on, so when we came to the orphanage, we thought she would come back and get us. Obviously, she never did.”

“Then our uncle found us. He told us who our family really was and what was expected of us.” Roux tried to sound like it didn't bother him, his face frozen in a stone-like expression, but his eyes could never lie. I knew this bothered him.

Something about what he said caught my attention, so I turned toward him. “What was expected?”

Rion took over, calling me to face him instead. “Our family has been around for generations and has been a figurehead for the firm for just as long. We needed to start at the ground up, so we went through some intense training when he brought us back.” He reached for my hand in my lap, hesitating long enough for his eyes to flick to mine in question.

I grabbed his hand, trying to tell him that I would be there for them. They were important people in my life, the only positive link to my childhood. I would help them in any way I could.

His hand squeezed mine, eyes staring at our grip with this far-off expression. “These obligations were the reason it took us so long to try to contact you.” He raised his head, his gaze begging me to understand. “The plan was always to come back for you, to take care of you, like we’d promised all those years ago. We just…”

“Lost me after I took off.” I finished the sentence for him, almost a little dazed. Everything was falling into place, and part of it was my fault. My muscles tightened as dark thoughts swirled around my mind. You were always impatient. Of course they needed time. We were just kids, but as soon as we were adults, you got up and ran, making it so they couldn't find you. This was your fault. You're the problem, and you always have been. They were yours, but you screwed it up.

A gentle hand began to rub circles on my back, soothing my body, which switched me out of that head space and back to reality. “But now you’re here, and we have a second chance to make things right, to live up to our promises, and, Rin, we want to.”

My head snapped up, looking at Ravi like he didn't know what he was talking about, then Rion chimed in. “We don’t want to waste this opportunity to get to know the adult Layrin. Hopefully, we can be the ones you can count on again.”

I peeked a glance at Roux, trying to see if this was just his brother's declaration or if they all agreed with this. In typical Roux fashion, with arms crossed and a tight-lipped line for a mouth, he nodded. That was the best I was going to get, yet it filled my soul.

For just a flash of a second, I envisioned jumping into each of their arms and kissing them. Ravi’s would be soft and sweet, his tongue playfully, always wanting more. Roux’s would be dominating and rough, his hands pulling at my body to keep me where he wanted me. Rion’s would be slow and methodical, taking his time to light the fire inside of me, making me practically beg him for more.

I shook my head, reminding myself that I needed to rein in my wildly running emotions. We’d just agreed to be good friends again, and there was no need to ruin that with my lust-filled thoughts. “I think that sounds great. I’d like to start fresh with all of you and learn about the men you’ve all turned out to be.”

“There’s one more thing, Rin, that we need to tell you.” Rion’s stern voice had everything inside of me coming to a halt. See, I knew this was all too good to be true. I swatted that dark thought away and forced my nerves to calm. Facing Rion, I motioned for him to continue, bracing myself for the worst.

“We’re going to need you to pretend that you only know one person, R. Ambros.” My brows pinched as I shifted my attention to Ravi, then to Roux, both of whom avoided looking me in the eye.

Rion stayed quiet while I digested his request. Thinking back to when Ravi talked to Elio, he’d never mentioned his brothers or any other Ambros. Then there was the time Ravi had given me the two-finger sneeze, the signal we’d come up with in the orphanage when we wanted the others to play dumb, to trust the other person to make their play.

I twirled around toward Ravi. “Was that why you gave me the signal?”

His face brightened like the sun. “It was a gamble to rely on our old code, but you caught on quick, and he didn't notice.”

“Notice what?” I was still confused about what I was supposed to keep hidden and why.

“That we knew you from before you came to this school. The Riccis' will use you to get to us, and we don’t want you mixed up in the mess between us,” Rion answered, but I had this sinking feeling in my stomach that he wasn't telling me the whole truth.

“That, and we’ve convinced the whole school that R. Ambros is only one person, not three people playing the same role.” Roux sighed like all of this was just a bother to him.

Lowering my head, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. These weren’t just simple secrets. These were big life-affecting secrets that were going to take some effort on my part to keep because one thing was for sure, I was going to keep their secrets. The Ambros triplets were back in my life like they’d risen from the dead, and I wasn’t about to ruin that for anything.

It also ties you to them. They can’t abandon someone who knows their secrets. I kept that ugly thought to myself, hating that it came from my insecurities, but at the same time, I knew it was the truth.

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