Page 50 of No Longer Safe

But then again… I really hadn’t either. There was probably something wrong with us. I would chalk it up to that.

“You ready?” Ivan shouted and I squeezed the ring tighter in my hand as I marched around the body of water and came to stand beside the brothers. The only one not present was Alexei.

Bottle rockets were set up in various spots around us. Some were big, some small, but the biggest one out of all of them… I knew it was for the ring. There was a small bit of guilt in the pit of my stomach. I almost felt bad for what I was about to do to the ring. Especially since I knew Brian had probably saved up a lot of money to get it, even if it was ugly. I didn’t want to be a vindictive person and I didn’t want to be mean. It was hard to separate the two people I saw Brian as. The one before the trip and the one on the trip. They didn’t feel like the same person so it almost hurt to do something that would have been mean to the Brian before. But unfortunately, I needed to come to terms with them being the same person. That ugly, vile creature had always lived inside of him and I needed to accept that. I couldn’t keep them separate or I would never heal from any of this.

“Which one?” My voice sounded distant—detached.

Ivan pointed to the one bigger than my leg. My eyes bulged. I placed it on top of the bottle rocket before Dimitri slapped some tape on the top of it. Griffin positioned a drone beside it.

“What’s that for?” I pointed down at the little aircraft.

Griffin held up a huge controller with a screen on it between both hands. “This is going to ensure the ring is totally demolished.”

I nodded my head, of course. Go big or go home. This was what I wanted.

“As soon as everything is hooked up, we will meet you by Carina.”

I held my thumb up as I walked away on numb legs. This was it. I was really saying goodbye to the past and hello to my future. This was the most elaborate send-off I could have asked for. This was the best way to ring in my new life. My new me. Even if it did feel weird.

All the brothers, minus Alexei, jogged around the pond, all holding the big control pads. Ace handed me one and Ivan grinned as if this was the best day of his life.

“Three! Two! One!” Ivan shouted before he hit the button at the top of his controls. Every single bottle rocket shot up to the sky at the same time, with the drones right beside them. I was watching in real-time as my engagement ring shot up into the cloudy night. I didn’t know what to watch, the screen or the sky. I opted for the sky at the last moment and watched as the colors exploded into the night. Just as quickly as it started, it was over. Bits of debris and paper rained down on the pond.

“I can’t imagine New Year’s or the Fourth of July here,” Carina said stunned as Ace wrapped his arms around her middle and nuzzled her neck.

Dizzily, my eyes searched the top of the water, almost hopeful that I would see something sparkly begin to sink.

“You won’t find it,” Ivan held up his controls, and on the screen was the moment my ring burst into a ton of tiny pieces. He rewound it and let it play over and over as I stood there shell-shocked. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

“Your fireworks are that powerful?” I would hate to see one of those hit someone, if they weren’t careful.

Griffin placed his controller on the ground and took a step toward me. “No. The ring was just fake and cheap.”

Fake and cheap.

FAKE AND CHEAP?!

I’d been so worried and worked up over a fake and cheap ring? I could hardly believe what I was hearing. Griffin held hishands out to me as if I were a wounded animal. I shocked them all when a laugh burst from me.

I wasn’t even worth something real to him. None of it was real to him. The last five years were the biggest waste of my life. I couldn’t believe it. I bent over at the waist and continued to laugh. When tears started streaming down my face, I realized I was no longer laughing. I was in hysterics and not a single person knew what to do with me. Which was just fine because I had no idea what to do with me either.

A soothing warm hand rubbed circles on my back as I sank down to the ground and let it all out. Every frustration and embarrassment. Every time I’d worried about my weight or what I was eating and not a single damn moment of it mattered. It would have been one thing if he couldn’t afford my dream ring but he hadn’t even bothered to ask what I wanted. He could afford many things, but he hadn’t even tried when it came to me.

Through the blurry haze of tears in my eyes I watched, numb, as I was whisked off of my feet and carried back into the house. At first, I thought it was Griffin or Ivan but when the familiar scent of Alexei wrapped around me, I didn’t have a single fight left in me.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Audrey

A tea party.I was getting dressed up for a damned tea party. The last thing I wanted was to have to put on a frilly dress and sit around with people I didn’t know, who didn’t care about Carina. But this wasn’t about me. I could sit through it, even if I didn’t like it.

It did help that theprofessionalwas coming to beat my face with all kinds of serums and foundation to cover the bruises that were starting to turn a purplish green. At least there was that to look forward to.

I tried to keep my thoughts sane and not let them drift to the man that carried me back to the house and up the stairs to my room. Alexei was the last man I needed to think about or let my thoughts get stuck on. It was difficult to keep my thoughts on anything else, especially when I woke up smelling like him.

Smelling like heaven.

I needed to get a grip. I couldn’t do this. He couldn’t do this. I had a long way to go if I wanted to find who I was and I couldn’t let myself get wrapped up in another toxic man, no matter how delicious he smelled… and looked.

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