The Bastard's Betrayal

by Katee Robert

  Her parents exchanged a look, and Mama hissed out a breath. “I told you so.”

  “That’s not—”

  “No, Dima. I told you they wouldn’t just lie back and allow Rose to stand on her own. They still see gender as a defining characteristic.”

  Rose sighed. “I’m sitting right here.”

  “Keira, moya koroleva.” He reached over and covered her mother’s hand with one of his. “They won’t risk such pointed attacks now that she’s back in our territory.”

  “You can’t be sure.” She flicked her hand at Rose. “Look at our daughter. They never should have dared lay a hand on her.”

  “Still sitting right here.” Most of the time, her parents were good about including her in any and all major conversations about the territory and the family business, but sometimes they’d do this kind of bullshit. They got so caught up in each other that they seemed to forget there was anyone else in the room. Namely, their very uncomfortable eldest daughter.

  “Da.” He squeezed her mother’s hand and sat back, finally focusing on Rose. “We need the full story, Roza.”

  Apparently they wouldn’t be answering her questions until they had her side of things. So be it. She honestly couldn’t expect much different, not with so much hanging in the balance. Rose strove for calm and relayed the events since her kidnapping in as much detail as she could remember. She left out sleeping with Dante. It wasn’t her parent’s business. More importantly, she didn’t have good reason for doing it, no matter what she’d told herself in the moment.

  She’d wanted him—had missed him—so she spun the fiction necessary to justify taking him. She still wanted Dante if she were perfectly honest with herself. It didn’t matter. She’d told him the truth when she said they weren’t meant for each other. The barriers were too high, too strong. The best she could hope for was that he took her at her word and stayed out of New York. At least that way, he’d stay alive.

  When she finished, her parents were silent for a long moment. Finally, Mama said, “You did the best you could, given the circumstances and the knowledge you had at the time.”

  It wasn’t a condemnation, but it sure as fuck felt like one. “Was I supposed to risk someone getting hurt when I had a chance to find a solution for myself?”

  “No.” Mama sighed. “But your disappearing…complicated things.”

  Once again, frustration choked her more effectively than the Mad Wolf ever could. “I’ll make nice with Romeo and beg a little to assuage his pride. It will be enough. Even with a little pie on his face, he’s too smart to go to war over something like this. There’s a way around it, even if it means we shift the marriage contract to be more in his favor.” A concession she didn’t like, but with the situation spinning so out of control? Better to bend than to break.

  For the first time in longer than she could remember, her father wouldn’t quite meet her gaze. “A marriage with you and Romeo Capparelli is no longer on the table.”

  “Excuse me?” She extracted her hand from Mama’s and sat up straight. “What do you mean it’s no longer on the table? It’s understandable that Romeo’s pissed, but even he has to see that it’s in everyone’s best interest if this alliance remains intact. War is only profitable for our enemies. It will bleed our respective families dry.”

  Papa sighed. “Romeo is aware of that.”

  She looked between her parents. “Then what’s the problem?”

  “Apparently someone suggested that Lorelei should smooth things over as best she could.” Mama’s sigh mirrored Papa’s. “She married Romeo.”

  “What?” Rose shot forward so fast, her seat belt tried to strangle her. “The fuck she did. No. Absolutely not. Not even Lorelei would be that reckless.” But even as she said it, she heard the strange note in her sister’s voice. “Why would she offer herself up as a sacrificial lamb in my place?” Had Dante known about this? Even as the thought crossed her mind, she discarded it. His jealousy whenever she mentioned Romeo was too pointed. If he’d known her sister had stepped into her place, he would have taunted her with the information. She was sure of it.

  “It’s done.” Papa sounded so tired. “The contract was adjusted, and the vows were spoken. She moved in with him the day after the wedding—the day after you were taken.”

