Page 55 of The Enemy's Defector
“You’re pregnant?” a woman asked as she entered from behind Maxim and Damon.
I leaned over to see my former maid. “Lucy!”
She didn’t look worse for wear, but she had changed up her appearance. While I bet we’d still look similar, she wasn’t my doppelgänger anymore. Her hair was shorter and dyed. An enormous engagement and wedding ring combo rested on her finger.
“What’s going on?” Lucy asked, going straight to Damon and taking his hand.
It was impossible to miss how she leaned on him, how possessive he was with her near him.
“Are you…” I huffed, letting out that small, incredulous laugh. “Are you married?”
She frowned. “I am. Just like… you expected I would be.”
The men didn’t move off as I approached her, worried whether she’d hate me or forgive me. She sure didn’t look upset or hurt or bothered. If anything, she was cool and calm, happy and content to be here like she was right at home.
“Yes, but…” I laughed again, tempted to smile and relax. “I mean you’restillmarried!”
She crossed her arms, getting more defensive. “And I will stay married.”
Damon came to her side, tucking her against him with his arm around her shoulders. “What’s going on here?” He looked at me, then Nik, and settled back on me with a stern, dark glare.
I held my hands up in a truce. “I’m not here to interfere.” Damon had earned the nickname Demon for a good reason. Hewasn’t exactly a cuddly, cozy sort of man. Respected and feared as the Ivanovs’ main torturer, he was a difficult guy to get used to. But it sure seemed like Lucy had. And she was glad to be his wife.
“You said you’d send word to me when I could divorce,” Lucy said, taking Damon’s hand. “I have no interest in that.”
I shook my head, smiling and wishing she would too. I knew this wouldn’t be easy, but obviously, she’d found her happiness here. It was a shame she’d hold a grudge against me for asking her to be the bride in that arrangement when she’d found her husband and wanted to keep him after all. I hadn’t been sure which brother she might’ve had to marry. Damon was a surprise, but they looked good together. Happy. If guarded with my appearance.
“I’m not suggesting that you two get divorced,” I explained. “Not if you don’t want to.” Stepping back as if showing I would back down, I sighed. “But I meant what I said. That if you came here in my place andhadwanted to leave, I would’ve helped you do so.”
Lucy frowned, narrowing her eyes at me more. “I don’t want to leave.”
“Youwon’tleave,” Damon inserted. “You belong with me.”
She smiled up at him but returned a cool glare at me. “Took you long enough.”
I nodded, hating that even she wouldn’t welcome me here. We’d almost seemed like friends at the mansion, but I supposed she felt used and discarded when I asked her to fulfill that arrangement in my place. “I didn’t realize it’d take me so long to look for what I needed to find.”
“Nik?” Maxim guessed.
I nodded again, but then shook my head. “When I heard that he’d been taken, yes, I tried to go through the surveillance footage at Anton’s properties. But while Anton was out of thecountry, I had to put all my efforts into finding the proof that he’d killed my father.”
“Anton killed Thomas?” Damon asked, clearly surprised.
“Yes.” I swallowed, hating how the topic of my father’s death always pushed me close to tears. Maybe it was the hormones and I was overly emotional. Perhaps it was the crash after so many threats, attacks, and episodes of running to survive.
Now that I was here, “home”, and somewhere I could rest for more than a crappy night of sleep when every little sound made me worry someone was after us, I wanted to crash. I wanted to finally lower my guard and justbefor once. Maybe then, I could fully accept the closure on my father’s death and begin to move on past grief and tears.
“We have plenty to talk about,” Nik said, squeezing my fingers in a silent prompt to go back toward him. He didn’t wait to hug me then kiss my brow.
“Alotto talk about,” Damon replied with a grunt.
Maxim sighed, running his hand through his hair. “Yes. But first”—he held his arm out, indicating for us to go ahead through the house—“clean up. Rest. We can talk when you’re settled.”
Nik nodded, smiling at his brothers.
“I’ll keep Grandmother away so she doesn’t bombard you with questions.” Maxim almost smiled, and I wanted to at the mention of Anastasia. Perhaps she’d welcome me more than these men.
“Where’s Saul?” Nik asked.
