She lifted her gaze to Marzio’s. He was telling the truth as far as she could tell. He probably had discussed the subject with her father. They had been close friends prior to the shooting. She couldn’t tell by looking into his eyes whether or not he was her greatest enemy. A betrayal from him would have been devastating to her father. Would Antosha have told her if he suspected Marzio had betrayed him?
It was difficult to resist looking at Kiriil or Matvei, but it wouldn’t have done her any good. They would be wearing expressionless masks and looking right through her, pretending they didn’t hear a word.
“My father discussed this with me a few times, but he was as clueless as I am. I believe, as you do, that someone targeted my family. They made a couple of attempts on me as well.”
The moment she admitted that the room went electric. Marzio suddenly looked different. Healthy. Younger. In much better shape. He also looked furious. “What did you say?” It came out a whisper, but at the same time it was loud, the sound carrying through the room with a dark menace.
Ania realized she didn’t really know this man any more than she knew Mitya, although she’d been raised from her childhood in and out of the Caruso household. Like Mitya, none of the brothers had shown interest in her until her leopard began to emerge. Was there anything such as love in a leopard relationship anymore? She knew Marzio loved Ann. Her father had loved her mother. Her grandparents always showed love for each other. But Mitya? His cousins? Maybe they weren’t capable of real love. Their fathers had tried to beat it out of them. Had they succeeded?
She feared she could fall hard for Mitya, really love him. He needed someone to love him, to show him a gentler way, but if he didn’t return her affections, their relationship ultimately wouldn’t work. She would need to know she wasn’t second to her leopard. She wanted to be loved the way her father had loved her mother. Still, she had made the commitment, promised herself—and him—she would try.
“Ania? Someone tried to kill you?”
She nodded slowly. “Actually, one of the times was that day you called to have me look at the two cars that were vandalized.”
“A setup, using our family,” Marzio hissed. “And more than once. Tell me what happened.”
He sounded like her father. “I was nearly home, and they used the same setup as they did with my grandparents. I was raised around cars and driving. I could see it was a trap. There were two cars, one chasing and one waiting. I was able to get away.”
“This makes no sense, to go after you. Why was your entire family targeted?”
“I have no idea. My father and I discussed it, but he didn’t know either.”
“Would your father have told you?” Marzio asked. “Pardon me, Ania, but you are young and a female. This is not done, talking business like this.”
“My father had one child, a girl, and he treated me as he would a son. I grew up learning every aspect of the business, learning to fix cars and driving. He drilled it into me that our word was our bond and it was to never be broken. He often discussed things with me I knew my mother or grandmother didn’t know, and I knew not to bring the subject matter up with them. He would have told me if he knew why, simply because I was in danger.”
Marzio leaned back against the high-backed leather chair. “This is not good. I had hoped you at least had a suspect or knew the reason your family was targeted.”
She shook her head. “I don’t.”
“You know your father took packages and delivered them for various families, including mine?”
Alessandro and Benedetto both straightened from where they were leaning on the wall and door. Even Cristo and Donato, the younger sons, came to attention. Clearly, they didn’t want their father bringing that subject up. It was the same in every leopard family. Women weren’t allowed. She’d made a commitment to Mitya by saving his life when he was being shot at, but that had been made under the emotional toll of the day. Now, she was doubting her own sanity.
“Yes, of course. My father and grandfather both drove. I was being trained so I would be able to do the same. In fact, after my father was shot, there were four contracts left unfulfilled. I carried them out.” She had to work at keeping her voice very even, not at all defiant. She wanted to appear matter-of-fact, as if women were included in the business world of these men every single day.
“Ania, I want to take you home with me and keep you safe,” Marzio said. “Instead, I must let this Russian, this man with a past that raises too many questions, protect you.” He sent one contemptuous look at her bodyguards, as if they were totally inferior to his. “He is not a good man. I have lived around many dangerous men, but this one, this man you choose, he is the most dangerous of any of them.”
She didn’t need him to tell her that. Jewel knew and had pulled back, trying to be cautious. Ania seemed to be running toward Mitya again. She feared the physical chemistry between the two of them was so explosive she wasn’t seeing straight. It took discipline to keep her hands folded neatly in her lap. She wanted to rub her temples. They were pounding, the headache probably from all the tears she’d shed the last few days.
A polite knock at the door indicated they weren’t going to have any more time alone together and Ania was grateful when Benedetto moved, opening the door to allow Evangeline to stick her head in, with her usual smile. Ania could see that she was worried and gave her a look that said to come all the way in, which, thankfully, she did.
Marzio rose at once. “I’m taking far too much of your time when you have others who would like to pay their respects.”
Ania rose with him and gave him a kiss on either cheek. His sons, to her astonishment, kissed her on either cheek, Alessandro holding her hands tightly for a moment.
“If you change your mind, call me, Ania. If this is your leopard’s first cycle, she will accept another male if the one she first chose isn’t right.”
Ania didn’t know what else to do, so she nodded. “Thank you, Alessandro. I really appreciate your interest in her.”
“In you,” he corrected.
She flashed him an uncertain smile and then watched as the family left, Benedetto closing the door behind them, leaving Evangeline and Ania alone with the Amurov bodyguards.
