Page 11 of Brutal Vows

Gabriella is demure, her sweet self, but I bet her heart is racing.

I just want to go to my room to digest and send Masha a message. I’ll be heading to Saint Petersburg as soon as I can. I have to make plans, but for now, I have a role to play. I give Ivan hell all the way to Papa’s suite and my brother takes it in stride, expecting my pushback.

When we reach the door to the sickroom, I pause him with my hand on his arm. “What does this mean for me, financially? Are you going to keep me cut off? Blocked from all funds?”

My freedom is going to cost money, and I don’t have access to any.

“I’m still negotiating with Don Scalera, but Luca, as your husband, should provide for you as I will provide for Gabriella.”

“Oh, come on, Ivan, every girl needs her runaway money!”

A hard lesson learned. I never thought I’d be at my brother’s mercy like this or need to run away from him. We share the family bank account and he has never questioned my spending, never bothered to look and dissect my purchases. Money has never been an issue. It’s not distrust from his side—Ivan’s actions are all born out of fear.

“What if the man is a monster?” I murmur, playing the one card I know will get to him.

He blinks but his mouth pulls into a stern line as he takes my hand in his and squeezes. That cold, ruthless, and calculated look I know so well glazes his eyes. Luca Scalera won’t dare mess with me.

“Then you call me, and I’ll act. Remember, their sister is in my keeping. Don’t push me on this, Milana, and I expect you to behave. A new alliance for us is at stake. Don’t let it cost us more than what we’ve already lost this year.”

And there’s the crux of it. In the bigger scheme of things, money means nothing if every person you’ve loved is gone.

6

LUCA

“I think you’ve gone too far, dude.” Benedict side-eyes the collection of throw pillows now cluttering my once-minimalist bed. “For a guy who doesn’t plan to sleep here, it’s⁠—”

I hold up a hand to stop him from telling me I look like a loser. There’s even a matching end throw making me agree. All I need is a Live, Laugh, Love sign on the wall, but I drew the line right there. “If she’s here indefinitely, she needs to feel at home and not in prison.”

“Prison. Right.”

He sighs as he shoves his hands into his pockets and ambles over to the new wingback chair standing in the corner of the room by the window. Next to it, against the wall, there’s a bookshelf with a few knickknacks and space for Milana’s things.

I didn’t own any of this shit yesterday, but the chair is nice. It’s angled to make the best of the crummy view.

Our mutual housekeeper, Elena, has been busy with her counterpart in Matteo’s household, Rosalia, to upgrade my place with ‘soft touches.’ They helped with the interior refurbishing, washed the new linen, and re-staged the rooms with my purchases. I gave them free rein with only high-level oversight. But Elena and Rosalia had fun, and at least the place looks less like a man cave.

“Do you have any more info about tomorrow?”

“Nope. Petrov is so fucking skittish, but it’s on Long Island so Dominic’s onto security and has his teams in place. The crew motored the yacht south already. They’re mooring at some marina for the night.” At least I have a captain and crew to worry about those logistics.

“You really think that’s a good idea? Being stuck with your mystery bride on your yacht?”

“It’s a big fucking yacht. You’ve been on it. At least I know she won’t be able to bolt. Swim maybe, but we’ll catch up with her.”

We don’t want to start this alliance on the wrong foot because Milana Petrova goes MIA on our watch.

Benedict smirks as he drags a hand over his face and into his hair. “It’s a fucking fever dream.”

Yep, it isn’t hard to get the subtext here from Matteo and Ivan Petrov’s conversations. Matteo suspects Milana will probably try to run at some point, so better safe than sorry. Every system I have, from the security to get in and out of the apartment, which was already tight, got upgraded. Poor girl. Looking at a satellite map, she had a better chance of escaping Petrov’s luxury compound than from my high-rise apartment.

“Any case, I don’t want her to be here until the piano is in place. You aren’t allowed to be at the wedding what with Petrov’s restrictions, and it sucks, but you’re fully in charge of the wedding gift delivery. Put a pretty bow on it, will you?”

Turns out same-day shipping isn’t a thing when it comes to grand pianos, but the one I bought will be here tomorrow, expedited because I couldn’t care less about money.

“Sure. Still don’t get why you’re going to all this effort for a woman you’ve never met and plan to divorce as soon as possible.”

I come stand next to him and fold my arms as I look out over the view of the city as dusk settles. Lights are going on, making a checkered pattern on the adjacent high-rises. It’s quiet between us for a while. “I’m just thinking of Mom...putting myself in Milana’s shoes. Everything is changing for her. At least I get to stay in my own place.”