by Katee Robert
Kirill cocked his head to the side. “Peace.”
“Si.” Matteo glanced at Dante and then refocused on the Russian. “You’re an old man, Kirill. Leave the bullshit territory wars and pissing contests to the young and untried…and those on the East Coast.”
“Ah.” He laughed. “This is about Jovan’s people.” He turned and looked directly at Dante for the first time since he’d sat down. “You’re lucky I value my word enough not to shoot you right here for that stunt you pulled with my niece.”
Dante was already tired of this. If left to their own devices, they would circle and snap and couch their words until night fell. He didn’t have time for this bullshit. “A deal, Kirill. I will be excommunicated and cut all official ties with the Verduccis. You won’t see me in LA again.”
Kirill considered that. He was a smart man. He obviously saw the benefit of appearing to defang the Verduccis. Dante wasn’t the only one of Matteo’s people capable of getting their hands dirty, but he was the flashiest. His absence would be a boon on both sides. “And in return?”
“In return,” Matteo cut in smoothly. “You agree to peace with the Verduccis…and to avoid giving Jovan Romanov’s people a safe place to land.”
“They’re family,” Kirill said neutrally.
Dante snorted. “Please. They’re power-hungry jackals and they want you and your American cousins to dance to the tune they set. You’ll hold out, maybe, but will your children? They’re not as strong as you. So many daughters to potentially be married to Jovan’s people, seeding disquiet within the family.” He leaned forward slightly. “Strong alliances will help protect them…like a strong alliance with the Verduccis.”
“What do you care? If your word is to be believed, you’ll be gone.”
He shrugged. “I have a vested interest in the American Romanovs remaining free of Jovan’s control.”
“I see.”
Kirill considered them for a long time, long enough that Dante had to fight not to fidget. He simply sank into stillness beside his cousin and waited. There was no point rushing the old man. He would decide one way or another when he worked through all the angles in his head. If he came to the wrong decision? Well, Dante would butcher his way through that battlefield if and when he arrived at it.
Finally, the Russian nodded. “Your conditions are satisfactory. With one addition.”
“Si?”
“It’s in everyone’s best interest if this peace is held with more than simply words.” He pointedly didn’t look at Dante. “Pick one of my daughters and marry her. I don’t care which one.”
For the first time since Dante arrived back in LA, he saw his cousin flounder. “That’s…”
Kirill raised his eyebrows. “Is peace worth so little to you?”
“No,” Matteo finally said. His skin was flushed with anger, but he gave a jerky nod. “Your terms are acceptable.”
“Good.” Kirill slid slowly out of the booth and stood, his old bones cracking with the movement. “I’ll be in touch as soon. Ensure your junkyard dog is on a plane out of town before the end of the day.”
“Of course.”
They watched him walk out of the diner. Evelyn walked up with her pot of coffee and two mugs. “Still want the coffee?”
“No, thank you, ma’am.” Matteo placed a stack of hundreds on the table. “For your trouble.”
“You two stay out of trouble.” She swept up the bills and headed behind the counter without looking back.
Matteo hissed out a breath. “That went as well as can be expected.”
Dante nodded. His read on Kirill had always been that the old man simply wanted to enjoy the remainder of his life, but humans were messy and sometimes acted chaotically. This had gone much smoother than he’d anticipated. He hoped Rose’s talk with Romeo went equally as smooth. “Kirill’s old enough to understand that the only thing a war accomplishes is us taking bloody chunks out of each other, and then being swallowed whole by Jovan. This was the smartest way.”
“Si.” Matteo stood and stretched. “I didn’t even have to pressure him on the marriage. He came up with it on his own.”
At that, Dante gave Matteo a long look. His cousin always had been filling with cunning. No doubt this was yet another prong in his plan to unseat his father, establish peace, and bolster a thriving territory. “Which of his daughters do you have an eye on?”
“Tatiana, of course. Who else?”
Kirill’s oldest daughter and second child. “You answered that quickly.” Dante raised his brows. “Something you want to tell me?”
