There’s a moment of stunned silence, although can any of us be stunned considering?
“Fuck,” Charlie finally says, running a hand through his hair and shaking his head.
Cristiano’s face is stone. “You got to her in time.”
“Yeah,” I say even though it wasn’t a question. I sip my coffee. “Just barely.” I can’t think about what would have happened if I’d been just a minute later.
We sit in silence for a long moment.
“Will she do it again?” Cristiano finally asks.
“I don’t think so.”
He studies me, eyes so much like our mothers it’s eerie. He nods. “Okay.” He takes a seat on one of the armchairs and I join Charlie on the couch. “Let’s talk through what’s going on. Make a plan.”
I nod and start. “We have a few players. Jericho St. James.”
“Still digging into him. He’s a fucking ghost,” Charlie says.
“This IVI secret society or some shit. He supposedly is working for this organization. Claimed to have ties to it when I asked if he was a member. It’s the same card David had in his luggage.”
“I remember,” Cristiano says.
“Says there was a meeting Felix recorded and it’s why he’s after the son of a bitch.”
“What meeting?”
“Not sure but apparently there could be implications for our family. Although I’m not sure he wasn’t feeding me a line of bullshit to enlist my help.”
“What implications?”
I swallow too hot coffee before answering. “What David did to our mother for one.”
Cristiano’s eyes narrow and I see how he clenches and unclenches his fist. I wonder if he’s even conscious of it. “That’s on him. What else?”
“I don’t know if he was involved in human trafficking himself, I’d guess yes, but somehow you and me, our family, even Scarlet, were allegedly named during that meeting.”
“Allegedly.” Cristiano doesn’t seem worried, and I get it. I’m not worried about this recording either because chances are Jericho is full of shit.
“But it’s not going to matter anyway if I talk to St. James and learn he had anything to do with the attack on the warehouse. I’ll kill him myself,” I say. “And then there’s Felix Pérez and some new buyer. Which I don’t get.”
“What new buyer?” Charlie asks.
“I don’t know. If St. James knows, he’s not letting on. But apparently money has changed hands and this person wants Mara specifically. Not Elizabeth as far as I can tell since word is out that she isn’t Elizabeth. I’m guessing this deal’s been in place for about a year. It’s when Pérez infiltrated Petrov’s home via a guard who befriended Mara. He gave her the bracelet with the tracking device hidden inside. It’s how they found the warehouse and her.”
“A year?” Cristiano asks as confused as I am. He turns to Charlie. “Any idea how we can figure out who the buyer is?”
Charlie’s forehead is furrowed. “I can see about money having changed hands. I’ll start there if I can get access to Pérez’s account. See if we can work it backward.”
“It’s a start,” I say. “And when I meet with St. James, I’ll see what I can get out of him. It may have to do with this IVI.”
“They’re like a vault.”
“And I’ll be dealing with Petrov’s sons.”
“Forgot about them,” Cristiano says. “From what I hear you did the older one a favor taking dad out.”
“Still, I doubt he’ll send me a thank you card unless it comes with a bullet.”
“What do you want to do about them?”
“Kill them.”
“Are they important enough?”
I look at my brother. “He shared her.”
Cristiano’s jaw tightens.
“He shared her with at least one of his sons. He wouldn’t tell me which, so I figured I’d take them both out.”
My brother mutters a curse. “I should be there with you.”
“You’ve got Scarlett and the baby coming, not to mention Alessandro.”
“I can—”
“No, Cris. Just no,” I tell him.
“We can provide support from here,” Charlie offers.
I nod.
“I don’t like this,” Cristiano says.
“I’ve already arranged more men and a house,” Charlie adds. “A property in Todt Hill.”
“Staten Island?”
He nods. “It has quite some acreage and is surrounded by a twelve-foot stone wall. Our men are already there setting up and the previous owner had decent security in place.”
“Perfect.”
