Page 21 of Scarlet Promise
Erin takes the food off the burner and hurries over to hug me tightly. “I’m so glad you’re safe.” She gestures to the bacon. “Breakfast. Sasha demanded it, and what Sasha wants, Nadya wants, too.”
I shudder and help myself to a plain yoghurt, the stuff I like, and get a spoon. “I don’t think I can stomach more than this right now.”
Erin finishes the bacon and puts it on a plate with paper towels and then into the oven to keep warm. She flicks on the kettle and makes me a toasted rice tea.
Then she sits at the table opposite me. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“I’m sorry if I’m the reason you and Demyan cut your trip short.”
Erin laughs and shakes her head. “You try traveling with Sasha. He’s as headstrong as his Dino.” Her mouth quirks as she uses the word Sasha used to say when trying to say Demyan when he was two. “But honestly, I was sick of traveling. I wanted to come home early. Small kids and extended hotel hopping are exhausting. I’m glad to be home.”
“There you are.” Demyan walks into the kitchen, kisses Erin, and sits at the head of the table, a sign of him wanting to assert himself.
There’s no smile, no softness to him. Just a coldness that translates into deep-seated fury, one he’s trying to keep under control.
Normally, I’d try to find the right words, try and placate him, but I’m not in the mood. And I don’t think he has a right to be so angry.
Not at Ilya.
Not at me.
“Out with it,” I mutter, folding my arms.
He sighs. “Alina, the last thing I want to do is fight, but what the actual fuck? Did you lose your fucking mind? Since when do you keep shit from me? Especially something this big. Marrying fucking Ilya? What’s wrong with you? Do you need a replacement for Max so desperately that you settled for Ilya? My fucking servant?”
I recoil like he’s slapped me. Even Erin gasps.
And he’s not done.
“Because at the end of the day, it’s what he is. A grunt, someone too weak to keep control of anything except orders. He couldn’t even step into a dead man’s shoes without fucking up. Without having one man want a coup. Without getting his men slaughtered. Without having that man, his so-called second, double-cross him. Without putting you in danger. He’s a menace, and he’s not even good enough to polish your shoes.”
I stare at him, dumbfounded.
Servant?
Not good enough?
He’s saying Ilya’s also reckless.
I can’t even begin to believe the words from my brother’s mouth, and yet when I meet his gaze, I can see he believes them.
“Demyan,” I whisper.
“Keep the fuck away from a menace like Ilya, and that’s an order,” he snaps.
Erin turns to him. “Ilya’s a good man, Demyan. What do you want? For your sister to be in mourning for Max the rest of her life? Because she’ll miss him always. I know that, but she needs to live again.”
“He’s not good enough,” Demyan says. “There are a thousand men better than Ilya, and I’ll find her one.”
“No, you won’t,” I say.
Demyan’s eyes slide over me with contempt. “I’m your big brother. I’m in control, and you’ll have no say, understand?”
“Like hell?—”
“Demyan, stop,” Erin says over me. “You’re upset over your best friend and your sister?”
“It’s not a real marriage,” he snaps.
