Ruined By My Brother's Best Friend (by Silverwriter) novel Chapter 330

Urgency

ARABELLA’S POV

“Good morning, madam!”

I jumped in my chair, my eyes flying open to find the new maid staring at me with a huge grin on her face.

I blinked. “Good morning,” I said, straightening up.

I was at the dining table for breakfast, but since no one else had shown up yet, I’d decided to close my eyes for a bit.

Turns out, I’d taken a full-blown nap.

I moved to rub my eyes but stopped when I remembered I’d added a little mascara today.

“Your sundress is pretty, madam,” the maid said, setting the table.

“Thank you,” I muttered, glancing down at my dress.

It was indeed pretty, but a little too light for the weather.

For some reason, I’d woken up in a good mood and decided to get dolled up.

It had taken a lot of work, but at least I liked the result.

“Where’s everyone?” I asked, looking around. “Why aren’t they down yet?”

“You came down early,” she giggled, “but they should be down by now.” She stepped back as a few other maids approached the table with trays of food and began setting everything out. “I guess they’re late because the Pakhan isn’t home.”

Oh.

That finally made sense.

Alvise still wasn’t back.

Last night, I hadn’t found him in our room after I finished showering, though I knew he’d still been home at that point because he’d taken a change of clothes from the closet… probably to freshen up in the guest room.

How did I know?

Let’s just say I snooped in his closet a lot.

I’ll leave it at that.

But by the time I’d gotten dressed and gone downstairs for dinner, he’d already left, leaving me to endure a tense dinner with his parents.

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Rozaliya hadn’t come down, understandably so, which meant it was just me, a few strangers, Alexei, and his wife.

They’d glared at me throughout the entire meal.

“Good morning.”

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up to see Rozaliya approaching the dining table.

I smiled, waving at her as she took the seat beside me. “How are you?”

“I’m fine.”

She looked fine.

A little too fine.

If I hadn’t witnessed her receiving the news of her boyfriend’s death myself, I wouldn’t have guessed that anything out of the ordinary had happened.

“Did you sleep well?” I asked softly.

“I did,” Rozaliya mumbled, glancing at me. “And I’m sorry about yesterday… for suspecting you. I was wrong to do that.”

I blinked.

I hadn’t expected her to bring it up, much less apologize for it.

“It’s… fine.” I shook my head. “I’m not even mad about it. I would’ve suspected me too if I were in your position.”

“Thank you,” she said, biting her lip. “And I’m good. Don’t worry about me.”

She was bottling up her emotions.

Nothing about what had happened yesterday was normal.

Her fiancé, the man she’d secretly hoped wouldn’t have to marry her and whom she’d believed was probably dead, was alive.

And not only that, he’d killed her boyfriend…

Then he’d sent her a text saying he didn’t like to share.

I shuddered, goosebumps rising along my arms.

Whoever that… Caspian Leonti was, he was sick… vile… and twisted.

I didn’t need to meet him to know that much.

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“I’m happy to hear that,” I whispered, choosing to let her deal with things in her own way rather than push her to talk before she was ready.

Slowly, the table began to fill, and Alexei and Mrs. Valerio eventually joined us.

Alexei’s eyes locked onto mine, his swollen eye and broken nose looking just as bad as they had last night.

“I see the queen is in our presence,” he grunted. “Your husband still isn’t back?”

Irritation bubbled up inside me, but I masked it with a smug smile. “Not yet, but definitely soon. Why? Do you need his help with anything?”

“No.” He shrugged, picking up his cutlery. “I just think it’s unwise to leave you helpless.” A smirk formed on his lips. “In the lion’s den.”

I raised a brow, not missing the hidden meaning or the threat behind his words.

I should ignore him.

I really should.

But I’d had enough of this man constantly coming for me without provocation.

It was infuriating.

“If the ‘lion’ you’re talking about is you…” I scoffed, taking a sip of my orange juice. “I think I’ll be fine.”

Alexei’s expression fell, his eyes narrowing. “Did you…”

“Morning!”

Tatiana’s heels clicked against the marble floor as she marched toward the table, dressed in a body-hugging mesh dress that clung to her curves.

Her stomach was still completely flat.

I wasn’t surprised, though.

By my calculations, she was barely a month along.

“I’ll be joining you all for breakfast today,” she announced, taking a seat two chairs away from Alexei.

Mrs. Valerio visibly tensed, a look of disdain marring her features and for once, it wasn’t directed at me.

She had a problem with Tatiana.

I frowned, stroking my chin as I put the pieces together.

She suspected Alvise’s claim that Alexei was having an affair with Tatiana was true.

But why hadn’t she said anything? And why was she allowing Tatiana to stay in the house?

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I couldn’t put my finger on it, but for some odd reason, I had a feeling Alvise’s mother wasn’t nearly as clueless as she liked to appear.

There was something about her that rubbed me the wrong way.

Even more than her husband did.

“Just keep quiet and eat,” Rozaliya said beside me. “You don’t need to make a whole announcement.”

I followed her gaze and saw that she was glaring at Tatiana.

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