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He held my gaze calmly. “But I will.”

That was the problem. Because the way this calm storm of a man looked at me made me believe him. I hated that feeling more than anything.

CHAPTER 20

Azaria

THREE DAYS LATER…

“I Didn’t Ask For This Crown”

Itold Ares I needed clothes. Of course, because nothing in his world could ever be normal, he took a simple request and overdid the hell out of it.

When you were dealing with unlimited money and a man who moved the way Ares did, apparently you didn’t go into stores to shop. The stores came to you.

The entire sitting room of the estate had been turned into something between a fashion studio and a private showroom. Rolling racks lined the walls with Chanel, Dior, Balmain, and other shit I recognized but probably would’ve never bought for myself. Fabric swatches covered the long marble table, shoes sat inside velvet boxes, and enough jewelry was laid out to make me wonder if this man understood the difference between needing clothes and buying an entire wardrobe.

Two seamstresses moved around me while speaking French to each other. One wrapped a measuring tape around my waist while the other entered numbers into a tablet.

“Respirez, s’il vous plaît,” she told me. Breathe, please.

I rolled my eyes but did what she asked.

Today was the first morning I woke up without feeling as if my body was trying to kill me, so I wasn’t about to complain too much about being pampered.

The other woman lifted my arm and checked another measurement.

“Parfait.” Perfect.

The door flew open before she could write it down.

“Ri-Ri!”

A small body came flying across the room, and for the first time in months, a real laugh came out of me.

“Lil Z!”

I grabbed my nephew before he ran straight into one of the seamstresses and hugged him hard. His little arms wrapped around my neck, and seeing him did something for me that all the medication, expensive food, and rest hadn’t been able to do.

Zay came into the room behind him with Emily close by. Ares entered last, taking his time while he watched everybody.

Emily was already coming toward me before I could pay him much attention.

“Oh my God, look at you.” She hugged me while Lil Z stayed attached to me. “You look so much better.”

“I feel better.”

She took my hands and looked around the room. “Girl, what is all this? Did you rent a fashion house?”

“Something like that.”

Emily looked around again and laughed. “I’m not even mad about it. I’m happy to be out of Los Angeles.”

“Same.”

We started laughing while Zay watched us from near the doorway. For a few minutes, everything felt normal again. I had my brother, my nephew, and Emily in the same room with me, and I could almost forget about the family politics and money surrounding all of us.

Emily started talking before anybody else could ruin the moment.