I had wasted so much of the day already, but I’d needed the sleep.
When Katya vacated the bathroom, I went in and freshened up, then signaled for Katya to join me for breakfast in the kitchen.
“Surely, we’re getting lunch, considering the time,” she said wryly as we made our way down the stairs.
“Ah, but technically the first thing you eat in a day, regardless of the time, is breakfast. You’re breaking your fast and all that.”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course you’re a ‘technically’ person. At least you seem to be doing better.”
“Much better, all things considered.”
The kitchen was an odd sight to behold, to say the least. My father and two brothers sat at the kitchen table with Rafe, who to my surprise didn’t look nearly as awkward as I would have expected.
“I didn’t realize you stayed the night, Rafe,” I said as we locked eyes. He smiled slightly.
“I couldn’t pass up your father’s hospitality, especially given how late it was.”
Ah, so they’d stayed up late, too. Eyeing the four men at the table, I noticed all of them looked somewhat haggard and sleep-deprived. Something told me alcohol had been involved.
When Katya and I sat down, Clara brought over a fresh pile of pancakes. My eyes lit up when I saw them.
“Clara, you’re an angel.”
“Don’t get used to it, or you’ll gain too much weight.”
“You wound me,” I replied with mock hurt as I eagerly piled my plate with soft, fluffy pancakes loaded with maple syrup.
“You seem much better this morning,” Ian commented.
I could tell there was some lingering tension between my brother and Rafe, though my elder brother Patrick and my father seemed completely unperturbed by it.
“Turns out sleep does wonders. Who’d have known?”
“Certainly not a sleep-deprived vet, that’s for sure,” my sister said.
“Katya, could you pass me the syrup?” I responded.
Breakfast passed in this way for a while—easy, pleasant and without so much as one serious question. When my father coughed slightly, making it obvious he was going to announce something, we all froze.
He laughed at the silence. “Why so serious? I have a request—a humble one, in my opinion, that I hope you’ll be happy to oblige.”
Oh, that got us all curious. Katya quirked an eyebrow.
“Do you always speak so mysteriously, Liam?” she asked. Katya had told me the evening before she was still unsure as to how she should address my father. ‘Dad’ was far too forward considering the short amount of time they’d spent together, whereas ‘Mr. O’Leary’ seemed too formal.
There was a glint in his eye as he replied, “Only when I want to ensure folk are listening.”
My brothers and I collectively rolled our eyes. Rafe and Katya looked confused.
“He does this all the time to ‘impress’ people,” Patrick explained. He looked pointedly at our father. “Just spill it, Dad. Some of us actually have work to do this afternoon.”
Liam laughed. “All I’m asking is for all of you to join me for dinner tomorrow evening. That means you too, Rafe, and Katya—can you bring Matt? I’d like to get to know my son-in-law a little better.”
Now the stunned silence was appropriate. An O’Leary, Wilde, and Petrenko dinner? Nothing of the sort had ever been heard of before.
My father would be the one who wanted to organize one. Something was telling me there was more to this dinner than met the eye, but I knew better than to question his motives in front of everyone. That would get me nowhere—I’d have to use my own wits to work it out.
Rafe glanced at me, though I had no idea what the look meant. “I’d be happy to, Liam,” he eventually said. “I know for a fact Matt is free, so don’t let him try to weasel out, Katya.”
She laughed. “Good to know. I look forward to it.”
Ian looked like he wanted to protest, but Patrick gave him a scathing look that kept him quiet. It wasn’t often Patrick put his foot down, but whenever he did, it was a stark reminder that he would one day take over for our father as the head of the Irish mob—and he was perfect for it. Everybody listened to him when he had something to say, even Ian. I was so glad he was here.
Rafe stood up and shook my father’s hand. “I’d best be off, Liam. I told the firm I was working on a case outside of the office this morning—which isn’t untrue—but I really need to get back to work.”
Liam smiled. “Of course, Rafe. I’ll see you tomorrow evening.”
Rafe had only just vacated the kitchen when I pushed away from the table and rushed after him. I grabbed onto his sleeve just as he reached the front door.
“You okay?” I asked.
His eyes widened. “Why are you asking me that? After what happened last night, the only person who should be checked in on is you.”
“Someone breaking into my apartment doesn’t change the fact that we were going to run away together. That it failed. I’m kind of—I don’t know—confused. Where does that put us now?”
Rafe pulled me in for a hug. “It puts us in a terrible position, which we nonetheless have to deal with. Your case just got far more serious, so we both need to concentrate on that, okay? Running off might have solved some of our problems, but to solve them all, we need to stay.”
“I know…” I mumbled into his shirt. My chest tightened and constricted. Life wasn’t fair. Why was our timing always so off?
He lifted my head up with a finger curled underneath my chin. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Don’t you dare go back to your apartment. I’ll swing by and grab some of your things and bring them with me. You can hold out until then, I take it?”
I sighed dramatically. “I guess so. I wasn’t going to go back anyway. I’m not an idiot. And I—I slept better here than I had in my own apartment for a long time. I think staying here is what I need to do right now.”
Rafe smiled. “Good. Well, I really better—”
“Oh wait,” I said, suddenly remembering my conversation with Katya from the night before. “I’m going to meet Sergei in a couple days to see if he’s heard anything about my case from the Russian mob side.”
Rafe frowned. “Is that a good idea? I should come with you.”
“No, I think it’ll work out better if it’s just me and Katya. I’ll fill you in after the meeting, okay?”
Rafe ran a hand through his hair, looking tired and resigned. “You have to tell me everything. You can’t just cherry-pick, got that? I know what you can be like when obscuring the truth.”
“Says the lawyer.”
That drew a chuckle from Rafe. “Touché. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, kissing me on the cheek before leaving the house.
It felt like we’d taken three massive strides forward yesterday, only to take a race car back today. I knew all I had to do was be patient. We were going to work out who was behind my frame-job and the break-in, and then Rafe and I could finally be together. Or, at the very least, work out what we were to each other. That felt like a lifetime away.
In the meantime, I had a dinner to prepare for. With my clothes all locked up in my apartment, I had nothing to wear. That meant shopping, something I hadn’t done in a long, long time.
Grinning despite myself, I re-entered the kitchen and asked, “Katya, do you feel like looking at dresses this afternoon?”
Katya’s smile was luminous.
“Absolutely.”
Chapter Sixteen
I didn’t think I’d ever been this nervous for a dinner, which was saying something, considering I’d grown up surrounded by the Italian mob.
Everyone had dressed for the occasion, especially Kirsten and Katya, who were wearing stunning dresses in copper and silver, respectively. They looked like otherworldly goddesses.
“I don’t know how girls manage to do it,” Ian muttered as we mingled with glasses of champagne in hand. Liam had booked a small, private dining room in
his favorite Italian restaurant—clearly a nod to Matt and me. Something we both readily appreciated for the gesture it was. We waited for the man in question to arrive before we sat down. Patrick arrived with his father. Surely, he’d been busy with the O’Leary family accounts all day. I wasn’t the only man who didn’t stop working on the weekend.
“No, but seriously,” Ian continued. “How is it that you two were slumming in ponytails and pajamas while eating pancakes yesterday, and now you and Kirsten look like bloody angels?”
Kirsten punched him on the arm. “You’re such a charmer.”
“My wife is always gorgeous, especially in a ponytail and pajamas,” