Page 10 of Climbing Everest

Everest

I ’m practically tripping over my heels to keep up with Madd’s long ass legs as he leads me down the stairs, through the hallway, through the living room, and into the formal dining room.

Really? We can’t just eat at the kitchen table? They really have to make a big show out of all this?

Why the hell won’t anyone listen to me? My presence in their life is dangerous.

But the men who are watching as Madd pulls out my chair and waits for me to lower into it are no longer the same sweet boys. They’re full-fledged criminals now.

There is so much hate and anger in their eyes, and it’s all aimed at me.

I can’t seem to work up the courage to tell them I didn’t abort our child, that I’ve grieved that loss as well as the loss of my husbands for the last four years.

That I’d run away to keep them safe.

I still haven’t seen Christos since I arrived, but the asshole could either be away on another of his trips with one of his many girlfriends or out doing business.

Not like he or my father ever spent all that much time with their families when we were younger.

Why would he start now that Kato is grown?

I haven’t really paid much attention to the time, but if it’s dinner time, that means the wedding planner should be arriving soon.

There’s this part of me, some piece of that eighteen-year-old girl who is more than ecstatic over the prospect of walking down the aisle in a white gown toward the loves of my life.

Then there are two other sides – the side who fears the moment my father becomes aware that I’m back in town and currently housed inside the Antoniou’s house, and the side who almost wants to spend as much of this family’s money as possible and become the stereotypical mafia wife and make Kato’s life pure hell.

I’ll spend every penny he makes, buy stupidly expensive bags and clothes and jewelry. I’ll throw lavish parties and balls on his dime, hack my way into his account and blow through his money.

Something tells me I will have very little privacy and absolutely no trust from any of these three so hacking into shit would require a laptop, and I doubt I’ll have unsupervised access to that. I wonder if they’ll at least let me have a phone.

Though…who would I call? I left my friends behind when I ran from here and hadn’t bothered making a single friend when I lived in Georgia.

I don’t know these men anymore. They no longer love me, and I no longer love them. I love the memory of them. I love the dream of them.

Yet Kato is having a blast with this whole wedding thing.

There’s always the chance he’ll make it one big show only to have me executed by a sniper on the steps of the church. Then he can use it to start a war with my family and the Bratva.

This city wouldn’t survive a war of that magnitude.

Maddox smooths his hands over my shoulders and dips both under the dress, cupping my boobs and massaging them a second before pulling back and taking a seat at my right elbow.

He’s seated me at the foot of the table with Kato at the head, and it’s not lost on me that Brix is on the side opposite of Madd, about three chairs away from me as though he can’t stand to be near me.

“You didn’t put your belongings away,” Kato says as the staff brings out the meal, a young woman I haven’t met setting plates in front of each of us.

“There’s a lot of it,” I say, nodding and smiling at the woman as a thank you when she gets to me.

“I’ll send someone up to help you. I want that room clean before we go to bed tonight.”

“ We ?” I ask, raising a brow at him.

Just because I’ve slummed for the past four years doesn’t mean I forgot all the bullshit etiquette that was drilled into me through the years. I shake out the cloth napkin and lay it across my lap before my plate is filled with spanakopita, and my mouth instantly waters.

Damn, I forgot how much I love Greek food. And if they feed me like this on a regular basis, I’m going to end up gaining a few pounds.

Maybe then they’ll lose interest in whatever game they’re playing and let me leave.

Wishful thinking. Kato has staked his claim. So, unless he plans to have me executed for the sole intention of provoking my family, I’m stuck.

“Yes, we . I told you; we’re not letting you out of our fucking sight. You can’t be fucking trusted. Or would you rather Brix or Maddox in your bed tonight?” Kato asks with a smirk as he raises his glass of wine.

I open my mouth to say absolutely I would rather either of them, until I look from one to the other. Madd has already fondled me and has a hungry look in his eyes like he’s biding his time until he can devour me whole.

Brix…

The big fucker looks like he would rather rip my spine out than show me an ounce of affection, or even respect.

Instead of answering, I focus on my meal and ponder this whole wedding ordeal. There has to be a way to get it through Kato’s thick fucking skull that he’s playing with fire simply by having me in his home.

Maybe when Christos returns, I can convince him to talk some sense into his son.

Lifting the napkin to dab at my lips, I raise my chin. “When will your father return? And which girlfriend is he entertaining these days?”

Not that I actually knew a single one of them before, nor did I think he would keep any of them longer than it took to grow bored.

As though death itself stepped through the door, the entire room grows tense, darkness filling Kato’s bright blue eyes as he sets his wine down a little too hard, causing some of the crimson liquid to slosh out onto the table and his hand.

“You know my father’s dead,” he growls out.

I frown. My lips part. “He’s…” Wait. Why would he think I would know that? I’ve been gone for four years. “When did he die?”

The chair legs make an awful sound against the hardwood floor as Kato pushes back and shoves to his feet, rounding the table and looming over me, his hands on either side of my chair and caging me in.

Fuck, he’s big. Far bigger than I remember. He’s practically radiating with anger, a muscle jumping in his cheek.

“Drop the fucking act.” His voice is so low, so deep and gravelly as his gaze bounces between mine. “You were never a good liar or a good actress. Although, you sure as fuck had us convinced that night.”

That night. That night . He keeps bringing it up as though I’d had a single fucking choice.

