Page 85 of Villainous Kingpin

“Is this how happy homes sound?” I muttered under my breath.

Juliette and I shared a glance. We didn’t exactly have an unhappy childhood, but it was a quiet one. Neither one of us understood Mom’s need to have a regimented schedule for us. I understood it now, but not before.

Sometimes Jules and I would fantasize about a big family and lots of music and laughter when we were little. But then we grew out of it. We thought it was just a fairy tale.

Then realizing I'd stopped and stared in the direction of the laughter, I resumed walking past the grand foyer with a large crystal chandelier and caught up to Nico.

“We’re heading to my office,” Nico explained, directing us all to the left wing of his house. As we approached it, I could hear Uncle’s and Sasha’s voices. They both sounded angry, though I couldn’t distinguish the words that were being spoken.

The moment we stepped inside Nico’s office, the smell of cigars and viable tension slammed into me.

Two sets of blue eyes, one pale as the clearest sky and one dark as the deepest ocean, and neither looked happy.

“Sorry, Sasha,” I muttered, going for the easy first. “We were going to bring back the car.”

He shrugged. “Just a car.”

I turned to face my uncle for the first time after the night the Nikolaev men dragged us back from our Philly heist mission. His gaze raked over me, as if ensuring I wasn’t hurt. There were only a few faint bruises left on my body and my clothes covered those.

“Hello, Uncle Liam,” I whispered softly, my emotions choking me. I had never gone this long without talking to him. While I sometimes went months without seeing him, we always talked - messages, calls, emojis.

“Wyn.” He took two big strides and was in front of me. “Jesus Christ, I was worried sick.”

“I’m fine,” I murmured. He glanced at Davina and then Juliette, as if asking for their confirmation. It was the reason I couldn’t tell them everything that happened. If they knew, they wouldn’t be able to assure him, as they now did, with a straight face.

“Why won’t you come home?” he asked, cupping my cheek. “Your mother is worried sick, going out of her mind.”

Holding his gaze, I steeled myself for what I knew was coming. “You have to come home. I can have a plane ready to take us to California.”

I took a step back and shook my head. “No, not yet.”

The tension in the room grew another notch. Uncle’s eyes were full of disbelief, evaluating me. “Why not?”

Because the moment I put on a costume, my back would be bare, giving everyone a full view of scars and bruises.

“I need another week or so,” I pleaded.

Uncle shoved his hand through his hair. It almost seemed he aged ten years over the last month. We haven’t been kind to him with all our bullshit we stirred since we burned down Garrett’s house.

“Just give her another week, Liam,” Davina jumped in. “She deserves that much before her full blown training starts.”

“Why?” he demanded to know. “You can get a whole goddamn year if you want it, Wyn. I want to know why. Something happened, and I want to know what.”

I shook my head. “Nothing happened, Uncle. I-I promise,” I lied.

“If nothing happened, then come home.” He set that trap beautifully and I fell right into it. He knew it too.

Sasha knew it too and immediately came to my defenses. “Brennan, give her another week. It can’t hurt and then I’ll personally take her to California.”

And Uncle lost his shit. “I don’t want you around her, Sasha,” he growled. “I asked for tailing, not for my niece to move in with you. You and her… it will never be.”

An exasperated breath left me. “There is no he and I, Uncle,” I huffed. “Truly. He’s just giving me a place to stay.”

“Wyn, I’m trying to protect you,” Uncle growled. “You have to trust me.”

And it was then that I lost my shit. I was so sick and tired of being kept like a fragile, breakable doll and worst of all, being kept in the dark. I was oblivious to any and all dangers lurking in the shadows. I knewnothing.

Nico’s wife walked in right at that time with cookies in her hands, but my hands shook and my ears buzzed to even attempt being polite.