Page 95 of Hunter's Revenge

"I thought I'd bring you this, as you missed breakfast." She walks over to me and places the coffee down before me.

"Thank you for bringing this to me."

"No worries. A girl always needs her coffee."

I smile at that. “I agree.”

"Malik left this for you." She holds up the bag.

"What's in there?"

She takes out a big box. My eyes widen when I see the picture of a MacBook Air on the front of the box.

"He said you might need this for work. He's also arranged for your grandmother's doctor to email you with a progress report on your grandmother."

Hearing that lifts some of the worry from my mind and I feel a bit more at ease.

"Wow, I didn't expect him to do that." I look at the computer box.

"I think he could see how worried you were. You may use the computer as you wish for work." There's a slight emphasis on the word work and I understand it straight away to mean, I'm not to use the computer for anything else.

“That’s great.”

"He's also asked me to clear a room for you to work in. Of course, you can go wherever you wish in the house, but he felt you would prefer a room for yourself."

I’m impressed to hear that. The gesture is certainly better treatment than the other night when he chained me to his bed.

"I’d love that." I nod.

"Great." Jean smiles. "I'll get that set up for you straight away. If you could let me know what you might need, then that would help me even more. Your things should be here in the next few days, but if there's anything else you need in the meantime, just let me know."

"Thank you. This really helps. I'm in the middle of designing my new line, so having a room to keep my things would be very helpful."

"Sure. Is there anything you need now?"

"Not so much. I'm… just trying my best to get used to this idea of being here."

“That’s quite understandable." She brings her hands together. "This is perhaps the best place to start. Many of the books in here have come from those who have loved them.”

“So I was right in thinking that Malik didn’t go out and buy them?” I smirk.

She chuckles. “Yes, and no. Believe it or not, he enjoys reading.” She points to the sailing books. “Those are mostly his.”

“Ahh, that doesn’t surprise me.”

She turns to the other books, which include the poetry and the classics. “Those belonged to his parents.”

“They gave him their poetry books?”

A wealth of sadness fills her eyes. “It’s more like he took them… after they died.”

Instantly, my heart shrinks. I understand that type of grief all too well. “Oh my, I didn’t know. I, um, don’t exactly know much about him or his family.” That’s an understatement. I know nothing more than the bullet point details he's given me. It's very unnerving to think I’m getting married to this guy in less than twenty-four hours and I don’t know him.

Jeanne pulls up the chair in front of me and sits. “Have you met any of his family at all?”

“Not officially. There was a guy in Wilmington I assumed was his brother.”

“That would have been Zakh. Malik has…” She pauses for a moment to think and I wonder if this is her checking herself again. “He has two living brothers.”

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