The plush leather seat of the car Mira was sitting on felt like heaven after a week in hell.
Was it because it was a Rolls Royce?
She mentally counted how she had been in three luxurious cars in just days since she became Lorena. Cars she had only seen in pictures even.
Next to her was Damian in what looked like a ten-thousand-dollar suit and for the first time since waking up in this stolen glittering life, she felt like she could actually breathe.
As if remembering something, she suddenly shook her head as she let a disbelieving laugh escape her.
"The way those officers just… froze when you walked in? You were terrifying."
Damian smirked as he adjusted in the seats.
"They should be. They know better than to provoke me after all."
His eyes seemed to darken as they slid to look at Mira in a soft possessive way.
"Especially when it concerns my family. And my favorite little sister at that."
The words hit her like a pillow. A very soft lavender-smelling pillow.
Family. Favorite little sister.
Mira, the real Mira before all of this, never had anyone. She had been nothing but a punching bag to her own family.
Not a soul ever stood up for her in any way, even when she was the victim.
But Lorena Sanders?
She had this. A brother who turned police stations into iceboxes with just a single look. One who declared her his favorite with a soft brotherly tone. Even when she was the criminal in this case.
Mira felt a fragile relief bloom in her chest. It was so sweet that she decided to cling to it.
Someone. Finally, she meant a lot to someone.
As if that was not enough, Damian turned fully towards her with an intense gaze. The playful arrogance melted away to give seriousness but still concern.
"I'm so sorry, I should have been here sooner," he started. "I was in Zurich closing a deal when you were in a coma and no one told me about you waking up. I'm sorry that you had to face all of this alone."
Mira felt like her throat was closing up. No one. Absolutely no one had ever said anything like that to her.
Not to the girl she was before and certainly not to the girl she had even woken up as the past couple of days.
"But now I'm back," he vowed as he leaned in closer and his voice became somewhat a whisper. "And I will fight everyone for you, don't you worry about a thing."
That did it. The dam broke.
Tears welled up hot and embarrassing in Mira's eyes and before she could stop them, they had started to spill over her cheeks.
She tried to laugh it off, tried to play the cool collected woman, but all that came out of her was a pathetic sniffle.
"S-Sorry, I'm just—"
Damian didn't wait to hear her speak. A handkerchief was already in his hands as if it appeared by magic.
He reached over and cupped her cheek, then his thumb gently wiped each tear.
This gesture was so unexpectedly tender to Mira that it shattered her very last control.
A sob got out of her throat. Then another one.
And before she knew it, she was a crying mess as the days of fear, humiliation, and confusion poured out of her in the form of an unstoppable flood.
"Shhh, little one. It's alright. I'm here now."
He pacified as he pulled her into a hug. His grip wasn't just comforting, it was almost crushing too. Desperate even, as if he were trying to physically put her back together, or maybe just stop her from breaking even more.
Mira could feel the fine wool of his suit against the bare skin of her body, especially since the robe she had on gaped open.
She stiffened for just a split second when his hand went around and stayed at her lower back as a bell started ringing somewhere in the back of her mind. But she silenced it.
I have never felt the warmth of any family so even this seems too weird to me.
He's just a brother who loves his sister. This is what family feels like.
After a long moment, he finally pulled back but didn't let go completely.
One hand remained on her leg as his palm felt heavy and warm against Mira's skin.
It rested high on her thigh, too high for Mira's comfort. His touch felt less comforting but she forced herself not to flinch while staring ahead at the partition separating them from the driver instead.
He must have been so close with Lorena to have this much skin contact. That's all.
"From now on," Damian said, his voice returning back to its smooth normalcy, "you'll move back home. You're not to return to that apartment of yours. I'm so sure it'll be crawling with stalkers and reporters by now."
Mira blinked.
Apartment? Lorena lived separately from her family?
That was news to Mira because she had always thought Lorena lived in the Sanders Mansion. She always said she did.
But then she just nodded in a small and docile motion. She wasn't about to argue. She was hungry for this safety to question it in the first place. She wasn't going anywhere.
Seeing his protectiveness over her, Mira decided to push her luck.
This was her chance.
So she arranged her face into what she hoped was a sweet pleasing puppy-dog face and turned to him.
"Damian…" she began in a deliberately soft and childlike voice. "Can I ask you something?"
He glanced at her, all his attention immediately on her again.
"Anything, sweetheart."
She tried to make the puppy-dog eyes more obvious before she continued.
"That marriage contract… with Lucas. Is it possible to… nullify it? I must have signed it when I was drunk or something because I can't even remember it."
She then injected a perfect tone of disgust in her voice. "And I really, really don't want to be married to him."
The silence that met her for a few seconds was like a vacuum sucking out all the oxygen and warmth out of the luxurious car.
Damian's head snapped towards her as his former soft expression sharpened into a cold one. "Marry who?"
Mira's smile disappeared as confusion replaced it. Had she pushed her luck too much?
"One Lucas Atkins?"
As soon as she said that, they arrived at the Sanders Mansion as the car came to a perfect silent stop. Mira would have enjoyed the ambience outside but the air in the car was so heavy that it pressed down on her.
Damian's eyes burned with rage. His voice, when he finally spoke, felt like a whip. "You," he said, picking each word precisely, "are getting married to Lucas Atkins?"
Mira flinched back against the door as her heart beat fast. "I-I thought you knew. T-the contract—"
He didn't let her finish as he slammed the door open with a sudden violent motion. He spat the last line at no one in particular before turning to storm into the mansion.
"Over my dead body."