“I want it to be sooner,” Maverik stated bluntly. “Preferably now.”
I shrugged with one shoulder. “I don’t know what you expect me to do about it.”
“She has other secrets,” Maverik said as he watched my reaction to his words. “She got away with trying to hide a baby she had when she was fifteen with some tears and a good story. But I know that’s not the worst of it – she’s poisonous to everyone she comes in contact with.”
There was no doubt in Maverik’s mind that Nina was here to ruin his father - and he thought I was in on the plan. I wasn’t sure if that made this situation better or worse. He was set on his path of systematic destruction, and I wouldn’t be able to convince him otherwise. Yet, at the same time, maybe it wasn’t personal. He’d do this to anyone who was in my position.
“I don’t know if you guys got the memo, but my mom abandoned me at birth,” I said bluntly. “The first time I ever met her was when you ambushed me at my performance.”
Kingston rolled his eyes but backed off to give me some space. “Yeah, but your grandmother had to know more.”
Unfortunately, Maverik didn’t follow his brother’s lead. He stayed behind me, close enough for me to feel his body heat, his hands still resting on my hips.
“If she did, she never shared it with me,” I told Kingston firmly. “Nina was always a banned topic at home. I didn’t even know who my mother was until I was about ten and Ryan asked me why I was so small if I had a supermodel for a mom.”
Kingston chuckled and looked me over. “Good question. Maybe your height came from your dad. Was he a little person?”
I ignored him as Maverik moved his hands from my hips and slid them around front to my abdomen. He watched me in the mirror as he touched me, and I tried to keep all expression from my face. I would never live it down if he knew that his touch was sending waves of heat through my body. Maverik pulled me back until our bodies were pressed together, which just made everything worse.
If I let Maverik know that he was getting to me, he would never stop terrorizing me. My best bet was to be so dull that he lost interest. I did my best to look bored as he pressed his body up against mine, but my eyes widened in shock as I felt his hard erection up against me.
“You don’t want me to find out you’re lying,” Maverik murmured in my ear. His breath tickled, and I was completely shocked when he bit my earlobe.
I gasped at the sensation, and Kingston laughed. “Wow, sis, I didn’t expect you to be into the whole incest thing. I totally had you pegged wrong.”
Maverik let me go and stepped away so that I could drop back down to my heels.
“You guys are assholes,” I said hatefully.
Kingston just laughed, but Maverik faced me and then pulled me toward him. He cupped my face in both hands, and I instinctively tried to pull away, but he tightened his grip. Not hard enough to leave a bruise, but just enough to let me know I wasn’t going anywhere until he let me go.
“Don’t test me,” he said softly. “Hurt my father or my brother, and you’ll regret the day you were born. I’ll make your life a living hell.”
I didn’t flinch away from the heat in his gaze - I glared right back at him.
“Didn’t we already have this discussion? Don’t fuck with me, and I won’t fuck with you,” I spat at him.
Eyes like a stormy gray sky stared back at me, and if sparks could fly from our mere proximity, the room would have been on fire.
“I think I’ve seen this porno,” Kingston quipped. “But don’t stop on my account.”
Neither Maverik nor I looked away for another heartbeat, and then he abruptly released my face and took a step back. My skin felt hot where he had been touching me, but I tried to ignore the heat rising inside me. I didn’t want to be attracted to the dark-haired devil, and I hated that I craved more of his touch. How fucked up was I?
“Enjoy the ballet room,” Maverik said coldly. “We had to give up our second set of free weights for this.”
I really wanted to throw something after them. These poor kids were angry that they couldn’t have two sets of weights in their fitness center that was already bigger than most apartments? Cry me a river. They were the most over-privileged, spoiled brats I’d ever met. Every time I started to feel a little bit of sympathy for them, they proved they didn’t deserve it.
It wasn’t until well after they left, and I had burned off some of my anger that I realized what Maverik said. This wasn’t a room where Richard simply had someone set up a barre. This had been part of the fitness center – he had to have had it built specifically for me. I wasn’t an expert on construction, but I was pretty sure that it took more than a day to build something like this. Just how long had Richard been planning on having me come to live with them?
Chapter 11
Katya
I spent most of the next few days in my new studio. I was on edge, expecting the two demon boys to come and harass me, but I was left alone. By mid-afternoon, I decided to take a break. The grounds were quiet as I walked back to the house, and it was strangely empty. I was so accustomed to the background noise of New York that