“Are you all right?” Evangeline asked. “I stood outside the door, so I could hear some of it, but the gist seemed to be they want you to leave Mitya and take one of them for a mate. Ashe texted Mitya, but told him your bodyguards were with you. He sent back a text that they had already informed him.” She sent Kiriil and Matvei a smile. “I’m baking something special for them.”
“I would have wanted you to bake them something special had they not informed Mitya. When this is all over, I’m hiring my own bodyguards loyal to me.” She glared at the two men.
Kiriil smirked. Matvei covered a grin.
Ania ignored them and threw herself back into the chair. “Sometimes I think I’m going crazy. Jewel seems to be a very popular leopard, and she hasn’t even emerged.” She tried not to sound bitter or resentful, but she couldn’t help it. She took the opportunity to rub her pounding temples.
“Honey, talk to me. What’s wrong?” Evangeline took the chair Marzio had vacated. “I know we haven’t known each other that long, but I genuinely want to help.”
“You know Mitya far better than I do. He seems so all-powerful. He wants instant obedience without question. He’s scary, Evangeline, but his leopard is worse. I’m supposed to just trust everything he says and does. I’m my own person. I’m not in the least bit a ‘yes’ kind of woman. How can this be right if we’re not what the other needs? Is the relationship only about the leopard?”
“I’m very much in love with Fyodor, and he is with me.” She rubbed her hand over her pregnant belly. “I can barely stand being away from him, and luckily enough, he’s like that about me.”
“And that could be all it is—pur
e luck. Fyodor fell in love with you because you’re you, Evangeline. You’re sweet and accommodating. You don’t question every little thing. I do.” She did because someone was out to kill her family. She did because Mitya had admitted that the men in his family had always killed the women they chose to have their sons. A little shudder went through her.
Evangeline leaned forward. “Honey, why would you think Mitya doesn’t love you?”
“It would be impossible in such a short amount of time. Love doesn’t happen that way.”
“Love can happen in all sorts of ways. In any case, how do you feel about him?”
“I don’t know.” Ania tried to be honest with herself. “I think of him all the time. I worry that he does dangerous things. He told me about his father, and that’s just plain scary. But there’s this terrible fear that just won’t go away.”
“Fear of what?”
“I don’t know. I can’t tell if it’s me or Jewel. I only know when I think too much, I can’t breathe.” She forced herself to be honest. “I know myself, Evangeline. I won’t stay if I don’t feel he loves me. It won’t be enough that our leopards are bonded. I’m trying to convince myself that it will be good, but only the sex feels good between us.”
“You need to sit that man down and tell him your fears, Ania.”
“I don’t want him to say the things he thinks I want to hear.”
“He isn’t a mind reader. None of them are. Mitya, Fyodor, Timur, Sevastyan and Gorya, actually all of them, lived extremely difficult lives as children. They don’t know the first thing about a relationship. I didn’t either, but Fyodor and I have sort of figured it out. We talk a lot. If you’re going to be with a man like these men, you have to communicate with them. They want a home and a family, but they don’t know how to get those things. They’re looking to you to show them the way.”
Ania sat back, stretching her legs out in front of her. She was so tired. Death was exhausting. Just thinking about her father and the loss of every family member was so emotionally draining that she couldn’t breathe. Her lungs felt raw and were burning. Her throat felt the same. Her eyes burned from shed and unshed tears.
“Mitya has been wonderful throughout all of this,” she admitted. He wasn’t in the best of shape, and neither was she, so they hadn’t had their crazy, wild sex. She had to admit, she needed that affirmation that he still wanted her, even though she appreciated him giving her space. “He took care of all the details.”
“As he should,” Evangeline said. “Talk to him, Ania. Tell him your fears. If you do, the two of you can figure out why Jewel is so frightened. Turning to another man won’t help you. That, for certain, will only scare you more. Mitya is committed to you. I know he is because Fyodor asked him straight out. He would never let another claim on you go unchallenged.”
“You mean another claim on my leopard,” Ania corrected. “How can you tell Fyodor loves you for you?”
Evangeline frowned. “I feel it every time he touches me. When he looks at me. It’s there in the things he does for me.”
Ania couldn’t help thinking that Mitya had been shot several times, and yet he’d planned her father’s service and stood at her side the entire time, not letting on in the least that he was hurt in any way. He stayed close to her, shielding her from scrutiny, from too many people crowding close when she could barely stand straight. He gave her strength through the entire service. Was that a show of love? Maybe his actions spoke when he couldn’t with words.
“I don’t know why I’m so afraid to talk to him about this. I think it’s because if he doesn’t react well, he’d crush me.”
“When a problem crops up, does he crush you?”
She couldn’t say he did. In fact, when she’d been in trouble at Evangeline’s bakery, Jewel acting up in front of Alessandro, essentially teasing and flirting with his leopard, Mitya had been wonderful to her. He hadn’t blamed her in the least. More than once, he’d reacted very differently than she’d expected him to.
“No, he’s been sweet to me, but he’s horribly bossy.”
