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Ineededher to understand my words.
“Let that sink in. Picture it. You would be utterly alone with no protection.”
For a split second, my wall came down as my own words echoed in my head. I felt a flash of fear at the thought of her going underground—or, more accurately, aboveground—and never seeing or hearing from her again.
The tears I knew she tried so hard to keep from falling finally spilled over. Claudia sniffed and wiped them away quickly, then glanced out the window.
“I just want you to be safe,” I murmured. “And although it scares the fuck out of me, you leaving and me never seeing you again….” I shook my head. “I want you happy,sorellina. So… I’ll take whatever repercussions that come about from your decisions because I love you.”
She didn’t speak for long moments, just stared out the window of my office. I gave her as much time as she needed.
My father had pawned Amara off on Nikolai Petrov, and although I’d done my due diligence and found out everything I could on the psychotic Russian before the nuptials, the truth was, Amara could have been tied to a real piece of shit.
But strangely enough, Nikolai wasn’t like that with my sister. I watched the way he was with herand was pleased to find he treated her like his queen. He loved her, and she him, and in this world, that's all anyone could ask for.
For a split second, I thought about betrothing Claudia to the older Petrov brother—Dmitry. But I pushed that fucking thought out before it had time to fester.
The fucker was in prison, for God’s sake, and the last thing I needed was another one of my siblings tied tothatRussian family.
“When is the first meeting?” she finally asked, and I held in my surprise that she wasn’t still fighting me on this.
But she knew how this world of ours worked.
I was silent as I thought about her words and my next play. Because the truth was… she wasn’t going to like my answer.
“Tomorrow night.”
Her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open. Immediate regret filled me when she covered her mouth with her dainty hand. God, she was going to cry, and it was all my fault. I held my hands up in surrender. “It wasn’t my call. Carmine told me personally.”
As much as I hated taking orders from anyone,someone in the Cosa Nostra sure as fuck didn’t ignore an order from the higher-ups.
“I don’t….” She closed her eyes and took a very audible, steadying breath. “Who is Carmine?”
“Carmine Lucchesi. Head of Italy,” I said without hesitation but couldn't mask the tightness in my voice.
She said nothing, but then again, there wasn’t anything to be said. After a second, she gave a sharp nod, stood up, and left my office without a backward glance or another word.
I sat there for a long time, feeling my anger rise.
Then, I stood and walked out and continued through the front doors.
I didn’t have any clear idea where I was going. All I knew was I needed to kick someone's ass—and get good and whipped myself—so I could sleep later.
Because, right now, I was running on fumes and liable to kill the first person who looked at me wrong.
8
TATIANA
My apartment was eerily silent when I stepped through the front door.
There were no guards, and that told me my brothers were already here.
I stood still for a second and just listened, keeping the door slightly open behind me, since my survival instinct told me to do so in case I needed to make a quick escape. Which was foolish because I was safest when I was with my family.
Although I knew the air conditioner wasn’t on, there was a chill surrounding me, as if I were stepping into a meat locker.
I took my time taking off my shoes and jacket. I set my purse on the little table by the door, then my keys on top of it. I was stalling,hesitant to move forward to where I knew my brothers were waiting for me in the living room.