“When are you going back?” Cristiano asks. I know he doesn’t want me going back without him at all, but this is mine. It always has been.
“Tomorrow.”
“Does she know?”
Just then the door slams open, and we all turn. Cristiano and I both on our feet instantly, hands on our weapons before we see Noah.
He doesn’t even scan the room. His eyes land instantly on me.
“You fucking asshole!” He stalks toward me, slaps his hands against my chest to shove me. He doesn’t budge me, but I take a step forward to get in his face.
“What the fuck is your problem?” I ask.
“Noah?” Cristiano says, trying to come between us.
“What the fuck is my problem?” Noah starts. He’s foaming at the mouth. Like a rabid dog. “What’s your problem?”
“What’s going on?” Charlie asks as Cristiano steps between us.
“He hasn’t told you?” Noah asks almost spitting the words, gaze burning between me and my brother. “Hasn’t mentioned where Mara slept last night?” He tries to shove past Cristiano again, but Cristiano blocks him. “I saw her, you fucking asshole. Saw her coming out of your room!”
Cristiano’s gaze shifts to me. I’m looking at Noah, but I see him in my periphery. Periphery is a thing I took for granted before I lost my eye. Now I’m much more aware of where I am in a room, positioning myself to see.
“Get out of the way,” I tell my brother.
“I’m sure there’s an explanation,” Cristiano says tightly. I see the ‘there better be a fucking explanation’ look on his face. “Sit down,” he tells Noah and shoves him into a seat. “You too,” he tells me and closes the door. But before we even hear the click of it, Noah’s on his feet, hands gripping the collar of my shirt.
“You don’t want to start this with me, kid,” I tell him. I still haven’t touched him. I will, though. If I have to.
“How could you do that to her? After everything she’s been through?” Noah asks.
“Relax,” Cristiano tells him, yanking his hands from my collar. “She went up to the cliffs last night. Dante brought her back.”
Noah looks at him and there’s a moment of heavy silence while he processes her intention. “Fuck.”
My brother turns to me. “She slept in your room?”
I don’t owe him an explanation. He doesn’t know this version of Mara. The rescued woman. He still sees her as a little girl. Lenore’s granddaughter. Lizzie’s best friend.
She’s not those things anymore, or not only those things.
“She did.”
He must see something on my face that gives me away then. Something that has him turning on me like Noah just did. He comes to stand nose to nose. “In your bed?”
I suck in a breath.
“Brother?” he presses.
When I don’t answer, he fists my collar. “Everyone out,” he tells the others without turning away from me.
“I’m not—” Noah starts.
“Out!” he commands, and I hear Charlie talking to Noah. See them walk out of the room. Hear the click of the door closing behind them.
Cristiano slams me against the wall the instant it does. “What. The. Fuck. Did. You. Do?”
I shove off the wall and get in his face. “You think I’d hurt her?”
He grips my col
lar and we’re nose-to-nose. “I think you’d better have kept your dick in your pants.”
He must see on my face that I did not because he shoves me again and I knock a lamp to the floor.
I glance at it, hear the crunching of glass under my boot when I step toward my brother. “Do I need to remind you what you did with Scarlett?” I ask, shoving him back. “Forcing her into your bed.”
He draws his arm back, hand fisted. “I didn’t do what you’re thinking.” He swings but I block him and push him away. This time it’s him who sends his desk lamp crashing. “And this is very different.” He straightens, steps toward me so we’re toe-to-toe. “This is Mara we’re talking about. Lenore’s granddaughter for fuck’s sake. You’d better not have forced her into your fucking bed.” As if the thought burns through him, he swings again, this time at my gut.
I twist my body, take the brunt at my side. I straighten, shove him against the wall and press my forearm to his throat.
“You really think I’d take a woman by force? You think I’m like him? Like my fucking father?” Cristiano opens his mouth to say something, but I’m too far gone. Because isn’t this what he’s thinking? What they all must be thinking? “Fuck you for thinking it, asshole.”
