Airiana nodded. "I can't wait to get a real cup of tea. I'll see you all tomorrow morning. I'm home and safe. Thank you, Thomas and Levi, for coming to get us and for getting the children for us."
"No problem." Levi sent Maxim a look, one that said they'd be meeting when the women were in bed. He was back to sneaking off in the night.
Airiana's house was larger than he expected. From the outside, it didn't seem as if it would be so spacious. It was two stories, with her bedroom and bathroom on the upper story. That was fine when one was single or married with no children, but putting Benito downstairs without supervision was just asking for trouble.
The boy had an eye for security. There was no doubt about that. He'd insisted his sisters take the two back bedrooms and he'd taken the front one. Maxim knew the boy's mind. They looked at one another and Maxim nodded his head in silent approval. The kid was looking out for what remained of his family. Maxim would have been doing the same thing.
"We'll work on the house security," Maxim said aloud, acting as if he was talking to no one in particular, but he was reassuring Benito. Benito was terrified of losing the ones he loved, and Maxim knew that feeling all too well.
Airiana went through the rooms to make certain the children had what they needed. Blythe and Judith had supplied them with the essentials. "I'll have to take you shopping, to get clothes and comforters and blinds you want in your room."
Nicia and Siena shared a room and Lucia had her own. Clearly both little girls had been sleeping in Lucia's room with her. Maxim suspected that Benito had lain across the doorway in the hall after they went to bed at night. It was something he would have done at that age.
His heart went out to the boy. Already, little Nicia and Benito had a hold on him so strong he didn't think he could easily break it. He hadn't considered that he might love the children as well as Airiana. He thought he was only capable of loving one person. His woman. Now, he had an entire family, and they were going to take his life over. One didn't ever walk out on kids who had suffered such trauma.
They settled in the large sitting room while Airiana put on the teakettle. Nicia and Siena took the chair next to him, while Lucia and Benito sat across from him.
"How is it you can speak English so well?" Maxim asked Lucia.
"Our grandmother on our mother's side was from the United States, so Mama wanted us to know both Italian and English. We grew up speaking both languages," she answered.
"Papa sent us to a private school," Benito added. "We were required to know Italian, of course, but also English, French and German."
Airiana had come back into the room silently and taken a chair on the other side of Siena and Nicia.
Their parents had to be wealthy. They're too well educated. Look at them, Airiana. Aloud he had to ask. "Do you have family alive? Aunts? Uncles? Your grandparents?"
Lucia shook her head. "Not anymore. There were no aunts or uncles on either side, and we never knew my papa's parents. They died a couple of years after I was born. Mama's mother passed away last year. I never knew my grandfather."
Maxim wasn't surprised. The children would have wanted to go to a relative once they'd been rescued. They'd made it clear on the ship that they had nowhere to go, but he had to be certain.
"You do know that if we change your identity in order to keep you in this country with us, you probably won't be able to claim the inheritance from your parents. If we take you back, the chances of us getting you are slim to none," Maxim said. "That's a reality, and one I can't get around. I can look into it if you want me to, but we'll be running a risk that we'll be found out. Right now, everyone thinks you died aboard that ship."
"Like Sofia," Nicia said, and began to cry. She ran across the room to fling herself into Lucia's lap.
Siena began to cry as well, but Lucia's lap was already occupied. Airiana picked her up and cuddled the little girl. She rocked her back and forth gently.
"I'm sorry about Sofia," Maxim said. "I know it's hard, Nicia. She's where no one can hurt her now."
"I want to be with her," Nicia said.
Maxim's heart beat overtime. What the hell does that mean? What am I supposed to say? Surely she isn't talking about suicide.
She's a little girl who lost her parents and her twin sister, Maxim. It's natural for her to want them back, to want to be with them.
At least he could breathe again. He wasn't going to be great at parenting. He'd rather shoot someone when he heard Nicia cry than try to figure out the right words of comfort. Shooting was easy. Talking, not so much.