Matteo shrugged. “Nothing special. She’s gorgeous.”
“Either way, congratulations.” Marriages and alliances had been formed with less. Dante rose and followed Matteo out of the diner. He had a few things to grab from his room, but then he was on the next plane back to New York. He dragged in a breath. Close. They were so fucking close to the future he so desperately wanted.
Too many things could go wrong.
He pulled out his phone and sent a text to Rosa. Kirill is on board. He won’t harbor Jovan’s people and he’s secured peace with the Verduccis. I’m officially excommunicated.
By the time they reached the house, she’d read it but hadn’t responded. Dante managed to hold his impatience down until he made it back to his room and then he called her. No answer. A chill skittered down his spine.
What the fuck was going on back in New York?
Chapter 24
Rose dressed carefully for her meeting with Romeo. Oh, he didn’t realize they had a meeting. In fact, both he and Lorelei had avoided answering her calls. It was suspicious enough that she would have sought out her sister even if there weren’t other things in motion. She didn’t have time to stand around waiting until they decided to talk to her.
She pulled on a green dress that felt almost Grecian. It fit loosely on her body, fastened around the middle with a tie and slit up just enough on both sides to flash a bit of leg with every step. She smiled a little bitterly at herself in the mirror.
Helen of Troy, indeed.
It was Saturday night, which meant the Capparelli family would be at their favorite restaurant. They had their little rituals the same way the Romanovs did. It was a constant balance between weakness and strength to operate like that, the schedule predictable enough for enemies to capitalize on but being strong enough that it didn’t fucking matter if their enemies knew where they were.
They were untouchable.
Or at least they appeared to be.
Vasily met her at the door to the garage. They were dressed to impress today, too, wearing a suit that fit their wide shoulders and broad chest. Some of the Romanov’s muscle preferred to spend their money on other things and wore ill-fitting suits, but Vasily had always appeared perfectly tailored when the situation called for it.
This one certainly did.
Vasily held the door open for her. “You sure about this?”
“Yes.” She had to be. She’d set herself on this path, had put her faith in her and Dante and a future they spent together. The only option was to follow through. If she didn’t, she’d spend the rest of her life wondering what they could have shared if she hadn’t let cowardice win.
She’d made her choice.
She just hoped it didn’t blow up in the face of her and everyone she cared about.
By the time Vasily pulled up in front of the restaurant, a cold calm had stolen over Rose. This was no different than any other confrontation. Romeo would try to bulldoze her, and she would refuse to bend. They’d have to figure out if they could come to terms between his unstoppable force and her immovable object. They had managed it before. They would do it this time, too.
He didn’t want war. She was sure of it. More, he had wanted Lorelei and now he had her as his wife. A pang went through her at thought. She hadn’t wanted that future for her sister, but they were well past the point of no return. The only thing to do was make the best of it.
The hostess gre
eted Rose as she walked through the door. “Hello, a reservation for two?”
“No, I’m here to see someone.” She brushed past the hostess stand, Vasily at her heels, and strode through the main dining room. It was filled to the brim tonight, people decked out in their best and dining here with the intent to see and be seen. She recognized several faces, but ignored them all on her path back to the doorway tucked in the corner. It led to the private dining areas, and it was exclusively the Capparellis’ on Saturday evening.
Rose stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath. She’s only got one shot. She couldn’t fuck this up.
With that in mind, she nodded at Vasily and they threw open the door. Rose stepped into the room to find four guns pointed in her direction. She smiled and met the gaze of everyone in the room, one by one. “Is this how the Capparellis greet their sister-in-law?”
Romeo Capparelli was a handsome bastard. Dark hair, eyes that weren’t quite brown, and a distinctly Clark Kent look with his black square glasses. If Clark Kent was a dangerous predator and not a nice guy. He sat back in his chair, perfectly at ease and stretched his arm around the back of the chair of Rose’s sister.