Evangeline flashed her a smug little grin. “They all are. We mostly ignore that, unless we can see it really matters to them. If it matters to me, I let Fyodor know. He finds a way to deal with my ‘mutiny,’ as he calls it.” She laughed softly. “I really love that man.”
“I guess I’m ready to face the masses. Is it thinning out at all?”
“Not really, but Mitya and Sevastyan are taking care of making certain every family is thanked for coming. They’ve made the rounds quite a few times. So have Fyodor, Gorya and Timur. You’re family now, so we’re closing ranks around you.”
That made Ania feel better. Much better. She hadn’t thought that when she was married to Mitya, all of the others would be related to her. She liked the idea of having them all for family, especially Evangeline and Ashe.
Another knock at the door and Ashe was there, framed in the doorway, looking gorgeous as usual. “There’s a gentleman here who would very much like to pay his condolences in person, Ania, and have a few words with you if you’re up for it.”
She stepped aside to allow Ania to see the man behind her. Bartolo Anwar was head of one of the two major crime families in Houston. There was the Caruso family and the Anwar family. Bartolo’s family had been in Houston for generations. The Carusos had migrated there from Florida and taken over the ports.
“Of course.” Ania stood and went to the older man, both hands out.
Bartolo took them and pressed kisses to her knuckles. “I am so sorry this happened to your padre, Ania. He was a good man.”
For some reason, the sincerity in his voice caused tears to well up. “Thank you, signor Anwar. You were always a good friend to him.”
Behind him, the two bodyguards that he never seemed to be without entered the room, glancing at Kiriil and Matvei, but then taking up positions against the wall. Bartolo had lost his wife in childbirth many years earlier. He had two sons, Enrico and Samuele, as well as a daughter, Giacinta. The daughter was very sickly, much like her mother, and she didn’t seem to leave the house ever. Bartolo and her brothers seemed very protective of her.
“Please come in and sit down,” Ania invited, waving toward the chairs. They were the most comfortable in the room, although Ania hadn’t found a single sofa or chair that wasn’t one she could sit in for long periods of time. Whoever had purchased the furniture for Mitya’s home—and she was certain it wasn’t him—had done a very good job.
Bartolo had entered without hesitation. His bodyguards had split up, moving to either side of the wall and positioning themselves so they could easily see the door and anyone who might try to enter. They were also opposite Kiriil and Matvei. For some reason, that made Ania feel a little uneasy.
Evangeline was pregnant, and Ania wanted her out of the room. It wasn’t like there was any kind of threat to either of the women. Bartolo had been very sincere in his condolences.
“Evangeline, honey, would you mind scaring up some coffee for me? I think I need caffeine.” She hoped that Evangeline got the hint.
Evangeline nodded. “No worries. I’ll make a new pot. Would you care for a cup of coffee?” she asked Bartolo.
He shook his head. “No, thank you. I’ve been eating and drinking your delicious food since I got here. I’d heard of your bakery but didn’t believe anything could be as good as everyone was saying. I was wrong.”
Evangeline beamed. Ania decided Bartolo could be a threat to any woman, he was so charming. As Evangeline slipped out the door, Bartolo’s two sons entered.
Ania sent up a silent prayer that they weren’t there for the same reason Marzio had seemed to be. She forced a smile as she looked up at the two men. She didn’t know them as well as she did the Caruso brothers. The Anwars were a little older and always working.
“It has been far too long, Ania,” Enrico,
the oldest, said. Like his father, he took her hand and pressed his lips to her knuckles with that same charm his father had.
“It has,” she agreed and then sent a smile to Samuele, hoping there was no more kissing of any part of her. Mitya and his raging leopard were going to be smelling men all over her. She glanced nervously at her bodyguards, but they appeared to be part of the wall, not human or shifter—and no help.
“Ania,” Samuele greeted. “I’m so sorry about Antosha. He was a good man.”
She nodded, because what could she say, her father was a good man. Still, he had his feet in a world of criminals. He had been much more immersed than she’d first thought.
“I’m sorry to bother you with this. I know it isn’t a good time,” Bartolo said. “But your man guards you like a treasure.” He glanced at her bodyguards. “He is a jealous man.” He laughed as if in approval. His sons smiled a little. Smirked maybe.
A small chill went down her spine. Was she being fanciful? This was the family her grandfather had been taking the package to three days before his death. Her grandfather had been very good friends with Bartolo’s father and had watched Bartolo and then his sons grow up. She had considered, of course, that they were the ones to put out a hit on her family, but it hadn’t felt right. Now, sitting with them, she just didn’t know. Her body was reacting as if she were in danger, yet no one had made one threatening move toward her.
“I suppose he can be,” Ania conceded, unsure where the conversation was going.
“We need a driver. You are that driver, Ania. There is no one else as good as your grandfather or father. The package is small and must get through to New Orleans, to some friends of ours there.”
She stared at Bartolo, a little shocked. It was the last thing she expected to hear. “I don’t drive for anyone, not anymore.” That was the truth. She wanted to, she missed the adrenaline rush. “I’m selling my business. Donato Caruso is buying it. You might talk to him.”
Bartolo shook his head. “It has to be you, Ania.”
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