Page 65 of Hidden Empire
My brother hesitates, crinkling his nose before he gets up, pulling Armani off the chair. “Nothing to see here, folks,” he announces. “Go back to your breakfasts.”
Armani and Matteo share a heated but whispered argument until Armani takes his seat again, clearly convinced to drop it. At least for now.
My ears burn with a flush of mortification, and I place my muffin in front of Matteo, appetite fully gone now. The little bit of fruit I had already is going to have to be enough until later because I can’t stomach another bite right now.
Armani watches me give away my food and frowns.
“Are you?—”
“Don’t ever do that to me again,” I whisper angrily, cutting him off.
“Jade,” Armani tries, face falling.
“I know you don’t care what people think about you, but I care about making a good impression. Everything I do reflects back on Dad, and I’m trying not to disgrace the first person who’s ever loved me.”
“Goddammit,” he groans, running a hand down his face. “I’m sorry, alright?”
“So you’ll drop it?”
His lips flatten into a line. “You know I can’t.”
“Then you aren’t very sorry, are you?” Gripping my empty orange juice bottle and my half-eaten fruit cup, I stand up and stomp off to throw them away.
I know I shouldn’t be so upset at their questioning, I am actively hiding things from them, but some semblance of privacy isn’t too much to ask for. I can love how overprotective they are and experience frustration from it at the same time.
As I toss away my garbage, I catch familiar eyes watching me. Ivan’s lips tip up, and he sends me a wink. I release a breath, understanding that small action’s larger meaning. No one is going to take Armani up on his offer. Everyone who was in the ruins courtyard that day must be with them or easily bought by them.
My Morozov boys have already handled any possible rumors about the challenge day, taking one less thing off of my metaphorical plate.
Straight after breakfast ends, Remo shows me where to go for my first day in my new cooking class. Thankfully, this one isn’t run by a psycho. The teacher is a thirty-something-year-old lovely woman who is super excited to have me. Not to mention, the course outline already assumes the student’s ability to cook eggs, so it’s not so rudimentary that I’ll be bored every day.
And when I see Ivan in our knives class, he confirms my suspicion from earlier. Nobody who saw Dmitri eat my food will say a word. Even the Admin who needed to verify my winning won’t say a thing. Though, Ivan says that’s mostly because they love depriving the students of gossip that they can keep between themselves.
Since I officially know my way around campus, at least most of it, Remo doesn’t come to pick me up after Knives. Though, Ivan isn’t keen on letting me walk alone. He hangs back behind me a few paces, but I roll my eyes and insist he walks by my side. If anyone sees us together and decides to report to my brothers about it, I’ll simply pretend I got a little lost and stuck by Ivan since we go the same way.
We’re almost back to the little snack pantry building when I see two people going inside. Without thinking, I pick up the pace and head straight for it.
“Are you hungry?” Ivan asks, confused by my change of direction.
“Not hungry, curious,” I respond, opening the solid wood door before he can do it for me. When we maneuver inside, I’m relieved to see they haven’t dipped out of the backdoor or somehow mysteriously disappeared before I could find them.
Thankfully, the pantry is particularly empty right now.
“That’s Ares and Thiago, isn’t it?” I ask, whispering to Ivan.
Ivan looks up and out, finding them on the other side of the little building, looking through the protein bar selection.
“Yes,” he answers, looking reluctant. “Why?”
“I want to talk to them,” I answer easily, taking a step forward to do just that.
“Are you crazy?” Ivan asks, catching my arm to hold me back.
“Not crazy, curious,” I emphasize, repeating myself from before.
Straightening my shoulders, I ignore the small resistance from my friend and make my move. I know they hear me approach by the slight twitch of their bodies before they even turn to see me.
“Hello,” I greet, smiling kindly.