Page 15 of Sold to My Ex's Brother
Finally, my mansion comes into view, or, at least, the walled garden that leads to the driveway and the house beyond. As my car approaches, I hear the wrought-iron gate click open, as one of the guards I have on watch spots me on my way and lets me in.
The wheels crunch over the gravel as I head up to the house, and I sense her peering out behind me, no doubt trying to get a feel for the place that she is going to be calling home for a while.
As we climb out of the car, the guards have opened the large front doors by the time we approach, undoing the large bolt and tapping the security code in so that it will not announcemy arrival. I can sense them staring at me, probably wondering what the hell I’m up to.
I pay them no mind. What matters now is getting her comfortable and trying to assure her she has nothing to fear from me, as hard as I know that will be for her to trust in.
“This way,” I tell her, as I lead her down to the guest rooms that Marlena, the housekeeper, always keeps fresh for guests. Not that I exactly have many of those coming and going these days, as I like to keep myself to myself as much as possible.
This line of work doesn’t exactly lend itself to friends, and most of the time, I’m better off solo, without putting people in harm’s way.
She follows me, the sound of her footsteps echoing off the walls around us. She keeps her head down and gaze locked to the floor like it’s the most fascinating thing in the world.
“This will be your room,” I tell her, as I push open a door, gesturing for her to step inside. “Anything you need?—”
“Anything I need?” she exclaims, her voice dripping with incredulity. “Are you serious? You just fuckingboughtme from Artem, and now?—”
“I know how it looks.”
“Oh, you do?” she replies, tossing her hands in the air. “Well, that’s a relief, because I was starting to think that you had no clue how much I fucking hate you right now.”
There’s not an inch of doubt in her voice, and it’s clear she means every word coming out of her mouth. I run a hand through my hair. I don’t blame her. Whatever has landed her in this position, it’s clearly not what she wanted, clearly not her choice, and shemust see me as a part of it, no matter how intently I try to convince her that I would never in a million years do something like that.
“Maya, please,” I reply, keeping my voice as steady as I can. “Shower. Rest. We can talk about this tomorrow.”
“No, we’re going to talk about it right the fuck now,” she retorts, shaking her head. “Was that what you meant to do that night we met? Steal me away so Artem could sell me to the highest bidder? What, you got distracted, thought you would try out the goods yourself first?—”
“I would never do something like that,” I snarl back. I know that she has every right to be seriously fucking pissed with me right now, but I’m not going to stand aside and let her tell me what kind of man I am, not when I’m trying to drag her out of this mess that she currently finds herself in.
“Oh, come on,” she retorts. “I know Artem. I know what he’s capable of. How do you know him? You work for him, or?—”
“He’s my brother.”
She jolts at that revelation, clearly taken aback at how blunt I’m being.
“Your... Your brother?” she murmurs. She sounds shocked, and I can’t say I blame her. This must be the last thing she was expecting. Even harder for her to believe now, I’m sure, that I managed to stumble across her by complete accident.
“What the fuck do you mean? You’re related to him? You work with him?”
“I don’t have anything to do with the shit he pulls off,” I reply sharply. “I only found out that he was selling women?—”
I stop myself in my tracks, rubbing my hand over my face, and then force myself to continue. “I only found out about the auctions tonight. I would have done something much sooner if I’d known. And I didn’t know that you were going to be the one for sale this evening.”
Her face pales, and she sinks down on to the bed behind her, hands trembling as she twists them in her lap. “Oh, God,” she murmurs, shaking her had. “I—I still can’t believe...” She trails off, the enormity of it clearly more than she can take.
I want to do something to assure her that she has nothing to fear, but I doubt it works that way, not for her, not now, not after all she has seen. Whatever I try to tell her, she’s going to look on me as culpable in this, having thrown down that money to buy her away from my brother.
I sink down before her, gazing up into her eyes. “I didn’t know he was doing this, Maya,” I reiterate. “I didn’t know when I came to help you that night, and if I’d thought that would put you in his firing line, I would never have done it.”
She smiles, slightly sadly.”Oh, I don’t think you’re the one who did that,” she replies quietly, shaking her head. “I’m the one who...” She trails off again.
I wish I could reach into her head, figure out what is going on inside there, make sense of everything she is so clearly hiding from me. What did she do, exactly, to draw the attention of my brother like that? Was him selling her off the way he did a matter of revenge? What could she have done to earn that kind of retribution...?
I think of pressing for more, but it’s clear she’s exhausted. She’s been through too much stress.
I will destroy Artem for this, for bringing down my family name with an association with such cruelty. He might think he’s gotten away with it, but I refuse to let him sully our father’s name with involvement in something this dark, something this fucking brutal.
“Rest,” I order her, as I take a step back. “I’ll have Marlena bring you something to eat.”
