Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 68691 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68691 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Kato snorted then.
“Violet, if anything, was overbearing. She should never have gotten into a spat with Georg, a custody war of sorts, hiding us out on the farm so that he couldn’t see us. But it’s all over now,” he said with a growl. “We’re not on the farm anymore, we’re in Afghanistan,” he said grimly.
And I gasped then, my hands flying to cover my mouth. This was terrible news, for both myself and the girls. Afghanistan? They were sure to be killed.
But the twins merely nodded at me.
“We can’t tell you much of what we’re doing, but we won’t lie,” said Karl. “It’s brutal. We’re soldiers baby, we always will be, and there’s blood, death and guts around us all the time.”
I nodded mutely, my eyes shining.
“But where does that leave us?” I asked plaintively. “Where does that leave Corinna and Carlton?” I said. I’d decided on names for the babies and Corinna and Carlton reminded me of twin peaks in Andorra, a favorite childhood hiking spot that I’d often visited. The peace and tranquility I’d found on those hikes was what I wanted to pass onto my children, a foil for the drama we’d recently been through.
“Well, we have abandonment issues of our own,” ground out Kato, “but it’s no big deal, we’re over it,” he said flatly.
“What my brother means,” interrupted Karl, “is that yeah, we felt abandoned because we thought Georg ditched us. That he had no interest in us, everything was focused on Kristian,” he added, shooting his older brother a meaningful look. “But none of that was true. Georg had been looking for us, had reached out multiple times, was trying to get in touch. It was Violet who rebuffed him, who kept us isolated, away from his tentacles.”
“And I kind of don’t blame her, to tell you the truth,” he said thoughtfully. “Violet knew what she was up against. The royal family, the Rothschilds, their Machiavellian machinations forced her to the limit. They’d already taken one son after all,” he said slowly. “So she did what she could for her remaining two. She went into the shadows, shielding us, protecting us, and the constant fear, the paranoia, warped her a bit but it was all for a reason.”
“I guess from here on out though,” he added, taking a deep breath, “it’s going to be different. Kato and I,” he nodded at his brother, “we know the truth now. And we’re going to try and be better men. Maybe build a relationship with Georg, get to know him better at least, who knows?”
Here, Kristian snorted.
“I assure you, Dad is no piece of cake,” he ground out. “He’s made like he had no say in a lot of this, but trust me, he knows more than he’s letting on. He is the King after all.”
“That’s true,” replied Karl mildly. “But see, we don’t even see Georg as a father figure yet. He’s a stranger to us, someone we’ve studied from a distance. So yeah, building a relationship is probably the first step.”
“I’m just saying,” warned Kristian. “You’re up against a power player. He’s not letting on to everything he knows.”
“We hear you,” growled Kato. “We hear you, loud and clear.”
And the three men looked at each other, different emotions flitting over their faces. Because we were in the midst of a massive shake-up, the Venetians made the Mansons look sane and tame. Family dysfunction? Oh yeah, we had that in spades.
But that still didn’t address the question of me and the girls.
“So what does this all mean?” I said slowly, bringing the conversation back full circle. “What happens from here on out?”
The men looked at each other again, mentally communicating on some level.
“Well we’ve realized what you mean to us,” rumbled Kristian. “In all the shit that’s gone down, you were our center, our calm in the eye of the storm. And yeah, we shouldn’t have left you.”
Kato shook his head vehemently again.
“We fucked up, baby girl, and we’re so sorry,” he growled. “We’ll never do it again.”
“Because you mean so much to us,” said Karl slowly, going down on one knee before me, his brothers also on bended knee, forming a small semi-circle in the room, “we want to make it permanent.”
“Will you?” he asked, pulling a small velvet box out of his pocket and popping open the lid, showing me what lay inside. “Will you, Tina?”
And I remained motionless for a moment. The ring that glittered at me was beautiful, a tri-color dazzler, the rose gold, yellow gold, and platinum intertwined in an intricate, yet deceptively simple pattern.
“Is this what I think it is?” I said slowly, meeting each of their eyes in turn.
“Yes,” answered Karl.
“Yes, yes,” repeated Kristian and Kato. “Marry us.”
And I reached for the ring as if in a trance, sliding it onto my slim finger. It was beautiful, glimmering in the light, and I twisted the metal band thoughtfully. I wanted so badly to say yes, to throw myself at them without abandon, pitch my load in with theirs, bind myself to these powerful, charismatic men for eternity. They were the fathers of my unborn children after all, but something held me back.