36. VANYA

“Chief Curry wants to see you. He needs to take your statement about what happened the other day. Dev had set up the meeting at the main house.”

“Is my father going to be there?” I questioned Ezra without looking at him.

“Probably, I don’t know.”

My eyes were glued to the light brown liquid in the cup. Ezra had made me coffee, but it was bitter since he forgot to add sugar.

I looked up at him when he hissed.

Ezra was shaking his hand and glaring at the pot on the stove. Whatever was in the pot was starting to burn.

Wrinkling my nose at the smell, I got up and hurried around the island to switch the stove off. Grabbing his arm, I steered him towards the sink where I forced him to hold his hand under the cold water.

My eyes darted over to the stove and then up to him. “You’re making spaghetti for breakfast?”

Ezra’s eyes darted over my head to the pot and then to the sink. His brows dipped into a frown and his mouth flattened into a straight line. “You don’t eat it for breakfast?” he asked after a moment.

I smiled. “No, it’s not for breakfast.”

“Oh.”

Lifting his hand to my face, I searched for the burn, but found nothing. Obsidian’s words about their healing flashed through my mind. Of course, whatever burn Ezra had gotten was already healed.

“I wanted to make you breakfast,” he said softly.

I tilted my head back as I moved closer to wrap my arms around his waist. Instead of speaking, I pressed my face against his chest and sighed as I hugged him a little tighter. Ezra hesitated for only a second before he hugged me back.

A hug from him was exactly what I needed.

“Sugarplum?” He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “I’m sorry I can’t make you breakfast.”

“It’s okay.” I tilted my head back to smile up at him. “I’m not hungry.”

He reached up and slipped the strands that had escaped from the bun behind my ear.

“I’ll learn how to cook for you,” he whispered before he leaned down to kiss me.

It took a few minutes for me to catch my bearings after the kiss ended.

“You don’t usually eat cooked meals?”

He shook his head as he started cleaning the mess he had made.

“We eat at the main house, mostly. Sometimes we hunt for food. Obsidian is the only one who knows how to cook between the three of us, but he doesn’t do it a lot.”

I leaned back against the counter and watched him move around. “How does he know how to cook?”

Ezra shrugged. “Don’t know. He’s not very talkative.”

Picking up the cup, he walked over to the sink and poured out the coffee before placing the cup aside. Ezra turned to face me. His eyes darted over my face as if he was searching for something.

Unable to handle his burning gaze, I turned only for him to grip my arm and turn me to face him again.

“What’s wrong?”

I shook my head. “What makes you think that something’s wrong?”

“You’re not yourself.” Concern filled his eyes. “Vanya, did I do something wrong last night? Did I hurt you when we were locked together and I started moving again?”

He grabbed hold of my arms and held me away from his body to study every inch of me. Pulling out of his hold, I reached up and pressed my palm to his cheek and waited until his eyes locked with mine.

“Ezra, I’m fine. You did nothing wrong. I’m just tired.”

“You can tell me if I hurt you. I know that I’m—”

Ezra’s words were cut off when the front door opened and Devrim entered. His eyes instantly locked with mine.

“Your father and the Chief want to talk to you. They’re waiting at the main house.”

“I told her,” Ezra said. “We were just about to leave.”

“Good.” Devrim walked over to the stairs, but paused with one foot on the first step. “The brothers will escort Vanya. We need to talk, Ezra.”

Ezra tensed. “We’re not going with her?”

“No. Like I said, we need to talk.”

With one last glance in my direction, Devrim disappeared up the stairs.

Is he still mad at me for reading those papers?

“I should get going.”

Ezra nodded and escorted me outside to where the brothers were waiting. The frown never disappeared from his face and only seemed to deepen when he entered the house again.

Worry filled me as I followed the other men.

What if Devrim had decided that he didn’t want me anymore? What if Obsidian managed to change his mind about me being their mate?

***

“In here.”

I snapped back to reality when one of the brothers spoke. My eyes darted up to his, but instantly lowered again. I had no idea what their names were. When they escorted me, they hadn’t tried to make conversation, and neither had I. One of them—the one with the blond hair and green eyes—held the door to a room open. He gestured for me to enter.

I hesitated and then slipped past him, careful not to touch him. The door closed behind me a second later. I realized with some relief that neither of them had followed me inside.

My eyes darted over to the corner where movement caught my eye.

“Vanya,” Chief Curry greeted. “Take a seat.”

I glanced at my father who was standing by the window with his back towards us as I walked over to the chair the Chief indicated.

My father didn’t even acknowledge me.

“From what the witnesses said and Devrim explained, I did the honour of writing out a statement for you. All you have to do is sign it.”

The Chief pulled the pen from his small notebook and placed it next to the papers that were already laid out on the table.

Just sign it.

That was all I needed to do, but something didn’t feel right.

My father ripped the papers out of my hand when I picked them up to start reading. I hadn’t even heard him move from the window. Tilting my head back, I frowned at him.

“Sign it,” he ordered after slamming it down onto the desk again. “Curry already wrote the statement.”

“He wrote his statement, not mine,” I told him. “I’m not signing it until I’ve read it and made sure that all the details were added.”

What witnesses has he spoken to?

There had been nobody outside that building except for the kidnappers, and one of them was dead.

Father stared down at me with narrowed eyes. After a few seconds, he made a gesture with his hand. “Leave it. Have you thought about what I said?”

Unable to remain seated, I stood and walked over to the window. The room was somewhere to the east of the house and facing a clearing of sorts.

It was clear of trees and the grass was short with a few wildflowers here and there. A few pride members were littered about.

I watched as a group of four boys walked into view. One of them suddenly threw a soccer ball in the air. They all watched until it landed and then gestured to a few other members about the same age to come closer.

“Vanya?”

I turned away from the window to face him. While I’d been focused on what was happening outside, the Chief had unpacked a few things from a bag I hadn’t noticed when I entered the room.

“What is that?”

My father smiled. “Everything we need to put these animals where they truly belong.”

“Animals?” I shook my head. “Really, Father? Since when do you—”

“You saw what they did to that poor woman in the video,” he interrupted. “These are cameras that are easy to set up. It’ll instantly connect when you turn them on”—he placed the small camera down and reached for something else—“audio devices where cameras can’t be placed.”

“I didn’t agree with this.”

His smile never faltered. “I know you will.”

I jumped in fright when the Chief dropped the bag onto the table. Without looking at me, he carefully started packing the things back into it.

“Joy packed you some clothes—including a gown for the Christmas Ball, and Curry added everything you might need,” Father continued. “I got you a new phone that can’t be traced, so we can keep in touch. Call me when you’ve set everything up. Try to plant the cameras where they—”

“I’m not—”

“Yes, you will,” he interrupted.

He moved closer until only inches separated us and gave me one of those smiles he used in the boardroom whenever he was on TV.

“I’ll pay,” he muttered.

I frowned at him. Money was one thing I didn’t need. “What?”

His smile widened. “You want to get off the island, right? You want to travel, right? I’ll pay for your trip if you do this for me. Anywhere you want to go, I’ll make sure it happens. All you have to do is plant the cameras and audio devices, then you can finally get off this island.”