I swing.
31
Mara
I can hear the fighting through the closed door of Cristiano’s office when I get to the bottom of the stairs. Scarlett and Alessandro, wearing his eye patch, come out of the kitchen. Noah stands from his chair next to Charlie in the living room, looking pissed off.
They all seem surprised to see me and I remember how quiet I can be. I smile but it’s awkward because in that instant, something slams in the office. Something big. Like possibly one of the brothers.
“I’ll see what’s going on,” Scarlett says, leaving Alessandro with Lenore as she steps toward the study.
Charlie blocks her path. “Leave them.” He glances at me and suddenly, I know they know what happened last night. I know it’s me they’re fighting about.
Scarlett follows his gaze over to me. “What’s going on?”
“Just leave them, Scarlett,” Charlie repeats. “They will work through it.”
For a moment I’m not sure she will but then we hear the sound of a boat, and she finally exhales, relenting. She comes to me, smiles. “Are you doing okay this morning?”
“Yes. I’m hungry, though,” I say, turning to my grandmother. It’s strange to call her that or even refer to her as that in my mind, but I have to. If not for myself then for her. And somehow things feel a little different this morning. A little better.
“That’s good,” Scarlett says as the door opens, and Matthaeus walks inside with a soldier. I wonder where he was. His hair is windblown, and droplets of water have collected on his shoulders. He’s carrying a thick folder in his hand.
After a quick greeting to the room, he turns to Charlie. “Study?” he asks.
“Yeah,” Charlie answers just as something—more likely someone—crashes against the door, rattling it.
Matthaeus’s eyebrows rise high on his forehead.
“I think they need a few minutes,” Charlie says.
Matthaeus glances at me and nods. “I’d kill for a cup of your coffee, Lenore.”
Strange choice of words, I think, but no one seems to bat an eye.
“Everyone come to the kitchen,” Lenore says, cautious eyes on me as she opens the kitchen door. I head in with Scarlett and sit beside Alessandro at the table.
“You’re wearing your patch again,” I say.
He leans in. “I don’t want my uncle to feel like he sticks out,” he whispers conspiratorially.
“That’s very thoughtful of you.”
Scarlett smiles at him proudly and we spend a few minutes talking about the pregnancy as Lenore serves food. She joins us then, sitting beside me. I feel Noah’s gaze on me and get the feeling he’s angry.
Breakfast is tense, considering. Charlie and Matthaeus are busy looking at whatever it is Matthaeus brought with him.
When I’m having the last sip of coffee, Cerberus whines at the door.
“Mara,” Noah says, standing. “Walk Cerberus with me.”
I look up at him, nod, get to my feet. I’m glad for the distraction although something is going on with him.
My grandmother is up, too, and taking a jacket off the rack to put it over my shoulders.
“It’s cold out today,” she says, and I look at her. She’s about three inches shorter than me and I can see she’s been crying. When she brushes a strand of hair back from my cheek, I think she’s going to cry again.
“Nonna?” I ask, wanting to head that off.
That stops her and the ghost of a smile appears on her lips.
“Nonna,” I say again, feeling the word on my tongue. It came naturally. Memory. I’m glad. “Thank you.” I reach down to hug her, but when I pull her tiny frame to myself, I feel a choked sob against me. I cringe at what I’d almost done last night. “I’m back,” I whisper. “I’m back. Please don’t cry.”
She nods, draws away while wiping her eyes with a handkerchief she takes from her apron pocket.
Cerberus whines.
“We’d better get this guy out,” Noah says and opens the door.
I button the jacket and follow Cerberus out, Noah at my back.
Cerberus runs off to take care of business and Noah and I walk quietly along the beach. The wind is cold, like last night, and when we get to the edge of the house I glance up at the cliffs and shudder.
What I did was selfish.
If I’d succeeded, I’d have broken their hearts twice.
