Page 2 of Emerald

“Oh my god, no it can’t be. No. He’s alive.” Zoe gasps and tears well in her sapphire eyes as she’s a couple of steps behind Sophie.

Moments later, her two shadows, Mateo and Tomas, are right behind her, assuming their protective positions on either side of their woman.

“Fuck me,” Mateo curses.

“Am I seeing things?” Tomas questions.

“I don’t understand. How the fuck are you two alive?” Sophie asks.

“They’re alive,” Zoe squeals before bursting into tears as her two men hug her protectively.

“What’s all the commotion? You’re going to wake Mum and Dad.” Mackenzie, the last of the Clark sisters, arrives. Her mouth falls open as she stares between Max and me. “What the hell happened to your hair?” she asks, looking between us.

Before I know it, I burst out laughing because of all the things anyone could have said that was not at all what I thought someone would mention. Our naturally dark hair has been turned platinum blonde. It took ages to strip the black from my hair. They then gave me extensions and turned me into Malibu Barbie.

Sophie and Grace glare at me as I try to control my laughter.

“You’re not zombies, are you?” Mackenzie asks.

This has me cracking up even more. I think I’m in love with Mackenzie Clark; she has changed the mood entirely. Well for me, anyway. No one else seems to feel that way as they all glare at me.

“Be fucking serious, Kenzie,” Sophie snips at her sister.

“You’re supposed to be dead.” Sergei gasps. He’s the next to step into the melee, and the old man’s face is pale as if he’s seen two ghosts standing before him.

“I’m alive, old man,” Maxim states as he lets go of Grace and rushes over to pull him into a tight hug.

Sergei’s the closest thing Max has had to a father. Ours tried, but he was in too deep with the Bratva to give a shit about hisfamily.I get it.I understand his logic because caring meant we were a liability. Still would have been nice to have been normal for a portion of my childhood. Not that what Sergei did for a living was normal, but he was there for his daughter Anna a hell of a lot more than our own father was for us.

“I can’t believe it, boy. This is real. You are both truly alive?” Sergei asks as tears well in his eyes.

“We’re both alive, old man,” I answer, giving him a warm smile.

Sergei looks up and spots me standing in the distance, and his eyes widen in surprise, as it’s the second time I’ve risen from the dead for him. I’m like a cat with nine lives but it looks like I’ve already lost two of them. He then walks over and pulls me tight into his arms. “Good to see you,” he says. I hug him tightly, soaking in the feeling of safety the old man gives me. Even if it’s for a fleeting moment, I want to be able to absorb that feeling for as long as I can.

Next, Grace’s parents arrive and that’s when the entire night falls into chaos. Tears, screaming, gasping, hugging, kissing, and questions flowed from everyone in the family. They pull Grace into concerned hugs, then shower Maxim with kisses before it’s my turn to be given the same treatment from a family that doesn’t know me other than I’m their daughter’s dead fiancé’s dead sister.

It's complicated.

But they are good people.

Without fuss, I move away from everyone to give them their moments together. I’m not used to all these people, not good ones anyway.

“Nice to see you’re alive, I guess,” Sophie says, walking over to where I’m standing in the shadows.

“Nice to be alive, I guess,” I bite back.

Those green eyes glare at me. “Where the fuck have you been?” she questions me.

I raise a brow at her, I thought she was supposed to be the journalist. “You’re smart enough to know I can’t answer that.”

Sophie rolls her eyes at me. “Do you have any idea the hell you have put my sister through these past couple of weeks? She thought she had lost Max.”

My heart may be black, but it’s not dead.

“I know.”

Sophie looks me up and down before answering angrily, “That’s all you have to say?”

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