"Of course you do," Airiana said. "I miss my mother every day. I want to be with her too. But we're going to be a family, and we'll love and support one another. Maybe we can help each other not miss the ones we've lost so very much."
"We don't want the money," Benito said, glaring at his sisters as if they might contradict him. "We're going to stay here where it's safe."
"Will you really let us stay here?" Lucia asked. She looked as if she was bracing herself for bad news as she rocked her sister soothingly. She looked to Airiana for the answer, not Maxim, which he found telling. She knew Airiana belonged on the farm, that this was her house and the others on the farm were her sisters. Airiana had the power to make them all leave.
"We want you to stay with us," Airiana said. "I was kidnapped and taken aboard that ship too. I think we're all in this together. If Maxim hadn't rescued me, I'd be in as much trouble as all of you. My sisters might not have told you, but we're not sisters by blood. We weren't born into the same family, but we chose one another. We choose to be sisters. We call ourselves sisters of the heart."
"I'm not saying that girly stuff," Benito declared. "I'm not being a brother of the heart or anything like that."
"Benito." Maxim just said the kid's name. He used his low tone, the one that said he wasn't messing around. "Don't be disrespectful to Airiana. I wouldn't like it and neither should you. She's ours. Just as your sisters are. We take care of our own, and we respect our women."
Airiana stirred as though she might say something but stopped when he sent her a quick reprimanding glance. He's too much like me, honey. This is necessary. He needs to respect you from the beginning because I do. He has to learn what he values. We're already close to losing him.
She didn't question him and he was grateful. He continued to pin Benito with his gaze, leaning forward to make certain the boy understood. "I'll be teaching you things that can kill, Benito. I have to know you'll have the right values and discipline to know when and where to use the knowledge I give you. You have to make up your mind either to be a good man or a bad one. No one else can do that for you. Your family is sacred. The women have the right to your respect. They are not less than you and they will never be. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you, because this is your first very important lesson when it comes to living your life. Not only was Airiana telling all of you something important, she was also sharing a particular painful experience."
Benito nodded his head slowly. "I'm sorry, Airiana. I didn't mean to be disrespectful." He held his chin up and looked her in the eye. "Please tell us what you were about to say."
Airiana bit her lip and took a breath. He's wonderful. Truly wonderful after all he's been through. He's trying to be a man, and clearly he trusts you when he doesn't trust anyone else.
Benito had suffered horribly in that cabin, all the while knowing Galati would kill him after all that had been done to him. He also knew his sisters would be sharing the same fate. Maxim had come along like a hero in a movie and rescued him. It didn't surprise him that Benito looked to him when his world had crashed down. Nicia, the same thing, but he was surprised by Lucia and Siena's reaction to him. He would have thought they'd be more suspicious. He figured Benito had talked him up.
"As I was saying, everyone on this farm has a connection. Each of us has had a family member or members violently murdered. Some have had experiences similar to yours and can understand what you're
going through. We help each other when the nightmares come and the memories are too close. We've formed our own family, every bit as tight as one that has a blood connection," Airiana explained.
The teakettle whistled shrilly and she stood. "Lucia, we'll form our family and learn to be rely on and trust one another. We'll hit a few snags, but we'll work it out. My sisters and I bought this place together, and we learned to talk things over right away. We don't let things fester. We have regular family meetings. Some things, like martial arts and learning to shoot a gun, will be mandatory."
She made a face at them over her shoulder as she made her way into the kitchen. "Not everyone embraces the lessons, but we all agreed we needed to learn to protect ourselves. You will too. In matters of safety, we defer to the experts. That will be Maxim, Levi and Thomas or Lissa. Lucia, you're in your teens, that won't always be easy to do, because at some point you'll have school friends and want to do normal teen things and they'll squash some of your activities, but you have to understand that safety for everyone is important."
I know that was difficult for you to say. He couldn't help the laughter in his voice. Now that they had children, Airiana was much more conscious of their security.
