it away as soon as she got home.”
I smiled at him. “But you kept it?”
Ryan looked embarrassed. “I thought she might change her mind down the road. This guy might be the only family she has.”
Kingston snorted. “What about her mother?”
Ryan looked disgusted. “Nina isn’t Katya’s mother. She’s just an egg donor that doesn’t deserve to have a daughter.” He leaned forward and looked worried. “I don’t think Katya’s safe with her.”
Kingston got a concerned wrinkle in his brow. “Yeah, we figured that much out already.”
“We’ll take care of Katya,” I added.
Ryan searched my eyes and then nodded slowly. “Okay.”
“You’ll text me a picture of the business card?” I asked.
“Yeah, I can do that,” Ryan said with a nod.
“That will help us out immensely,” I said as I got to my feet.
Ryan looked relieved. “Listen, after this - I’m out. I’ll get you the paperwork you need and send you the business card, but that’s it.”
I shrugged. “That’s all we need.” My eyes sharpened. “But if you find something that endangers Katya or my family, we need to know.”
Ryan agreed and hastily left, probably trying to run away from the feeling of guilt that was plaguing him.
“We’re going to take care of Katya, huh?” Kingston said with a smirk once he locked the door.
I rolled my eyes. “I never said how we planned to ‘take care’ of her, King,” I retorted.
Kingston laughed and then finished his drink.
Ryan had more helpful than I thought he would, and now we had a new angle to come at Nina from. Ties to the Russian Mafia? I’m sure we could link her to some kind of criminal activity that would show my father that getting involved with her was a mistake. After hearing about that, I was more determined than ever to get Nina out of our lives. Had Katya already started following in her mother’s footsteps? Or was she in danger, like Ryan had suggested? I was suddenly more eager to get back to Bedford than I’d be willing to admit.
Chapter 14
Katya
A couple of days passed, and it was a relief to be free of both Nina and the guys, but I was always on edge, expecting them to show up at any moment. Mrs. Ferguson was the one bright spot here. She always had a smile for me, but she loved to feed me. I had a sneaking suspicion that she was slipping me more calories to secretly fatten me up. Her heart was in the right place, but fat ballerinas didn’t get hired. I was already at a disadvantage with a gap in my formal training, so I couldn’t afford anything else that would make a company hesitate to hire me.
I was on my laptop now, trying to find a new ballet school when there was a knock on my door. I doubted either of my ‘brothers’ would knock so politely, so I assumed it was either Mr. or Mrs. Ferguson. I hopped up from my bed and opened the door.
“Well, aren’t you adorable!” A skinny blond cooed as she nudged past me to walk into my room. “Your pictures don’t do you justice.”
“Um…” my eyes widened as she spun around and lifted my chin.
“And those big beautiful blue eyes! I bet you have a trail of men following you everywhere.”
“I’m sorry, but who are you?” I asked in confusion.
She gasped dramatically. “I’m Ella,” she told me as if that were supposed to mean something. “Didn’t your mother tell you I was coming this morning?”
I shook my head. So Nina had resigned herself to admitting I was her daughter and not her sister? Shocking. I bet Richard had something to do with that.
“My assistant will be up in a minute,” she assured me as if I should be concerned as to why she was alone. “She’s bringing up some fabulous pieces that I just know you’ll love.”
A lightbulb went off in my head. This must be the stylist that had filled my closet before I had even gotten here.
“Uh, thanks for getting all that stuff for me,” I said awkwardly. “Did my mom ask you to, or did Richard?”
I wanted to ask who was paying for it - but I couldn’t think of a way to phrase that without sounding rude. If Richard was paying, I felt a little guilty and didn’t want to take any of it. But if it were my mother, I felt the urge to run up the bill as high as possible. She missed sixteen years