two Wilder boys, and I grimaced. What a choice. Potentially murderous stalker or two psychotic bullies? My only hope to avoid all of them was to have the Logans convince Richard to let me stay here, then never leave the apartment. This was going to be a great summer.
Chapter 9
Katya
Nothing went the way that I hoped. The Logans tried their best to intervene with Richard for me, but he threatened to get his massive team of lawyers involved, so they had no choice but to hand me over. The last thing I wanted was to get Ryan or his parents hurt. They had done so much for me, and I was forever indebted to them.
Ryan and I said our tearful goodbyes, but I was determined to get back to him as soon as possible. He reminded me that there were only two years until I turned eighteen, and then I was free to do as I pleased, but I wasn’t willing to be that patient. We promised each other that we would get into the same dance company after high school, but I couldn’t wait that long. I wanted to spend my last two years with Ryan because, realistically speaking, there was only a small chance we would end up in the same company. I wasn’t ready to deal with the heartbreak of saying goodbye to him just yet.
I was sitting on Richard’s private jet now. I had my headphones on while I ignored my temporary new family. Richard was in the back of the plane, taking a conference call before we took off, and I could hear the two idiots playing Madden or something. They were in seats in the front with the flat-screen TV, and quite noisy even though they were both wearing headsets.
It was absolutely insane that I was sitting on a private jet right now, but I was too furious at being forcefully removed from my home to enjoy it in the slightest.
I scowled when Nina slid into the seat next to me, but I refused to look at her. I wasn’t interested in hearing anything she had to say, not after the shit that she had pulled. The Logans had welcomed me into their home, and Nina had gone too far in threatening them. The threat worked, because I left with her to protect the Logans, but I was done being nice. If they wanted me here, fine. But I wasn’t going to make it easy for them.
“Darling,” she said with a fake smile. “I’m so excited to show you our new home.”
“You don’t live with Richard?” I asked sarcastically.
Her fake smile faded. “I moved in a month ago, after he asked me to marry him.”
Irritation flooded through me. “So, you mean that you can’t wait to show me everything that Richard has worked hard for his entire life? To show me the place you somehow managed to con your way into?”
“Listen up, you little `suka,” she hissed at me.
“There’s the real Nina,” I said sarcastically. “I was wondering when you would make an appearance.”
She wasn’t playing nice anymore if she was going to call me a bitch. I considered turning up my music to drown her out, but I doubted that would make her go away. Instead, I pulled off my headphones to get this over with.
Nina sank her nails into my arm, and I flinched at the pain. “You will not ruin this for me. I’ve worked hard to get to this point, and you are going to cooperate with everything I say.”
“And if I don’t?” I asked defiantly.
“How well do you think you’ll dance with a broken leg?” she asked with a sneer.
I paled. “You wouldn’t. I could report you and have you arrested for child abuse.”
“For an accident?” She cocked her head at me. “Or a random mugging? I’ve been doing this a lot longer than you, darling.”
A broken leg wouldn’t just prevent me from dancing for months - it might even damage tendons or ligaments that would prevent me from performing at a professional level. Not being able to dance wouldn’t just ruin my life; it would rip my soul right out of my body. Dance was everything to me. I lived it, breathed it, and even dreamed about it. Without ballet, I was nothing.
“Fine,” I hissed. “What do you want?”
“You are going to be the perfect daughter whenever Richard is around. You’ll smile and pretend that we are building an appropriate mother/daughter relationship. You’ll even be excited when I