“Kato…I don’t…” I shake my head, trying to find the words to convince him I seriously have no idea what happened to Christos Antoniou. I mean, I shouldn’t have to remind him I haven’t lived in the same state since I was eighteen, and I sure as hell didn’t bother calling home for updates.

It was better if my father believed I was dead.

Except Kato plans to announce our engagement to the city, maybe the state. So not only will I be in danger, but so will these three.

But the way they’ve been treating me, the way they’re looking at me now…why the fuck should I care about their safety if they obviously don’t give a shit about me or what I want?

His nostrils flare. His pupils are dilated as he continues to glare at me. After a few more moments of the stare down, he pushes to his full height. “Get the fuck out of here. Get the rest of that shit packed away. I’ll send someone for you when the coordinator arrives.”

And then he saunters back to his chair and sits back down to finish his meal.

Oh, I’m so fucking tempted to ignore him, to continue eating, to stare him straight in the eye as I lift the fork to my lips.

But I’ve lost my appetite, anyway.

Scooting my chair back, I drop my napkin on my plate and leave the room, the clack of the stupid heels Madd put on my feet echoing against the walls and filling the sparsely decorated space.

This house has always felt cold, not that I was able to spend much time in it unless Kato’s parents were out of town.

Those times were some of the most fun of my life.

We would pretend we were a real family, have meals together, snuggle on the couch as we watched movies, then I would fall asleep surrounded by the men I’d thought of as my husbands even before we decided to leave permanent markings on each other to assert our emotional ownership of each other.

Sure, one woman madly in love with three men might be unconventional, but it never felt anything but normal and natural to me. They had never battled for my attention, never made me feel as though I had to choose only one of them.

They simply loved me for me and allowed me to do the same with them.

Now they hate me, and apparently they think I know about Christos’ death.

It almost sounded like Kato felt as though I’d had a hand in it. No matter what I say, no one will listen to me.

Trudging up the stairs in these stupid heels, I kick them off the second I pass the guard and step into my room.

But I whirl around. “What’s your name?” I ask.

He frowns at me over his shoulder.

“I’m tired of thinking of you as the guard .”

“You shouldn’t be thinking of me at all unless you’re trying to get me killed,” he says softly enough that the guys won’t hear him downstairs.

“For fuck’s sake. Name?”

He huffs out a breath, looks at me over his shoulder and says “Karolos,” before turning back around and taking his post directly in front of my door.

“So does your presence in front of my room mean I’m only allowed to leave with one of them?” I ask, jerking my chin toward the hallway even though he’s not looking at me.

“It means if one of them isn’t by your side, another guard or I will be. At all times.”

“Great,” I mutter.

There are still so many packages left to be unpacked. I’ve barely made a dent since waking up, considering my body still feels as though I’m moving through sludge.

But if Kato wants all this shit packed away, so be it. Not like I’m not used to physical labor. I’m just not used to doing it in such a long fucking dress. Or clothes in general.

All I can do is shake my head as I unload the bags, slipping dresses and blouses and shirts onto hangers before carrying them into the walk-in closet that might be bigger than my apartment in Georgia.

There’s even an island in the middle with drawers. I assume that’s where my undergarments and accessories will go.

Wow. I guess it’s going to take me some time to get used to this lifestyle again. Not that my childhood bedroom had been anything this big, but it was more common than not to wear designer clothes and carry designer bags. Got to keep up the image for the Family, after all.

Once the bags are empty and set near the door, I start on the boxes. Makeup, toiletries, shoes, and more accessories than any one person needs.

Well, at least I can finally take a shower tonight, and a majority of the clothes Kato ordered will cover my body, though the dresses are either similar to the one I wear now, or the hems are cut so short they’ll barely cover my ass.

I’ve barely got my arms loaded with the shower gels and face wash when Madd appears at my door.

“You keep taking off the heels,” he says. The playful and wicked smile is gone. Now he’s frowning at me. “Do I need to strap them in place?”

Before I drop everything and cause a mess, I turn my back on him and set everything on the double vanity before crossing the room and sliding my feet back into those stupid torture devices.

I’m not exactly opposed to heels, especially since I wore the platform kind every shift at the club, but I’d rather be comfortable while doing mundane tasks around the house.

“Better?” I ask with a sardonic smile.

Madd crowds my space, his spicy, leather scent wrapping around me and warming me as though not a minute has passed between us. My sweet, playful Maddox. Each of them had such different personalities but were always so gentle and kind with me.

This person in front of me looks mildly unhinged, especially when he raises a hand and wraps it around my throat, though not hard enough to cut off my air supply.

He drags me closer, bends forward and presses a hard kiss to my lips, his tongue shoving inside and tasting me.

Fuck…he’s an even better kisser now than when we were kids. A sickening green fog slithers through my belly as I wonder how many women he’s kissed through the years to get so fucking good at this. It feels as though my ovaries are seconds from imploding while my toes curl inside the narrow heels.

When he pulls away, I fight the embarrassment as I sway toward him, like my body is chasing him, my mouth chasing his for more.

“The wedding lady is here.”

He wraps his fingers through mine and guides me from the room as though we’re a loving couple.

Except there is no love in his eyes when he looks at me, not anymore. There’s hunger and lust, but there’s also something darker, something I can’t quite decipher.

I’m starting to wonder whether I’m strong enough to push the dresser in front of the door tonight to keep all three of them out of my room and out of my bed.