“I saw you,” Noah says.
I turn to him, thinking he saw me last night, not sure how to explain.
“This morning.” He doesn’t quite look at me when he says that part and I realize what he means.
“Oh.” I’d slipped back to my room when I thought no one was in the hallway. Not that I was hiding, I just didn’t want to make things awkward or difficult. “Oh,” I say again. “Is that why…” I glance at the windows I know are Cristiano’s office windows.
Noah nods, eyes cast to the sea watching Cerberus carry a big stick out of the water.
“I…it’s strange being back here. Last night was really hard.”
He turns to me, wraps his hand around mine. I freeze, remembering Samuel. Remembering what happened to him. But then I tell myself that he was a liar. Even if he didn’t deserve what he got.
I look up at Noah and I swear I can still see the little boy from all those years ago. We couldn’t understand each other at all, and I wouldn’t stop crying. I couldn’t. Joseph had put me with Noah, told us to play as if that would fix everything.
“What happened to Joseph?” I ask.
Noah’s expression darkens. “He’s dead.”
“Good.”
“Listen, Mara, if Dante hurt—”
“Dante didn’t hurt me. He wouldn’t. He saved my life.” In so many ways.
“If he—
“Stop. He didn’t. I don’t want to talk about this.”
He studies me as if to be sure and then finally nods. Cerberus drops the giant stick at our feet for Noah to throw.
I stand back, smiling at them, liking the simplicity of this, us on the beach playing with a dog.
But that simplicity feels so far off for me. Like I’m an imposter here in this house, this life. They all are in a way. There is nothing simple about the lives of anyone in this house.
32
Dante
My brother and I haven’t fought like this in years. By the time we slow down, Cristiano’s office is a mess of shattered glass, a laptop in two pieces, a crack in the window where my head collided with the glass. It’s that that stops us.
“Tell me is that it?” I ask finally. Because what the fuck? “You’re worried David’s genes got into me and I —“
“Fuck. Christ! No! Never! Just… fuck!” Cristiano steps back and sl
ams his fist into the wall instead of my face.
I feel the slow trail of blood along my temple and when he looks at me, he shakes his head, takes a tissue from his desk, and holds it against the cut.
“No, brother. That’s not what I think. What I ever thought,” he says.
I nod, taking the tissue as I turn to look out at the sea.
After the rain last night, the day is overcast, the water a deep charcoal. I run my hand through my hair, remember what she’d said about monsters. Remember what I’d said when I’d still had some fucking self-control. Am I that? Am I no better?
“But fuck, Dante. What did you think you were doing?”
“It’s not like you think.”
“Then how is it?” he asks.
I turn to him. He’s worried. I see it behind the fury in his eyes. Hear it in his voice. “Explain to me how it is.”
Fuck.
I look away from my brother to watch Noah and Mara from the window. Cristiano comes to stand beside me. I’m not sure he understands this thing with Mara yet. I’m not sure I do. It’s too strange. Too fated.
“She’s easy with him,” I say. “Different than she is with me or most men as far as I’ve seen.”
“He’s not threatening to her.”
“All men are threatening to her.”
“Not him. She must remember something about him from when she was little.”
Noah wraps his hand around hers and they stop to talk. A tightness builds in my gut at the sight of it.
“Relax,” Cristiano says, hand on my shoulder. We watch them silently.
“I’m taking her back tomorrow.”
“You sure that’s a good idea?”
“I think bringing her here was a bad one. And she won’t stay here without me. I don’t think she can, and I won’t risk her going up to those cliffs again. I can’t.”
Cristiano nods. “Lenore will be upset.”
“I’ll talk to her. She’ll understand. It’s better for Mara. And once everything is sorted, once Felix is dead, things will be different. She can start to heal. I don’t think she can do that until he’s gone because she isn’t convinced he won’t get to her.”
Stolen: Dante’s Vow Page 17