Ha, ha, ha. I was talking about them. I'm trying to get Benito and Lucia to really think about things before they make a rash decision to stay in the United States with strangers when maybe there is someone in Italy they would be more comfortable with. I don't want them to go because I think they need us, but it really has to be their decision.
She was giving the children a choice. He was all about choices. He believed in choices, but damn it all, they were kids. What did they know? They could screw up their entire lives with the wrong choice. Don't drive them off by being so negative. It won't be that bad. It's not like I'm going to lock them up.
"We're staying," Benito reiterated in his firmest voice. "Right, Lucia?"
Lucia ducked her head, but Maxim caught the glitter of tears. When had he become such a wuss? The child was killing him, just like Airiana. She'd been so brave and tried to take care of her brother and sisters. She had to be scared to death. He remembered that feeling all too well when he'd been taken from his parents and brothers by force.
"Lucia," he said softly, and waited for her to look at him. When she raised her large, dark eyes to his, he nodded his head solemnly. "I give you my word, I won't go anywhere. Airiana and I will give all four of you a home and a family. We'll make this farm safe and fun and a place where you can grow up. We can't change what happened to you and your brother and sisters. We can't bring back your parents or little Sofia, but in time, we'll be a real family and we'll love one another."
Airiana came into the doorway, nodding her head, leaning her hip against the doorjamb. "You can always depend on us. I give you my word as well. I know you have no reason to trust us, but that's the best we can do to reassure you. You either feel the truth or you don't."
Lucia nodded. "I want to stay. I feel safe here. I know what you said about the danger, but I still feel safe. I just want to go to sleep for a while and not be terrified."
Maxim stood up and went to her. He dropped his hand on top of the girl's head. "I'm home now. No one is going to get past Benito or me."
"They killed Papa," she pointed out.
"Your papa was a good man. I'm mean, honey. I hunt men like the ones who killed your papa. They won't get past me."
Is it a good thing to tell them that?
It's the truth, baby, whether you like it or not, that's who I am.
19
JONAS Harrington arrived at eight o'clock in the morning, and he didn't come alone. It was the second man Maxim studied. Harrington looked like a man who could handle himself, but it was the other one introduced as Damon Wilder that Airiana was afraid of. Anyone she was afraid of wasn't welcome in their home, as far as Maxim was concerned, yet she smiled graciously and opened the door to allow both entry.
Maxim slipped into the background, blurring his image just enough so that when he went completely still, he all but disappeared.
"Jonas," Airiana greeted. "The children aren't up yet. Apparently they haven't been sleeping very well and now that we're home, they can actually rest."
Maxim winced. She'd used the word we're and Harrington was quick on the pick-up. His eyes scanned the room and then moved through it a second time much more slowly, as if sensing they weren't alone. He spotted Maxim standing just in the shadows across the room where he had a clear shot to either man.
"I understand, Airiana," Jonas said smoothly, "but you can understand the urgency of our business. You were taken from your home, and not too long after, the children arrived, and then we got a message that you were safe. We also understand that a ship was discovered, one with dead men strewn from one end to the other and evidence of human trafficking in the luxury cabins. Strange though, a couple of the cabins were wiped down so there were no fingerprints, no evidence of who had been there." While he talked in his easygoing manner, Jonas Harrington looked directly at Maxim. Unlike Damon, Jonas didn't take the seat Airiana offered. "Who's your friend?"
Airiana's gaze flicked to Maxim. She smiled, her bright, loving smile that always melted his heart. He didn't step from the shadows. Airiana started toward him.
Walk around the chairs. Don't get between us.
She looked startled but obeyed him. When she got to his side, she put one hand on his arm, instead of taking his hand. He was grateful to her for that. She learned fast.
"Jonas, this is my fiance, Max Walberg. Max, Jonas Harrington, our local sheriff, and his brother-in-law, Damon Wilder." Airiana performed the introductions.
