Page 4 of Ruthless Royalty

I jump up and start pacing, muttering to myself about how I’m going to die when I walk out of this stupid mansion. No wonder Nikolai looked so smug, he’s probably going to be taking over from Daddy when he’s old enough.

My mother grabs my shoulders and forces me to face her. She’s wearing a stern expression and whatever I was going to say immediately goes out of my mind.

“I need you to get a hold of yourself, Chiara. Of course you’re not going to die, not while you’re under Dmitri’s protection,” she says and she’s actually believing whatever she’s saying. “Now, I’m going to leave you for the evening because you’re probably jetlagged and need to process what happened today. We’ll talk more over breakfast, okay?”

I look at my mother, trying to find any hint in her eye that this could be a big joke. But nope, she’s goddamn serious and I can only nod. She smiles at me, kisses the top of my head and then walks out after telling me she loves me.

When the door shuts behind her, I stare at it for a long time before shaking my head and taking a look at the room around me. So, this is going to be my room from now on because I won’t be able to leave without fearing for my life.

How will this even work? Did my mother even think this through before she decided to marry this man? Nothing makes sense now, and I probably need to sleep before I can think this through.

I give the room another look, then I walk to the bed and promptly fall asleep.

When I wake up the following morning, I’m confused at the super soft cloud I’m sleeping on. I’m laying on my stomach and let out a moan at the divine bedding beneath me, cuddling deeper into whatever heaven I just woke up in.

“Well, that’s a sound I am never getting out of my head.”

My eyes fly open and I take in Nikolai’s ice-blue eyes staring at me … then I promptly scream and lift my arm to slap him. He chuckles, grabs my wrist and pulls me closer.

“Easy there, little sister. Is that any way to greet family?” he says with a smirk and I pull my arm out of his grip before moving back from him.

“What the fuck are you doing in my bed, Nikolai?!” I ask while glaring at him.

He shrugs. “I decided to come wake you up, but you looked so adorable sprawled out and snoring, that I just left you.”

“I do not snore!” I say with a scoff and his grin widens. “That’s beside the point, please get the hell out of here!”

“Suit yourself,” he says and gets up from my bed, walking over to the door. Then he throws over his shoulder: “Annamarie is waiting downstairs to have breakfast with you, by the way.”

He closes the door behind him, and I fall back on the pillows, breathing out a sigh. I’m going to have to lock this goddamn door. There’s no way I’m going to wake up with this smug bastard smirking at me again.

Now my pillow smells like his stupid expensive cologne. I hate him so much.

God, I must look terrible this morning and he was most definitely making fun of me. Prick. Can’t believe I’m stuck with him as my step-brother for fuck knows how long. Didn’t Dmitri mention something about him looking out for me at Willow Bridge?

My life can’t get any worse.

With a long-suffering sigh, I finally get out of bed and head to the bathroom to shower. I’d just taken my jeans off and slept in my t-shirt and panties from the day before, so I’m feeling extra filthy this morning.

But before I walk into the bathroom, I make sure to lock my bedroom door. That fucker won’t be surprising me again.

I try not to take note of the obvious luxury around me in thebathroom, or how all my favorite toiletries are lined up on the counter by the sink. My mother must have gotten them for me, she knows me better than anyone else, anyway.

After a shower that felt like heaven, I walk out into the bedroom with a towel wrapped around my body. Last night I eyed the walk-in closet warily, not knowing what I would find. When I step inside, I gasp when I see all the clothing and oh my sweet baby Jesus, THE HEELS!

All in my size, all in my style.

My luggage is still sitting by the foot of the bed, all clothing that are more than two years old. From what I can see the clothes in the walk-in are brand-spanking new. Damn, my mother really spared no expense.

I choose a cute cherry print black Summer dress and black stilettos(Louboutin? Excuse me, mom?)then my stomach decided to growl, so I head down to breakfast.

It only took me ten minutes to find the dining room. Only.

My mother is still sitting waiting for me, scrolling through her cell phone. She looks up when I enter and a big smile crosses her face.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” she says as she stands up and hugs me. “Did you sleep well?”

I nod. “It’s hard to stay mad at you when I slept on clouds and the shower felt like heaven,” I say and sit down next to her.

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