Page 57 of Possession

“I had Quinn—he’s my other full-time guard, in addition to Sasha—pick up some clothes. I had to guess at Lucas’s size. You can get other stuff for him later, but there are some clothes in the kitchen. Quinn also sometimes cooks because—fuck, you wouldn’t know. Jesus.” Vitali scrubs at his jaw. “Nonna Maria. She’s gone. Last year.”

An image flashes through my mind. Nonna Maria, our mother’s mother, wearing a flowery housedress and rolling out pasta dough on the kitchen table. I paint black over the image.

“Good,” I say.

Fury flashes through Vitali’s eyes. Abruptly, he wants to attack me. In the past, he would have. With words. With fists. He would have been in my face. Now he holds himself back and lets his anger seep back inside. He realizes, maybe for the first time, that I’m not the person he knew.

And that’s why I’m glad Nonna Maria is gone. I wouldn’t have wanted her to see me now.

Vitali takes a deep breath, forcing himself to let it go. “You want to go get Lucas and we can eat?”

“I’ll take food to him.”

Vitali’s eyes narrow with suspicion. “Why?”

“He’s not to leave my room.”

“Roman, he’s completely safe in the house.” Vitali’s voice is sharp.

I don’t say anything.

Vitali’s jaw tightens. “Fine. If that’s what you want.”

It is what I want but not just because of safety. Lucas is mine, and I need him to stay in my exclusive space.

As we head to the kitchen, I can tell Vitali is watching me from the corner of his eye. I don’t pay much attention to him, however, because the female guard—Sasha, Vitali called her—is walking behind us, which I don’t like, and I have a lot of environmental information to catalog right now. I had forgotten how big this house is.

The kitchen is huge and way too bright. There’s a man at the stove stirring a pot. He’s big, tough-looking in spite of the apron over his flannel shirt and jeans. He’s the one who was standing outside my room last night. Quinn.

He looks up when we enter the kitchen. He nods in greeting, but his expression is guarded. When he taps the wooden spoon on the side of the pot, I see a burn scar on the inside of his arm below his rolled-up sleeve. He sets the spoon down.

I like that he doesn’t say anything.

I also like the smell of that sauce. My mouth waters. Maybe I am hungry.

Vitali motions me to follow him to the large dining table, where a few plastic bags are waiting. “These are the clothes,” he says.

It’s not just clothes. There are toiletries too, even lube.

“I had no way to guess his shoe size,” Quinn says in a deep, gruff voice from beside the stove.

I give him a sharp look. I needed these things for Lucas, but I don’t really like the idea of anyone thinking that much about him.

Quinn turns away and lifts the lid of another pot. I hear boiling water.

Vitali tells Quinn, “Roman and Lucas are going to eat in their room.”

Quinn nods without looking back. “Okay. I’ll bring up a tray and leave it outside the door.”

I relax slightly, relieved that he understands. I grab the bags and leave.

My path back to the bedroom takes me by the library. I halt outside its closed double doors. I haven’t been inside since my parents died. My mother loved this room.

Nonna Maria, who had legal guardianship of me and Vitali, insisted on the doors being open, but I guess Vitali closed them after she died. Maybe he hates this house a little bit too.

I open the doors and go inside. Setting down the bags, I turn on a lamp with a colorful glass shade. As light blooms over the leather furniture, fireplace, and crowded shelves, I get a twisted feeling inside. I ignore it and go to look at the shelves.

A lot of the books are old and fancy looking, but I recall a section of paperbacks. I crouch in front of it. I find a copy ofStarship Troopers, then I retrieve the bags, turn off the lamp, and escape.

---