  The world took a sickening spin around Rose. It was so vivid, she looked out the window to ensure they were still right side up. The outcome she’d wanted to avoid was reality. Her baby sister, married to Romeo Capparelli. Sacrificing everything to take Rose’s place, when Rose should have been the one to make those sacrifices. She was the heir. The one to shoulder the majority of the burdens that came with being a Romanov. Her sisters were supposed to have more freedom. They were supposed to marry for love if they decided to marry at all.

  They weren’t supposed to share her fate. “It should have been me.”

  “There’s no room for ‘should have been.’” Mama crossed her legs and twisted to look at Rose. “It’s done. The alliance is secured, and not a moment too soon, if Jovan’s turned his attention this way.”

  Casimir might have been the one to show up, but he wouldn’t have done it without his uncle’s direction. Only one person held the Mad Wolf’s leash, and they all knew it.

  “I’d hoped to avoid this.” Papa scrubbed his hand over his face.

  “It’s time to close ranks,” Mama said flatly. “Ivan and the others will want to know about this…if they don’t already.”

  They started discussing which of their American cousins were most likely to stand against Jovan’s people and which were in danger of folding, but Rose’s mind kept skipping no matter how she tried to focus. Lorelei had married Romeo in her place. The alliance was secured without Rose’s participation. Talk about bittersweet. She hadn’t been particularly eager to marry Romeo, but she sure as fuck wasn’t willing to put one of her sisters on the chopping block as a result.

  It should have been Rose.

  Chapter 18

  “I want her dead.”

  Dante watched his uncle pace back and forth across the office. The old man looked like shit. He’d obviously been at the bottle again, and his skin was flushed and bloated from the effects. His bloodshot eyes roamed around the room, barely touching on Dante before he was off again.

  For his part, Dante didn’t move. Didn’t fidget. Didn’t say a single fucking word. He just sat there and stared as Lorenzo ranted. The longer he stared, the more intense the rant became. Lorenzo would never admit it, but he was scared shitless of his nephew, and Dante used it to his advantage whenever the opportunity presented itself.

  His uncle turned and slammed his hands on the desk. “Fucking say something, you ungrateful little shit.”

  “Let me get this straight.” Dante leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees. “You want me to go back to New York City and kill Lorelei Romanov.”

  “She’s not a Romanov anymore. She’s a Capparelli.”

  He highly doubted she’d taken her new husband’s last name, but he chose not to comment on it. “Semantics.”

  “It has to look like Romeo did it. Drive a wedge between that fucking alliance, and do it properly this time. No months of bullshit and fucking around. We need to send a clear message. Do this for me, nephew. You owe this family everything, and we ask so little of you. Take care of it.”

  Funny how his uncle liked to remind him of what he owed the family while also skipping right over the fact that he wouldn’t have needed saving if Lorenzo had done right by Dante’s mother. He owed it to Matteo to let his cousin be the one to finally put the old man out of his misery. Doing anything else would potentially undermine his cousin’s bid for power. Matteo had never fucked Dante over, so the least he could do was practice a little patience waiting for his uncle’s murder.

  Easy enough when Lorenzo was giving him exactly what he wanted. He pushed to his feet. “Sure. I’ll be on the next flight out to New York.”

  Lorenzo flinched and tried
to cover it up with bluster. “Good. Go.”

  Dante went. He was still chewing on all the new information when he walked into his bedroom and found his cousin sitting on his bed. No one looking at the two of them would mistake them for anything other than family. They shared the trademark Verducci blond hair and strong jawline, though life hadn’t run rampant over their bodies the way it had over Lorenzo’s.

  Dante shut the door and leaned against it. “Move up your timetable. He’s a liability.”

  “Is he the liability?” Matteo stood with a frown. “You’ve got your head spun all the way around with this bi—this chick. The old man’s nuts, but he’s not wrong that a Romanov-Capparelli alliance is bad news.”

  Dante shrugged. The Romanov-Capparelli alliance was a nonissue from where he stood. If anything, Rose’s little sister marrying that bastard Romeo was a benefit. It cleared the path for him. “We have bigger problems.”

  Matteo tried to stare him down but finally gave up and dropped back onto the bed. “The Russian Romanovs.”

