Page 17 of Corruption

It’s beyond the point of mattering that I’m not supposed to have anything to do with this or that this became my brother’s job when my father chose him to run this business over me. I’m involved whether I want to be or not. Best to build up some good will so Adrian won’t convince Addy to call this all off in case he’s not happy about the treatment of his daughter.

I put the steeping cups of tea on a tray along with the cream and honey. After a moment, I grab the sugar too, not sure what Kiya likes. Then I pick up the tray and head back to the hall.

“Come on,” I say without turning to look at her.

“I… What…?”

“Do you want to sit there naked and cold all night?”

“No.”

“Then come on.”

I wait to hear the sound of her soft footsteps padding across the floor toward me before I continue walking. She follows right up until I’m about to walk into the hall leading to me and Nadia’s sex dungeon.

I turn to look at her expectantly.

“I’m not… I don’t want to…”

And there’s that skittishness again.

“Relax, Kitten. We’re done for the night.”

Her face instantly turns into a scowl at hearing me call her Kitten, but I don’t care and continue. She eventually follows, pausing just in the doorway but finally entering and closing the door behind her.

I walk into the expansive bathroom and set the tea tray on a stand next to the bath tub where Nadia is completely submerged. She looks up, not upon seeing me but upon seeing Kiya slowly walk in behind me. She leans over the side of the tub and smiles.

“Well, you actually got her to come in here. I was sure you had permanently scared her off.”

“Nadezhda,” I say in warning because she’s more likely to scare Kiya than I am when she decides she’s bored and wants to misbehave.

“Come over here and have some tea, Pretty Girl. It’ll help you warm up and relax.”

Kiya makes her way over, walking cautiously past me with her arms over her chest. I look at her back long enough to make sure there are no marks there before going into one of the draws over by the sink and taking out some ointment and other items that I would normally use on Nadia after one of our sessions. Then I grab one of Nadia’s robes. It’s still going to be big on her, but not as big as one of mine would be.

“Here,” I say.

Kiya glances at me, almost dismissively, until she notices the robe and practically snatches it from me to cover herself with. Once she’s tied it and has her tea in her hands, I say, “Come on. Let’s take care of those scars and bruises.

“I’m fine.”

I start to tell her she’s being unreasonable, but Nadia stands from the tub and says as she gets out says, “I’m sure she’d be more comfortable if I tended to her cuts. Come sit over here on the counter, Kiya.”

Kiya follows Nadia without saying anything and a lot less reluctantly than she followed me earlier. But Nadia always has had a way of disarming people. Ever since we were children.

Kiya sits on the counter with her tea while Nadia stands in front of her and begins to rub the cool ointment into the marks on her thighs first.

I start to leave, deciding to let Nadia care for my brother’s fiancé while I go to call my brother and ask what the fuck he’s thinking. And if he ignores my call, I’m going to go show up at his front door in the middle of the night just like he sent his fucking nineteen-year-old fiancé to do while only in a pair of panties.

“Alik, my love,” Nadia says. “There were some places I couldn’t reach on my back. Would you put some cream on it for me?”

There’s more in her words than just the surface request. It’s her way of saying that dealing with my brother can wait until in the morning. I glance at the clock and frown. At a more decent hour of the morning that is.

She’s right.

I all but snatch the cream she’s holding out for me from her hands and stew in my irritation while massaging it into her back because how the fuck could my brother be so stupid?

Nadia was right to stop me, though. If I go to my brother now, I’m liable to do something stupid like try to murder him and that’s the last thing our family needs right now.

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