Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2 

Raina's Standpoint.

Standing in front of the house, air left my lungs. I stood at the wrought-iron gates, staring up at a mansion that belonged in fairy tales. 

This wasn't the modest house I had imagined. This was a palace.

My fingers trembled as I entered the code sent to me. The gates swung open with a soft groan, and I walked up the cobblestone path on shaking legs.

My mom lived here?

While dad and I had to share a cramped apartment above the diner where he worked double shifts, she had been living like royalty.

The front door was massive, carved dark wood that probably cost more than our car. I pressed on the doorbell with numb fingers, and the door opened to reveal an entrance hall that made me gasp. Marble floors gleamed under a crystal chandelier the size of my old bedroom, and a curved staircase swept up to the second floor.

Everything smelled and screamed luxury.

“Hello?” My voice echoes in the vast space. “Anyone here?” I questioned, but no response came.

 It was all silent.

I wandered deeper into the house and came across a room that caught my attention. I stepped inside and saw old family photos lined on the mantle. I picked up a silver frame with shaking hands. 

A woman with my face stared back at me. She had the same violet eyes, the same dark hair and the same stubborn chin. But she was laughing in the photo, her arms around a tall man with dark hair and gray eyes. He looked familiar, but I didn't think much about it. They looked so happy… so in love together.

“She was beautiful, wasn't she?”

I spun around so fast, the frame slipped from my hands, hitting the marble following a crash that echoed through the room.

Professor Vane stood in the doorway, but he looked different; he looked nothing like the intimidating teacher from this morning. He wore jeans and a black sweater that made his eyes look like storm clouds. He looked younger and more approachable.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper when I found it. 

“I could ask you the same thing.” He said, stepping into the room, careful not to step in the broken glass. “Though I suspect I already know.”

“This is my house. I inherited it.” I lifted my chin, trying to project the confidence I didn't feel.

“From Elena.”

The way he said, her voice so softly, made my stomach drop. “You knew her?”

Professor Vane moved to the mantle, picking up another photo. This one showed the same woman, but she was pregnant and glowing with happiness.

“I was married to her.”

I didn't know whether it was what he said or the way he said it or because this supposed woman was supposed to be dead when I was only five years old but here she was, living the life of her dream I until recently. But it came to me as a shock, and I gripped the back of a chair, my knees suddenly weak.

“For fifteen years.” His voice was firm, but I could hear the pain underneath it. “Until she died three weeks ago.”

My mind reeled. My mom had been married to my literature professor, living off as royalty, while I thought she was dead all these while.

Did dad know she was alive all along? If he didn't, why didn't he approach her for some money to cure himself? 

It would have been the least she could do after giving up on me and faking her death. 

“I don't understand. The lawyer said to meet him here.” I shook my head slightly, my eyes blinking repeatedly as though I were in a roller coaster of what was between a dream come true and a nightmare.

“That would be me, but I think you mistook me for a lawyer. I've been managing Elena's properties, she trusted me with them, and she asked me to make sure everything went to you when you turned twenty-one.”

“But I just turned twenty.”

“She amended the will after your father passed.” His voice was gentler now, like he was talking to a wounded animal. “She knew you'd need the inheritance sooner than planned.”

The room spun around me. “She knew dad was sick, didn't do anything about it, and she wants me to inherit all these now that she's gone?” My lips trembled, and my voice cracked as unshed tears stung my eyes.

“I know how you may be feeling, Raina. But trust me when I say your mom loved you deeper.” His voice dropped to a whisper and I just glared at him. 

He turned his gaze back to the picture he was holding. “She was pregnant with you in this picture. She would stare at it for hours, sometimes, wetting her cheeks with tears for missing you so much.”

“Well, if she had loved me that much, she wouldn't have abandoned me and even if she did, she would have come to find me. She just didn't care.” 

He turned to me, his lips curling in a small smile. “You have all the right to be mad at her but don't dwell on it too much. You don't know the whole story.”