  “Si. You think they’re going to start fucking with the families stateside without trying to smash us beneath their boot? You know better.”

  “Even if I did, that just proves that I need you here instead of in New York.”

  “Matteo.” He waited for his cousin to look over. “I’m going—I was always going—and it’s not to kill my woman’s little sister.”

  “When you talk like that, it sounds like you’re saying goodbye.”

  He gave Matteo a long look. “Make your move and do it soon. If he fucks up my chances with Rose, I’ll raze this fucking territory to the ground.”

  His cousin lifted his hands and dropped them. “She’s just a woman, cugino. We’re family.”

  Family. The very idea was laughable. Family hadn’t saved his mother from being tossed out the moment she stepped out of line. It hadn’t stopped Lorenzo from threatening Dante with the same fate so many times, the threat finally lost its teeth. Family wasn’t worth the blood spilled to claim it.

  His cousin wasn’t the same, though. He owned Matteo at least some explanation even if he didn’t fully understand his connection with Rose. Dante’s life would be significantly easier if he’d chosen literally any other person to pursue. It didn’t matter. He didn’t want to pursue anyone but her. She felt the connection, too. She wouldn’t have melted beneath his touch if she didn’t. She definitely would have killed him in that parking lot. “She’s mine.” As complicated and as simple as that.

  “Fuck, Dante, but you don’t make things easy, do you?”

  “Never.” He dropped onto the bed next to Matteo. “I know what they say about me.”

  “Who?”

  “Everyone.” He shrugged. “I’m a liability, and you know it. There’s a reason Lorenzo up and decided we needed to fuck with the Capparellis after decades of mostly ignoring each other. There’s a reason he sent me after the New York Romanovs in particular. It’s not because he wanted me to succeed.”

  Matteo clenched his jaw. “You don’t know that.”

  Yeah, he actually did. Dante wasn’t one to take an order without question, especially from his uncle. He’d done his own research before agreeing to the task and decided to go for his own reasons. “A junkyard dog is all well and good, until it bites the hand that feeds it. Lorenzo afraid of me.” Dante glanced at his cousin. “Our men are afraid of me.”

  “Yeah, because you’re nuts and violent and don’t care about the hierarchy.”

  His cousin joked, but they both knew it was truth. “Exactly.” He nodded. “That’s not going to change. Take care of the old man and cut me loose.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “I am.” He cared about his cousin, but he didn’t really give a fuck about the petty rivalries and ground wars they constantly engaged in. They were a side effect of the things Dante actually wanted to do, but he didn’t have that core-deep belief in them that Matteo did. If he hadn’t met Rose, maybe he’d have been content to coast along playing the part of his cousin’s junkyard dog the same way he’d played the part for his uncle. It was too late to go back. He had met her, had recognized her on a fundamental level that went beyond knowing.

  Rose was his, and he’d do whatever it took to ensure she chose him.

  Matteo stared at him a long time and finally sighed. “You won’t be dissuaded.”

  “No.”

  “You don’t even know if she wants you. If she doesn’t kill you, her family will.”

  “Può essere.” He shrugged. “It’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

  “You’re out of your damn mind.”

  “She says the same thing.”

  Matteo shook his head. “I can move my timeline up, but it won’t be immediate. I need a week to get things into place. You can’t do anything to raise suspicion in the meantime.”

  “Fine.” He wouldn’t do anything to tip the old man off to what his cousin was up to. “I was heading to New York anyway.” It would mean playing the part, at least in sight, but that could work in his favor. Plenty had changed in the two weeks since he took Rose. He needed to get the lay of the land before acting.

  “Good. I’ll keep you in the loop.” Matteo stood and walked out of the room without looking back.

  Only then did Dante let himself fully process the information he’d had circling his brain since Lorenzo gave the order to kill Lorelei Romanov. Lorelei Romanov, who’d married Romeo Capparelli. Not Rose. Her little sister had stepped in to secure the alliance, and it freed Rose up in the process.

