(Brielle’s POV)“I will pretend I did not see you, Aarush.”Grandma muttered softly but startled us when she showed up at the side of the house where I escaped a while ago. I couldn’t tell from her blank face if she was unhappy or disappointed, but I was sure it was either of the two since I had flown the coop when everyone thought I was resting in my father’s bedroom.“How did you know?” The panic in my voice gave me away.“You’re my granddaughter,” She smirked, shaking her head as she heaved a sigh. I didn’t have to guess because she sounded unhappy and disappointed altogether.Aarush grinned at my grandmother. “We’re leaving after this assignment, Gertrude,” he informed, unsure if the information was for her or me.“It was for the best,” she uttered in a hushed tone, nodding gently at him. “Good night, Aarush! Don’t fall, Gabrielle,” she turned her back on me, walking toward the main door, leaving me into thinking if I should climb up the wall or follow her. “I guess that’s your
(Cole’s POV)Xian was humming behind the top counter of the home bar, swinging her hips at the sound she could only hear from her wireless earphone. She smiled wickedly to whom she considered her customers in the early morning.“Here you go,” Xian smiled, pushing the tall glass of my drinks toward me. “AB positive for someone heartbroken,” she turned to Lucilla. “An O for my beautiful sister and a beer for us humans.” Instead of taking the beer, Aarush took Lucilla’s tall glass, smelling it. He wrinkled his nose, returning it to her and taking the beer mug Xian gave him.Xian pulled a chair and sat across from us, making her look like she was in a panel discussion. She lifted her mug and drank it like water.“Aaahh!” She moaned, closing her eyes and smiling sweetly after putting the mug down. “So?” She cleared her throat and amusingly looked at each of us. “What did I miss?”“Nothing much,” Aarush sounded displeased as he put his mug down on the table. “All I know is Ichiro’s going t
(Brielle’s POV)Aarush stood up and tapped Cole’s shoulder lightly, grinning as he asked, “Who likes eggs for breakfast?”Xian coughed, choking on the golden color liquid she was drinking. Her siblings facing her, turned around to see me.Were they drinking beer in this early morning?“I do!” I answered, making sure a Cheshire grin curved my lips as I answered.My heart was in my throat, calming myself as I followed Cole’s eyes. The way he slowly looked at the duffel bag in my hand until our eyes met, I knew he was shocked. I shrugged, half-smiling at him as I continued to pretend my presence was nothing of importance to them.“I ran away from home,” I muttered, walking toward them.“Ha! Ha! That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard,” Xian faked a laugh and widened her eyes at Lucilla, taking her drinks from her before she broke the glass and immediately grabbed Cole’s glass and put them on the sink underbar.Unfortunately, I agreed with Xian because I, for one, could even say that it
(Brielle’s POV)“Enough. I’m sharing my bedroom.”The owner of the voice roared in authority in the home bar, telling everyone she was willing to share her bedroom with a hint of disappointment with the siblings and perhaps to end our meaningless conversation as she walked in our direction.The clanking of her high-heeled shoes, the fluidity of her walk, or maybe just her presence, quieted everyone. Even my heartbeat stopped for a second as I pressed my lips tightly, realizing I was gawking at her like Gen. It was hard not to stare because she was beautiful.Ah! Not beautiful, my thoughts disagreed.Beautiful was not the best word to describe her because she looked like a hot Amazonian warrior in a sexy sage green silk dress, hugging her alluring and shapely body. I stood beside Cole when I realized she was heading in his direction and suddenly felt intimidated by her power over everyone in the room.She flipped her moon-shadow black hair as she stopped before him.“Kione,” Cole murmu
(Cole’s POV)“Do something about those women, Cole,” Ichiro scowled.We crowded Aarush’s bedroom and watched our uninvited guests on his state-of-the-art technology from his computer monitors. Aside from his working place, Aarush’s bedroom looked like another workstation.Five pairs of eyes followed Brielle’s every movement on the screen from the surveillance cameras when I left her alone in the living room after breakfast. She walked the hallways but did not attempt to come to any rooms. Brielle would sometimes stop, grope the wall, and continue walking if she thought nothing unusual about it.While they watched her, I sat on the couch, took an old book from the side table, and flipped the page carefully.“Smart,” grinned Aarush, realizing Brielle was looking where the cameras were because a few minutes later, the screen went blank for a short second and went back again, but she could not be seen in the hallway.“But not that one,” Ichiro pointed at Gen.Although Gen knew there were
(Brielle’s POV)This day had been so boring that I had to run twice around the mansion after tampering with the cameras in the hallways. The locals knew no one had ever stayed in this place for long except for a few days of business trips that made a few family members stay, but it seldom happened. Perhaps the cameras were for people who would enter the mansion uninvited, but this town has an almost zero percent crime rate. I had been to every door, memorizing whose bedroom it was or which the room was for, until I found Kione’s room. I did not go inside yet; instead, I ran through the driveway and did not dare get out of the metal gate. When I got tired, I lay on the grass and bored my eyes on the palace-like house of the Kirkwood. The mansion was empty, but there was something homey about it like I belonged here.The growling of my stomach made me walk back inside the mansion, but as soon as I walked through the living room, a note on the center table stopped me.‘Love pizza?’
(Brielle’s POV)There was magic in Kione’s bed because I immediately fell asleep as soon as I lay my back on the fluffy cream-colored bed sheet. I had never owned one in my life, and back in the days when I had to train, sleeping in a good bed was a luxury.It was the soft moaning that woke me up, ripping me from sleep, and had me open my eyes to see what it was. I rolled to my side where the movement was coming from and squinted to see if I was still dreaming or was really seeing Gen and Kione naked. Gen was on top, giving Kione much pleasure as she kneaded her mounds.“Woah! What’s happening?” I asked, rolling to my other side until I fell on the floor.I heard the two women chuckle. Gen crawled and peered her head on the edge of the bed to check on me. “I’m giving our host a massage. Want to join us, Barbie?”My eyes widened when Gen closed her eyes and moaned. Kione must have done something to her that she had forgotten I was there. She just kept on howling lowly as she bit her bo
(Cole’s POV)I was sure Brielle was freezing, but as soon as my lips molded on hers, she had forgotten she was shivering. I was only supposed to press my mouth on her soft lips, but I could not resist deepening the kiss. I slipped my tongue out, hoping to urge her lips apart, but I didn’t need to do that because Brielle was a good girl, parting her lips and welcoming me.Something inside me was screaming that I should stop, but something was addicting in her. The moment my tongue tasted her, I didn’t want to end the kiss, just wanted more. My fingers moved fast, unbuttoning her top pajamas, and I could not help feeling triumphant about a very small thing, finally feeling her smooth skin as she wrapped her arms around my neck and arched her body on mine.“Brielle,” I whispered, breaking our kiss to let her breathe.“Cole.”Her eyes were filled with desire, or maybe she only reflected what she saw in me. A little more of this, I was not sure if I could still stop myself from sinking my