As he stepped closer and closer to her, Audrey pressed against the railing of the balcony. There was nowhere for her to go except down four stories onto the pavement below. Her hand clung to her only defense mechanism—the tiny hunting knife she carried with her since she’d left New York. She thumbed the smooth bone of the handle, her hand still wrapped behind her and buried in her purse.
“I’m not afraid of you, Sasha. I am not your slave, your lover or your friend. I want you out of my life forever, do you understand?” To emphasize her conviction, she pointed her trembling hand directly at him, her fingers threatening him with every ounce of power she had inside of her. Aleksandr’s eyes traveled downward, and his eyes bulged as he fixated on the enormous piece of jewelry resting on her left ring finger.
“What is this?” he asked, grabbing her by the hand to take a closer look.
She stared him straight in the eye as she pulled the knife from behind her back. He was barely an inch from her face, his eyes glassed over with rage as he painfully twisted her left hand in his. She snapped the knife open in one swift motion, holding the sharp tip of the blade to his jugular vein.
“You couldn’t do it,
devotchka
,” Aleksandr said, his heavy breath on her face. “What would you be without me? I made you. And I can just as easily break you, my dear little orphan child.”
“I will do it, Sasha. No one would miss you, no one in the entire world.”
Her threat was enough to push him over the edge. He twisted her left hand with a rough, explosive motion, the sharp eruption of pain immediately spreading in her wrist as she heard the horrific sound of her own bones snapping. She instinctively dropped the knife, her last defense falling to the balcony floor.
As he pulled her toward him, she fought his hold with every ounce of strength in her body. She felt her disgust for him detonate inside her, her scream bursting from deep in her gut as he wrapped one arm tightly around her. He grabbed for the fallen knife and retrieved it within moments, the sharp tip of the blade finding its way to the soft tissue of her neck before she managed to take a breath. He quickly silenced her with the threat of the weapon and a silent order emanating from his eyes.
“I have nothing to lose, Audrey. Nothing in the world I care for. And I think someone needs to learn a lesson about gratitude, wouldn’t you say,
ma cheri
?”
With his threat hanging in the air, he pulled her even closer to his body and roughly kissed her mouth, the residue of his heavy taste leaving a thick, putrid taste on her lips.
“
Casse-toi, Sasha
,” she defiantly said with a smile. She liked how it felt to tell him to fuck off. With every ounce of strength left inside her, she pushed herself towards the edge of the balcony. She’d rather fall four stories to her death than linger with this bastard, allowing him to threaten and touch her.
The taste of him on her tongue made her body fill with a rage she had never previously experienced. As she pushed against him, he struggled right back.
“If I can’t have you, no one else will,” he gruffly said in her ear. She realized then he wasn’t attempting to simply push her over the edge. He wanted them to die together.
Could there be any worse fate than to die in this man’s arms? The sudden fight that rose from deep inside of her caused him to lose his balance and he dropped the knife with a clatter. As she scrambled for the weapon, he seized the opportunity and flung their entangled mass toward the edge of the balcony.
Is this it?
Audrey couldn’t help but wonder if this was really how her life would end.
As they hurtled over the railing, images of her two lovers flooded her vision. Her whole body seemed to tell her she couldn’t die. She had to hold on. As the momentum of their entangled bodies slipped over the edge of the railing, the words rang in her ears.
Hold on. Hold on. Hold on.
It seemed to echo on inside her, and she felt her arms flailing, desperate to find something solid beneath her. She caught the edge of the balcony’s railing, her hands gripping onto cool metal just moments before it was too late.
Every part of her gripped that reassuring hardness beneath her fingertips, even as she realized that Sasha miraculously continued hanging onto her, barely clinging to the fabric of her torn dress as he seemingly balanced in thin air.
For a split second, he looked up at her as she realized the horrific scenario, his face a mask of bizarre and twisted delight. As the final piece of lace ripped from the fabric of her gown, she swore she heard him laughing as he fell to the ground. Landing in a crumpled heap beneath her, she wondered if she, too, would be found that way tonight.
* * * *
“Did you check the bathrooms, Silas?” Max asked frantically.
“Of course I did. She’s nowhere. She must have left while we were in the receiving line. We got separated somehow. She said something about needing a moment alone and then she disappeared into thin air.”
Something is wrong.
He could taste it in his mouth. She wouldn’t just disappear like this, especially when they’d all been on edge since her accident. Could she left have them? Was it all too much, too fast?
Silas stared at the ballroom floor, where the people of Male Order he knew so well, had grown up with, had begun to dance the traditional waltzes that began every Cotillion since the town’s founding.
His eyes scanned the room for her, the image of her in the ravishing white dress and feathered cape playing over and over again in his mind. As his thoughts wandered, he snapped back to attention as the shadow of two figures appeared to him through the curtained door of the farthest balcony.
Audrey.
Without a second thought, he pushed his way right through the undulating waves of dancers moving fluidly across the floor. The music deafened the nonsensical sounds escaping his mouth as he flung open the door to the verandah, terrified to see what lay on the other side.
