Page 91 of Contract of a Billionaire
But physically he had never hurt me.
“Alessio would never hit a woman.” Branka sounded insulted on her brother’s behalf. She had a right to be.
My father didn’t seem to believe either one of us.
It was Maman that tried to soothe the tension. “We know your brother is not your father, Branka. Yesterday was just unexpected. The way it went down and Alessio taking Autumn and Kol– ”
“How did it go down?” My best friend’s eyes narrowed on me, those grays almost flashing silver. “Because my best friend never even hinted she had something going on with my brother.”
I sighed. “Branka–”
She raised her palm. “How did it go down?” she repeated.
A tense silence followed. I honestly didn’t know where to start. That was the problem with hiding something for so long.
“Which part?” I finally asked. “Four years ago? Yesterday? Eight years ago?”
“What?” Dad hissed, fury turning his face red. “If he touched you when you were underage, he’s a dead man.”
“Jesus Christ, you kept this from me for eight years?” Branka screeched.
“Would you all stop?” I scolded them. “The first time I saw Alessio was eight years ago. Here, in fact. Remember the birthday party?”
“Under my fucking roof?” Father roared, his face getting red.
“Putain de merde,” Maman cursed. Her favorite curse word.For fuck’s sake. I couldn’t agree more. Dad was taking things to an entirely unnecessary level. “Let Autumn finish!”
“Thank you, Maman.” This was definitely not going well. At my age, I really didn’t think I had to explain anything to my parents. This was fucking ridiculous. Not to mention, embarrassing. “I only met him at that birthday party. Just for a fraction of a moment.” That was mostly true. There was no need to tell them I was half naked. “Then I didn’t see him again until your mother’s funeral. I swear it.”
My eyes kept darting between the three people that had always been there for me. I didn’t outright lie to them for the past four years but an omission was still a lie. I hid the truth.
“So when in the hell did you have sex with him?” Branka grumbled.
My cheeks burned. My father looked like he was ready to murder someone. Probably Alessio.
“Umm.” I shifted from my left foot to my right, then back again, while my fingers gripped the rake like it’d save me from answering. “Do we have to go into those specifics?”
“I think it’s best if we don’t.” Maman came to the rescue. She had never outright told me she knew Alessio Russo was Kol’s father, but considering she found me in London, outside his townhouse and she offered to kill him, I knew she knew. “What’s done is done.”
Branka’s eyes studied my mother. “You knew too, didn’t you?”
Maman shrugged. “A mother always knows,” she explained. “Autumn never wanted to say it, but it didn’t take a genius to put it all together.” Maman glanced my way. She was being vague on purpose.
“Kol is the spitting image of Alessio,” Branka announced, surprising me with her statement.
I swallowed. If that was true, Alessio probably knew already. Was that the reason he insisted we stay with him? He wanted Kol but not me? Would he try to take Kol away from me? That thought terrified me.
“I need some more time to process this,” my father grumbled and headed to the front of the house. “More leaves to pick up.”
Maman gave me an exasperated look and followed him back there, leaving me alone with Branka.
I met her gaze with a heavy sigh. “So you knew?” She nodded. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” I mumbled. “He’s your brother and I didn’t want you to keep a secret from him. You two are close.”
I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. This was where our differences came in. Branka, growing up the way she did, was good at keeping a poker face. Me, not so much.
“When… how long have you known?” I asked her.
Her lips pursed, then a flicker of anger flashed in her eyes. At me or someone else, I wasn’t sure. “Abu Dhabi,” she answered, her voice calm.