"Don't get up," Maxim said to Damon in as gracious a tone as he could manage. Damon had started to rise. His limp was very pronounced, and Maxim wracked his brain for information on the man. The name was familiar, and it only took seconds for him to recall that Damon Wilder was the United States equivalent to Theodotus Solovyov. "It isn't necessary."
Maxim stepped forward as Jonas put out his hand toward him. The moment he came out of the shadows, he saw recognition on Harrington's face. The man knew he was a Prakenskii. His first instinct was to kill him, the second was to remember this man knew his youngest brother. Somehow the two men were friends. If he could recognize Maxim, he had to know about Stefan and Lev.
"Max Walberg, is it? Strange, but you look very Russian to me."
Jonas took his hand in a firm grip, but didn't indulge in petty games to see who was stronger and that told Maxim he was even more dangerous than he appeared.
"My grandmother on my mother's side was Russian," Maxim said smoothly. "I had no idea it showed."
Jonas nodded and stepped back to allow Maxim to precede him to the cluster of furniture. Maxim didn't move.
Airiana smiled up at Maxim as if unaware of the undercurrent. "Would you mind terribly getting the coffee? Jonas will drink tea, but he does love his coffee in the morning, at least that's what Blythe tells me."
Clever woman. I'm marrying a genius, aren't I? She'd given him the perfect excuse to move away from the men without turning his back.
Absolutely you are.
You don't need to know whether another man prefers coffee or tea.
Her laughter drifted through his mind, a sweet melody that relaxed him as he glided to the door. "Either of you take sugar or cream?"
Both Jonas and Damon shook their heads. Airiana smiled at the two men as she dropped into a chair. "It's good to be home. I understand Hannah had the baby last night."
"A very stubborn baby," Jonas clarified, his first genuine smile spreading across his face. "Libby delivered, but it took nearly all night. Hannah called her when she first started having signs of labor and Libby managed to make it back fairly quickly. I think Tyson hired a private jet. Sarah was there as well, so it was quite the event."
"Congratulations. Is Hannah all right? Boy? Girl?" Airiana prompted.
The way the house was built, the sitting room fl
owed into the kitchen. The large archway leading to the kitchen allowed occupants to be part of the conversation in the sitting room. Maxim was grateful for the design as he could easily keep an eye on Airiana. He doubted that either man was there to harm her, but with Wilder coming along for the police report, he knew Airiana was very uneasy.
"We had a boy. We haven't decided on a name yet, but we're working on it. Hannah is fine, but very tired."
"That's so wonderful, Jonas," Airiana said sincerely. "I'm happy for you."
Jonas leaned toward her. "Thank you, Airiana. Now tell me what the hell happened."
Maxim winced at the tone. The man was good. Chitchat. Put her at ease. Then go all commanding on her. The teakettle whistled. "Tea in a moment, honey," he announced unnecessarily to give her a chance to collect herself. He shouldn't have worried.
Airiana sank back into her chair. "Can you believe my birth father had me kidnapped? I've never laid eyes on the man. I didn't even know he actually existed, let alone who he was. It seems my mother met him when she attended the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. You know the story, it happens all the time. He was married. She was young, and he was a superstar in physics. They had an affair, and I was the result."
It was Damon who leaned forward, his gaze intent. "Who is your father, Airiana?"
"Theodotus Solovyov."
"Of course." Damon all but rubbed his hands together. "That explains so much. A brilliant man, Jonas. Absolutely brilliant. You inherited that from him, Airiana."
Her smile faded. "My mother was brilliant. Whatever my father is, he's nothing to me. He was willing to turn me over to the Russian government even when I told him I was a citizen of the United States and I wanted to come home."
Maxim came in with coffee for both men. He handed the steaming mugs to them and then moved behind Airiana's chair without sitting down on the pretense that he had to get the tea for her. He brushed a kiss on top of her head.
Are you all right? I can ask them to leave . . . politely.
Her gaze jumped to his face and he saw the love there. Amusement filled his mind. Politely? Did you plan on shooting bullets at their feet?
Of course not. Chucking them out the window is a much better solution. No possible hard feelings that way.