  The way to her was hardly clear, not with their history and her family and her fucking pride, but her sister’s misfortune had been a boon to Dante. He didn’t have to dance around the Capparellis or kill Romeo, because he’d effectively been removed from the playing field.

  “I’m coming for you, amata.”

  “I can’t believe you let this happen.”

  Anya and Sasha sat on Rose’s bed, watching her pace back and forth. Sasha twisted her fingers in her lap, looking sick to her stomach. “We didn’t have a choice. We didn’t even know what she planned until they ushered us back into the church, and then it was too late. Interrupting it would have caused a scene.”

  “More of a scene than when you disappeared.” Anya crossed one long leg over the other. Today she wore tailored cigarette pants and a white button-up shirt she’d left half undone. “It’s too late, anyway. There’s nothing to be done. Lorelei chose this. I tried to get her out the next day, but she wouldn’t come with me.”

  “What?” Sasha twisted to face her. “You didn’t tell me that.”

  “It wasn’t relevant.” Anya examined her fingernails. “She chose. We have to respect that.”

  Rose understood that on a rational level, but she couldn’t let it go. “I have to see her.”

  “Nyet.” Anya shook her head. “Romeo was very clear that he didn’t want to see your face for a while. Let him cool off. Otherwise, you’re putting Lorelei and the alliance in danger because you feel guilty that you’re relieved she took your place. Knock it off.”

  Rose flinched. She hated it when Anya did this, used cold logic to dive right into the heart of things Rose would rather not say. Her sister was right. She did feel relieved that she wouldn’t be required to marry Romeo, sleep with him, and eventually have his kids. She would have done her duty without complaint, but now that it’d been taken off her plate?

  Guilt wrapped around her throat harsher than Casimir’s hands had. “I should have been here.”

  “Eh. You aren’t the only one shouldering that burden. No one expected Dante Verducci to be that arrogant. We should have put more security on you or not left you alone.” Her dark eyes glinted dangerously. “If I’d been there, things would have gone differently, and that’s on me.”

  If Anya had been there, someone would have ended up dead. Rose fought down a shiver. “I don’t give a fuck about letting Romeo cool off. He will not keep me from my sister.”r />
  “Rose.” Sasha twisted her fingers harder, hard enough that it looked actually painful. “If Casimir Romanov is after you, you have bigger things to worry about than Lorelei.”

  “Da, she can handle Romeo. She might be the baby, but she’s a badass.” Anya ran her hand over her long blond hair. “The Mad Wolf is a problem, but the bigger problem is what his presence indicates.”

  Rose pinched the bridge of her nose. “I know.” In the days since she’d been home, she’d sat through meeting after meeting with her parents and their people as they reached out to allies and battened down the hatches. Not noticeably, of course. Someone looking in from the outside wouldn’t have seen anything at all worth noting. Appearing as if they were preparing for war automatically put them in a position of weakness, which Papa would never allow. It made her head hurt, even if she understood his reasoning. Normally, the political movements and chess match they played with their enemies gave her an energy boost like none other.

  Not now.

  Not with Lorelei taking her place and their Russian extended family circling. Someone could die. Someone would die.

  She had to make sure it wasn’t someone she cared about. “If Casimir is coming after me, it means they’ve decided against Papa. Or, more accurately, against me.”

  “He’s not going to make you marry one of them, is he?” Sasha’s complexion went a bit green. “I know that’s what they wanted a few years ago, but I thought Papa decided against it.”

  “We decided against it.” Rose would eventually be the head of this family, and that couldn’t happen if Jovan sent one of his people to try and wrest control from her via marriage. Every day would be a battle, and it exhausted her to think about. At least with Romeo, they had an understanding. She wouldn’t fuck with his family, and he wouldn’t fuck with theirs. They’d even negotiated heirs. Eldest to rule the Capparelli family. Second eldest to rule the Romanovs. It would have created lasting peace while also protecting their respective power.

  No use worrying about what should have been.