God of Ruin (Legacy of Gods #4) by Rina Kent

“Remember, Cecily loved me first.” Landon’s voice turns eerily calm. Taunting, even. “She loved me so much that she fantasized about me and called me her prince. She loved me so much that she gave me heart eyes long before you came along. Not to mention, we used to bathe together as children. Fucking naked. You must really hate that you’ll always be second choice to me.”

“You little fucking—” Jeremy twists his wrist and Landon’s face scrunches, but he doesn’t release any sounds.

One moment, I’m standing beside Nikolai, the next, I’m kicking Jeremy’s arm. He’s so taken aback that he loses his grip on Landon’s wrist.

I help him up and he stands to his feet. However, his arm remains limp by his side.

“Is it okay?” I sign, gulping the lump in my throat.

Landon doesn’t even check if his wrist is okay as he grabs my cheek with his good hand. “You’re not going any-fucking-where. You understand me?”

“Leave,” I sign.

“I’m going to fucking kill this motherfucker.” Nikolai comes close, but I shake my head at him.

“Just go.” I push Landon toward the door.

He doesn’t even take one step.

“Brandon is outside,” I sign. “He could be in danger, too.”

His upper lip lifts in a snarl and he tsks. “What the fuck is that busybody doing here?”

“He’s worried about you. Please go, Landon. For me. Please.”

I have no doubt that if he stays here one more minute, he’ll provoke them again and they’ll make good on their threat to break his wrist.

“You’re never leaving me and we won’t be over,” he says, ignoring everyone else present as he kisses me in a brief passionate kiss. All I taste is blood as Killian pushes him off me.

And then he’s out the door.

I release a long breath, then I glare at the three guys I thought were closest to me.

“What?” Killian says. “You should’ve known this was coming. That motherfucker did a lot worse to us.”

“There’s nothing worse than breaking an artist’s fucking wrist, Killian! Put yourself in his shoes. How would you have survived your medical career if your own wrist was broken?”

“You need to stop defending the bastard, Mia,” Jeremy says.

“Not when all of you are ganging up on him.”

“Why is Brandon here?” Nikolai asks out of nowhere.

“What?” I sign.

“Just now, you said Brandon is here. Why is he?”

“He texted me that you could’ve been hurting Lan, which turned out to be true, so I told him to meet me here. I’m glad I did. At least he can give Lan a ride.”

“Mia…” He growls as he barges toward me.

“I’m going home,” I announce. “To New York. I obviously don’t have any rational support here. Maya lied to me and you shut me up.”

He curses under his breath as I push past him toward the door.

Maybe talking to Mom and Dad is my best chance to protect the fragile happiness sand castle I’ve been building.





35





MIA





Home has always been my sanctuary. A place in which I can unplug and be myself.

Not that I’ve found trouble being myself everywhere else, but whenever I’m in the presence of Mom and Dad, I feel like a kid again. Maybe childishly so.

The second Maya and I step through the door, we’re greeted by Mom’s radiant face. She’s dressed in an elegant knee-length burgundy dress with a belt that enhances her hourglass shape. An off-white jacket rests on her shoulders, giving her a sophisticated edge.

Her eyes glitter in a dreamy blue as she engulfs me in a bear hug. As soon as I inhale her warmth, the urge to burst into tears hits me out of nowhere.

All of a sudden, I’m that little girl who was trapped in the darkness with no way out. This moment is similar to when she and Dad found me.

I felt the same sense of crippling emotion when he personally came to pick me up at the airport after our private jet landed.

Yes, my parents have a private jet. It was actually Mom’s wedding anniversary gift from Dad. He got a lot of shit from Grandpa about it, but Dad told him he’s the reason their family has so much money in the first place, so if he decides he’ll buy his wife a plane or the moon itself, he has no say in it.

Grandpa Mikhail is more old-fashioned than the English monarchy, but he’s been present our entire lives. While he clashes with Dad sometimes, they actually get along pretty well. Mom said they found each other late in life, so that’s probably why Grandpa dotes on us more than his other grandkids. He’s spoiled us rotten since we were young and has never hidden the fact that we’re his favorites.

He learned sign language for me at an old age and often invited us over, despite having countless other grandchildren.

So it’s no surprise that he also accompanied Dad to the airport. Grandpa said that he wanted to see ‘his girls’ first. He received a call about some trouble one of my uncles is causing and we separated at the airport, but not before he told us we need to spend a day or two with him before we go back to the ‘tasteless’ Brits.

He and Dad definitely agree that we should’ve stayed on US soil so they could keep an eye on us.