Total pages in book: 184
Estimated words: 188108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 941(@200wpm)___ 752(@250wpm)___ 627(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 188108 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 941(@200wpm)___ 752(@250wpm)___ 627(@300wpm)
Salem groaned.
“What?” she asked. “Why did he come out with that random piece of information?”
“Because he’s being a jerk,” Salem said.
“Do not speak of your brother’s bedwetting,” Salem’s mum called out from the doorway. “Or I will show everyone your baby photos. There’s that one in the bath . . .”
“Fine, fine!” Con said. “I’ll just come help you in the kitchen, Mum.”
“Aww, I like that photo of you in the bath,” Erica said, following him.
“I don’t understand. Why did she threaten to show a photo of him in the bath?” she asked.
“To embarrass him for embarrassing me,” Salem said. “It’s a family thing.”
“You don’t have any siblings, Tamsyn?” Jad asked.
“Ah, no.”
Please don’t ask too many questions.
It was growing increasingly harder and harder to lie to these people. And she didn’t want to do it anymore.
But if they knew the truth about you, then none of them would even want to be near you, let alone speak to you.
“My mum died when I was around ten and I was raised by my grandpa.”
Sympathy filled everyone’s faces and she hated it.
“I hear that your daughter is engaged. Congratulations,” she said, wanting to change the subject.
She really didn’t want their sympathy for a false story.
Jad gave a slight nod. “Yes. It is very good.”
Salem sighed as she glanced up at him. He shook his head with a wink.
Drat.
She’d messed up again.
“Dinner! Come sit at the table,” his mum called out.
Everyone got up and left, but she stayed sitting, her men with her.
“I keep messing up and saying the wrong thing,” she muttered.
Alexei walked in front of her and held out his hand. She slid her hand into his, letting him pull her up. To her surprise, he drew her close to him.
“No, you’re not messing up anything. You’re just being your beautiful, crazy self and they already like you. But every family has . . . quirks.”
“My mum doesn’t want my sister to get married in Escana,” Salem explained.
“Oh, why not? It’s beautiful.” Shoot. “From what I’ve heard, I mean.”
Because you haven’t been there, you idiot.
“It is, but my mum hasn’t left the UK since she immigrated here as a baby,” Salem replied. “Anyway, I’ll work on convincing her. Come on, let’s go eat before Con gets to it all.”
46
Alexei stared at his girl from across the table. He’d deliberately sat across from her rather than next to her like Salem and Roman.
Because this way he could study her more closely.
There was something going on with her.
Sure, maybe she’d been joking when she told Erica she would fight her to the death.
But there was the way she’d knocked away Salem’s hand.
She had some sort of training; he was certain of it.
He was also pretty sure that she was hiding things from them. It was in the way she sometimes spoke, she’d hesitate or backtrack. And he was certain that he’d caught a glimpse of guilt on her face sometimes.
He could be wrong.
But he didn’t think he was.
Which meant she sometimes lied to them.
And that was something he should be mad about.
So why wasn’t he?
He wasn’t completely sure. This wasn’t like him. He hated lies and subterfuge. If he’d figured out that she was lying when he first met her, then he would have thrown her to the curb.
So what had changed?
Why did he now not care?
He still hated lies. But he also knew that no matter what she was hiding . . . she would still be his.
Whether she liked it or not.
Salem and Roman wouldn’t agree. They would tell him that a person had a choice. They had to consent.
Alexei was different.
He’d always been different. He’d never claimed anyone as his before because he knew this about himself. Growing up, he’d never had anything of his own.
In the orphanage, he’d had to share everything. Which is why it was surprising that he could share Tamsyn.
But he shared her with two men that also belonged to him.
And once you belonged to him, he didn’t let you go.
The people he claimed were his.
So it didn’t really matter whether she lied about who she was or what she could do . . . she’d still be his.
However he would need to figure out why she was keeping something about her past from them.
Salem and Roman filled her plate up with food.
Hmm. It didn’t seem enough to him.
“Give her more protein,” he said to Roman. “She gets hungry in the night if she doesn’t eat any protein.”
Roman nodded and grabbed a plate of chicken.
“I don’t need anymore,” she said, placing a hand over her plate. “I’ve already got more than I can possibly eat.”
“You don’t have enough green vegetables,” Roman countered. “Salem? Can you grab the bowl of greens?”
“Yes, certainly.” Salem grasped hold of the bowl and spooned some vegetables onto her plate.
She sighed and stared at Alexei, her face clearly pleading for help.