“Why?” My voice was no longer mine. “Why did dad tell me she was dead? Why did she never show up, tell me how much she missed me?”

Professor Vane carefully set down the photo. “That's a long story. One I think you deserve to hear, but not standing in broken glass.”

He knelt and began picking the shards. I watched his hands, his fingers were long but no wedding ring, and I felt something twisted in my chest.

“I can do it.”

“It's fine.” He looked up at me, and something in his expression made my breath hitch. “You look so much like her.”

Before I could respond, the front door slammed open, shut and heavy stepped approached us.

“Dad? Are you here? Coach wants to know if I could miss practice tomorrow for the…" The voice cut off as its owner appeared in the doorway.

It was the boy who had stolen my first kiss, standing in my mom's house, calling Professor Vane 'Dad.'

“What are you doing here?” His voice was barely above a whisper.

“Lucien.” Darius stood slowly, the broken glass forgotten. “Meet Raina, Elena's daughter.”

The silence that followed was deafening. I stared at Lucien, my step-brother, while my world rearranged itself around my new reality.

“You're Elena's daughter,” Lucien said, his face pale, as though he were trying to convince himself he was dreaming. “The one who inherited everything.”

“And you're Professor Vane's son.”

He looked shaken, running a hand through his golden hair. “Shit, Raina, I had no idea…”

“Language,” Darius said automatically.

“Sorry, but dad…” Lucien's eyes met mine and I saw my own shock reflected there. “When you said Elena had a daughter, you didn't tell me she was…”

“Was what?”

“Beautiful,” he finished quietly.

Blushes flooded my cheeks. Darius's eyes darted between us.

“How do you two know each other?”

“We don't,” I said quickly. “Not really. We just…"

“We met at school today,” Lucien interrupted. “Briefly.”

“How briefly?” Darius's voice was now sharp.

Lucien and Darius stared at each other, some silent communication passing between them.

“It doesn't matter,” I swiftly said, desperate to break the awkward silence. “What matters is that apparently my mom was married to my professor, and I'm now living with my stepfamily.”

“Living with us?” Lucien's voice cracked slightly, glancing at Darius.

Darius cleared his throat. “Elena's will has conditions. Raina has to complete her degree to inherit fully. And she has to live here until she graduates, at least.”

“Here? With us?” His eyes widened.

“It's what Elena wanted.” Darius's voice was final, leaving Lucien and I no option in this. “She wanted Raina to have a family.”

I looked around the beautiful room, the shattered glass on the floor, the family photos of a life I had never been part of, the two men who were supposed to be my family but felt like strangers.

“I need some air,” I whispered, not sparing either of them a glance as I fled through the back door into the garden, my heart pounding against my ribs.

Everything was spinning out of control. This morning I had been nobody, just a kid trying to blend into my new school. Now I was an heiress living with a stepfamily that included the boy who had kissed me like his life depended on it.

The garden was beautiful, full of late roses and perfectly trimmed hedges. I found a stone bench near a fountain and sang onto it, buying my face in my hands.

“Raina?”

I looked up to see Lucien standing a few feet away, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. He looked as shaken as I felt.

“I'm sorry,” he said quietly. “About this morning. If I'd known…"

“Known what? That I was your step-sister?”

“That kissing you would feel like coming home. I'm sure you feel it too.” He said, so quietly, I almost missed it.

My breath caught. “Lucien…”

“I know it's messed up. Trust me, I know. But I can't stop thinking about you.”

I should ask him to stop, to walk away, and to pretend this morning never happened. 

“We can't… We're family.” I whispered.

“And what if we were not? Would you accept me?”

First day in the pack and I was being asked out by Mr. Campus heartthrob, who is also my step-brother. 

Though I wasn't sure why my wolf kept purring, actively stirring and playing around in my head each time I saw him, I knew there was more to him.

My lips parted, but before I could respond, Darius appeared in the doorway, his face void of any emotion.

“Dinner is ready,” he called out.

But something in his voice told me he had heard more than he should have.