As the cool evening breeze flooded in, he was stunned to find the balcony empty. As he raced to the edge, the disorienting sound of Audrey’s screams filled the air. He looked down to see her clinging to the very edge of the balcony by her fingertips, her mouth contorted with panic. She stared up at him, the fear like a mask on her face.
He leaped into action, managing to grasp onto her forearms.
“Baby, are you all right?” he somehow managed to ask.
“Silas! Thank God you’re here!” Her eyes were wide with terror.
The sound of a familiar voice calling his name behind them helped Silas breathe again. Max arrived just in time. Silas hung over the edge, desperately trying to save Audrey from the four-story fall to the ground beneath them. The weight of her body was proving to be too much for Silas alone, and he knew he could never save Audrey by himself.
Max ran to them, immediately grabbing onto Silas’ legs just as he began to slip over the edge with her.
* * * *
With every ounce of his strength, Max clung to the only two people in his life who mattered to him. He pulled until Silas was able to regain his footing, and together they pulled Audrey back onto the balcony. The shock of whatever happened had clearly overtaken her, her blank stare a cold tableau revealing nothing about how she had managed to go from standing by their side just minutes before to dangling in thin air on the brink of death.
“Audrey,” Silas said, desperately taking her face in his hands. “What happened? Talk to us, baby!”
She looked at both of them, her eyes welling with tears. “My dress…it’s ruined,” she finally managed, the droplets streaming down her face silently. “It’s all ruined.”
Max put his arms around her firmly. “You’re all right. Thank god, Audrey. Thank god, you’re safe. For a moment I thought…”
“It’s ok,” she whispered in his ear. “It’s over. He’s dead.”
Chapter Sixteen
After several weeks of recovery, Audrey finally began to desire creating and working again, the only way she knew how to really heal after the horrific night on the balcony. She knew if she poured herself into her work, she could make peace with the past and connect more deeply with the wild reality of her new life with Max and Silas. She needed a grand introduction to their world on her own terms, a memorable bash no one would soon forget. Male Order, Dallas, and America, for that matter, would love her on her own terms. They would embrace her unique vision and way of life, even if it took a little time to take hold.
As Audrey’s wrist mended, she spent from the break of dawn into the late evening working with Max and Silas on preparing for the event of her own creation. The “Fashion Fete,” as she named it, would be the unforgettable occasion at Jacqueline’s where she would reveal her new menswear line to the elite masses of Dallas shoppers. The brothers worked tirelessly as her faithful assistants and collaborators, furiously making her dreams for the new line a reality.
Without asking her, her two mischievous lovers began recruiting the other men of Male Order to serve as models for the show. One by one, all of their closest friends began arriving at the studios, ready for their fitting. Audrey quickly learned that the men of her adopted home town shared two things in common—they were all gorgeous, and they all loved to share one very lucky lady. Of all her models, only the kind-hearted Doctor Kingston lacked a ring on his finger.
After barely getting to really know anyone in so many years, the company of her neighbors felt amazing. In Paris, she had to constantly watch what was being said about her or how people were trying to take advantage of her. The world couldn’t have felt more different.
The wives of her models began stopping by, eager to know when Audrey would begin making her various women’s lines available at the store. They had a million questions for her, and for the first time in as long as she could remember, she enjoyed the attention.
There was no more living in fear and nothing keeping Audrey from opening herself up to people. She had always heard about how friendly Texans were, but she couldn’t believe the kindness of the families since the night of the accident. She dove into this new community and was amazed by how quickly she got to know everyone. Even the brothers’ young assistant, Katherine, seemed to thrive in Audrey’s presence, easily picking up new skills and techniques as she was trained to make a totally different kind of clothes than she had ever seen before in real life.
The best part about Audrey’s collaborations with Max and Silas were the endless hours they spent batting around ideas and creating as if the three of them shared one creative spirit. As the mid-autumn sun set, all visitors and assistants left the three of them alone to brainstorm and compare notes in delicious solitude. Sometimes it would be just her and one or both of the brothers, working in silence on their own creations.
Tonight it was Silas who was elected to go and check on things at the work stables. The cool of the evening caused Audrey to reach for the nearest cozy sweater, another of Max’s cashmere cardigans that stretched nearly to her knees. She wrapped it around her as she tore out a crooked seam on her latest suit.
“You chilly, darlin’?” Max said as he looked up from his drawing table.
“A little bit. Hope you don’t mind. Just need a little comfort while I battle my sloppy sewing skills.”
“You know you’re not supposed to be doing that yet, don’t you?”
She silently rolled her eyes and grinned. “Yep,” she replied with a touch of sass as she returned to her work.
“You know we have multiple assistants and a room full of sewing machines, right?” he continued.
“Mmm hmm,” she murmured, unmoved by his offer. She liked doing things the old-fashioned way.
“C’mere, Mrs. Abrams,” Max insisted, setting down his pencil.
“Who’s that? I don’t know anyone by that name here,” she said with a smirk.
He gave her a look that immediately silenced her, his chestnut eyes hot with desire.