Page 64 of Hidden Empire

“Mhmm,” he agrees, the sound rumbling in his chest.

I gulp. “Something to look forward to?”

His grin sends a burning heat directly between my thighs.

“You have no idea, Krasotka.”

Chapter 19

Jade

Dmitri walked me back to my building himself, doing the same thing Ivan had done before, waiting for me to wave from above before disappearing into the night. My lips still felt puffy from all of the kissing, and there was a swell of need between my legs.

I’d never touched myself before a few months ago, but that newly familiar urge was growing in a way that couldn’t be helped. So I got into the shower, purely to use the detachable head for some relief. I had to be quiet, but it didn’t take long. Just thinking about Dmitri had me biting my hand and shaking through an orgasm in under two minutes. When I got into bed, I fell asleep to the thought of how much better that would feel with Dmitri doing it to me.

Over breakfast the next morning, an administrator I don’t know brings me a slip with my new cooking class details. Reminding me that I still haven’t told my brothers about the challenge. Honestly, I sort of forgot about it, too. The transition period of being moved around in the schedule had the subject of cooking entirely off of my mind. Not to mention all of the other chaos taking up space in my head.

Of course, when I reluctantly revealed how I got out of Intro to Cooking, they immediately demanded to know who helped me. Even Nico shakes off his usual disinterest in favor of pestering me

“It’s not a big deal, guys,” I insist, telling them to quiet down with my wide eyes. The entire cafeteria’s attention at eight in the morning sounds less than appealing.

“Uh, yeah, it is,” Matteo declares, still managing to stuff his omelet into his mouth while worrying about me. “You made history, and you did it behind our backs.”

“Okay, that’s a little dramatic,” I protest.

“It’s not,” Remo argues. “You consorted with someone who isn’t our ally, and you’re purposely refusing to tell us who. That’s suspicious and worrisome, Jade.”

“It wouldn’t be so worrisome if you had an ounce of trust in my abilities,” I murmur sadly. “Can’t it just be enough that I’m obviously safe and my plan worked? Why does everything have to be such a big deal?—”

“You don’t get how dangerous our world is yet, little sister,” Matteo tells me softly, patting my hand. “You think you’ve seen a taste of it, but you don’t understand it, not entirely.”

“There’s a million working parts, and you’re prepared for a couple hundred of them,” Nico adds.

“We aren’t asking so that we can jump the person,” Remo assures me. “We want to know so we can keep an eye out for them.”

Which is exactly what I don’t want.

I fold my arms over my chest, my blueberry muffin long forgotten. “Great, so someone does something nice for me, and in return, they get four stalkers?”

“Call it a reward,” Nico says with a shrug.

I grit my teeth. “I’ll call it nothing because I’m not telling any of you.”

“Oh? That’s how you want to play it?” Armani asks, dropping his fork.

“I’m not trying to play anything,” I defend, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Can we please drop this? The last few days have been stressful enough as it is.”

“No,” my brother responds.

“I—” can’t get the words out because he’s already moving.

Armani stands up on his chair, cupping his hands around his mouth to yell. His inky black tattoos only emphasize the action, being laid against his lightly tanned skin. Before I can stop him, he’s got the attention of the whole room. “I’ll give fifty grand to the first person who can tell me who ate my sister’s food for the first-year challenge!”

Bursts of whispers break out all around us and I pinch his leg, tugging on his pants. “Get. Down.”

“Anyone?” Armani calls out again.

“Matteo, please,” I beg, grabbing his arm tightly. “Get him down before I genuinely die of embarrassment. This is so not fair.”