Page 46 of Castaway Mates

“Mina, you’re Renai,” Jin Woo said seriously, “you can never try to sacrifice yourself for us, never again. It’s not negotiable.”

I nodded my agreement, not meaning it. There was no way in hell that I would allow one of them to be harmed when I could have prevented it. No, I would protect my men.

“I had an interesting visitor while you all were in court.”

All four of the guys were suddenly in defense mode, looking around as if the intruder was still in the room with us.

“She’s gone now,” I reassured them.

“She?” Ettore raised one elegantly arched eyebrow.

“Yes, she rudely didn’t introduce herself, but I think she was Constantine’s mom.”

“I don’t even like his name fouling your mouth,” Bartosz grumbled, surprisingly lyrical.

“Yeah, well, she offered me several million dollars and a job and a house if I went along with the lie that I wasn’t Renai and left this place and you all and never talked to another Renai again.”

They all froze like idiots.

“I obviously didn’t take it, you numbnuts. I like you all too much,” as they relaxed, I added a little quip, “And really, am I only really worth 5 million dollars? Pah!”

Ettore looked truly offended on my behalf.

“Salvatrice, that is practically an insult! I would be offended. Jin Woo would give you five million right now for no reason.”

Jin Woo shook his head slowly, and if I thought he was going to call Ettore out for his foolishness, I was dead wrong.

“If you wanted it right now, it would mostly be in assets, as my bank can be annoyingly intrusive whenever I try to move quantities larger than a million U.S.”

“Please stop,” I half begged, worried that they would actually send me the money, and by the glint in Bartosz’s eyes, I was already too late.

“Anyways, I think that she may be an issue. She was very ominous.”

“Did she threaten you?” Oskar asked seriously.

“No, she didn’t, she just really wanted me to leave.”

Ettore was all business again, even as he drew circles into Jin Woo’s arms.

“That means trouble. Yda, Constantine’s mum,” he added when he saw my confused face, “is a force to be reckoned with. Honestly, there are many things that we will have to deal with.”

Oskar nodded his agreement.

“Yes, since every family wants an injection of new DNA and everyone who is not attached will want you too, the conference in a few months will be half-matchmaking session, half-gladiatorial fight to the death. They’ll try to get you to take at least three more men into your family, along with us, of course.”

I smiled at all of them.

“But I am more than happy with just you all. I don’t need anyone else.”

Jin Woo kissed my forehead with a rueful smile.

“You’re Renai, it’s in your nature, keep an open mind.”

“Yeah, I have some people in mind that would probably not be the worst,” Bartosz mused. Ettore hit him jokingly, and there was a scuffle before Oskar dragged everyone close to me until they were all on the bed.

Surrounded by my men, I closed my eyes, knowing that no matter what came next, we would handle it together.

The End

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