She drank in the sight of Lorelei. Her sister wore a black dress and looked well enough. There was no overt sign of distress or abuse, at least. Not that it meant anything. It hadn’t been long since she married Romeo. Lorelei watched her with a wary look that Rose didn’t like, but at least she didn’t have a gun pointed at her.
Romeo’s right-hand man stood at his shoulder, tense and waiting for Romeo to indicate which way he wanted this to go. Salvatore D’Angelo. He was a massive white man with sandy blond hair, broad chest and shoulders and solid stomach. Dangerous. Not someone Rose would intentionally cross if she had any other option.
The other two were Romeo’s siblings, Fabian and Drucilla. Both took after their elder brother with their coloring, dark hair and those strange amber eyes. Fabian had the look of a rich playboy who’d never gotten his hands dirty once in his life, but it was a mask. Rose had seen photos of his work with a knife, and he wasn’t a threat to be underestimated. Drucilla was a social media influencer, and there had been talk of a reality TV show before Romeo shut it down. She played to expectations, but she was just as dangerous as her brothers.
They didn’t matter.
Romeo was the one who made the decisions for the family. He was the one she had to convince to see things her way.
Rose kept her smile firmly in place. “I thought it was time we spoke.”
Romeo considered her for a long moment before he turned to Lorelei. “Do you want to speak with your sister?”
Shock rocked Rose back on her heels. What the fuck was going on here? He wasn’t exactly being soft with her sister—she wasn’t sure Romeo Capparelli was capable of being soft—but she hadn’t expected him to consult Lorelei at all. Certainly not as someone resembling an equal.
Her sister gave a deceptively sweet smile. “Of course, muzh. She’s family.”
“Very well.” He motioned at his siblings. “Give us a few moments.”
Drucilla and Fabian exchanged a loaded look, but they didn’t argue. They simply rose to their feet and filed out of the room, Salvatore on their heels. Rose glanced over her shoulder at Vasily. “You, too.”
They hesitated, but finally nodded and slipped out of the room, closing the door softly behind them. Only then did she turn back to Romeo and her sister. “You’re dodging my phone calls.”
“Call it the honeymoon phase,” Romeo said, no inflection in his tone. “We’re only just married.”
Lorelei went a little tight around the eyes, but she shrugged. “I’ve been busy.”
Can you ever forgive me for putting you in this position?
Rose didn’t ask the question. There was only so much she was willing to reveal in front of Romeo and he showed no signs of leaving. On the other hand, threats were easy enough. She propped one hand on her hip and looked down at him. “If you harm a single hair on my sister’s head—”
“She’s my wife.” He raised a single eyebrow. “I’m not sure how the Romanovs treat their spouses, but Lorelei is in no danger from me.” He finally looked at his wife. “Your sister and I have some business to discuss. She’ll come talk to you after.”
Rose expected Lorelei to argue or say…something. But she simply nodded and rose. She slipped past Rose and out of the room without a word. She was acting too placid, too docile. Not like the Lorelei Rose knew at all. What the fuck was going on?
Rose turned back to Romeo. “Did you do something to her?”
“No.”
“Why won’t she talk to me?”
He shrugged. “That business is between you and your sister. You didn’t come here for a family reunion.”
No. She hadn’t. She needed his cooperation, but the weird interaction with Lorelei had rattled her. “We need to talk.”
“Si.” He motioned to the chair across from him. “Sit.”
As she sat, he took the bottle of wine and poured her a glass. It was only once she picked it up that he continued. “If you try to take Lorelei from me, you won’t like the consequences.”
She set the glass down without drinking. “You wanted her from the beginning. Not me.”
Another shrug. “Why are you wasting time parroting back information we both already know to be true?”
She kind of wanted to shatter her glass on the table and impale his neck with it. Rose could almost see the spatter of arterial blood that would cover everything. It wouldn’t solve anything, would only make more problems, but it would feel so good. She gave herself a shake. “I want to know why you picked her.”
“That’s not why you’re here.”
No, it wasn’t, but now that she sat in the same room with him, she had to know the truth. “I still want to know.”
He stared at her with those cold amber eyes. “That’s between me and Lorelei. If that’s all you came to speak about…there’s the door.” He motioned with the hand holding the wine glass.
Rose would question her sister about it later, but right now she had to say some unforgivable shit to smooth things over. She lifted her chin. “You got exactly what you wanted.”
“Certainly seems that way.” He gave her nothing to work with, but that was fine. She knew how Romeo operated. He wasn’t one to be driven by emotions and he wouldn’t make any calls that weren’t strictly in his family’s benefit. Compromise barely entered into the equation.
She picked up her wine glass and took a sip. She couldn’t keep badgering at him, pushed by her guilt and conflicted emotions about the situation. There was only one card to play, and it might be a doozy, but she had to present it in a way to make Romeo take the bait. “I have a proposal for you.”
“I already have a wife.”
“Is that a joke?” She lifted her brows. “Romeo, you surprise me. I didn’t know you were hiding a sense of humor beneath that icy demeanor.”
He sighed and shook his head slowly. “I am merely stating facts, Rose. I have a wife. I am not interested in anything you have to offer me.”
“That’s a shame.” The wine was good. Expensive. She took another sip, pretending to consider. “I thought you might be interested in Lev Romanov’s head on a platter, but if you’re not…” She started to rise.
Romeo went perfectly still. “Sit.”
“I am not a dog, Romeo. I don’t answer to your commands.” She still allowed herself to sink back into her chair. “I heard a rumor he got awfully close to your sister the last time he was in town.” She didn’t have the specifics of what had gone down between Lev and Drucilla two years ago, but it was enough that Romeo killed a bunch of Lev’s people and threatened a full-out conflict if Papa ever allowed Lev into the city again. As far as she knew, Lev hadn’t even entered the country since then.
Romeo studied her for several long moments, and she had the eerie feeling of being prey facing down a predator about to strike. Rose might
have laughed if there was enough air to draw a full breath. Romeo wasn’t the only predator in the room, though, and he’d be a fool to forget that. She met his gaze steadily, letting him work his way through it.
Finally, a small eternity later, he lifted his glass to his lips. “I’ll hear you out.”
“I thought you might.” She didn’t allow herself to slouch back into her chair. She simply smiled. “You have my sister. I can all but guarantee you Lev. In return, I want something from you.”
“I’m listening.”
Her phone buzzed and she glanced down to see a text from Dante.
Kirill is on board. He won’t harbor Jovan’s people and he’s secured peace with the Verduccis. I’m officially excommunicated.
She looked up, her smile warming. “I’m going to marry Dante.”
Romeo stared for a long moment and then huffed out a dry laugh. “You must think I’m a fool.”
“On the contrary, I think you’re quite intelligent. I also think you’re a man with his priorities in order.” She leaned forward. “What is the use of nursing some decades old feud with a family across the country? That’s your father’s fight. Your grandfather’s. It’s not yours.”
His lips curved, but his eyes remained so cold she was surprised her breath didn’t ghost the air in front of her. Romeo eyed his wine. “You are not the person to tell me which fight is mine, Rose.”
“Maybe.” She shrugged. “But Dante has been excommunicated from the Verduccis. Even if you’re determined to maintain the feud, then you can take it up with Matteo.”
That sparked a reaction in him. He narrowed his eyes. “Matteo.”
“Oh,” she said, falsely sweet. “I didn’t realize you hadn’t heard. Lorenzo is dead. Matteo is now the head of that family. He and Kirill just came to an agreement that will result in a strong alliance between them.” And cut off Russian access to LA in the process. One branch of the family down, two more to go. Her phone buzzed again, but she thumbed it off. This conversation was too important to continue interrupting, even for Dante.
Having Romeo’s interest sharpen on her wasn’t a comfortable feeling, but she maintained her calm mask. Rose crossed her legs. “There’s a war coming, Romeo. Not an old toothless feud and not some pissing match between small players.”
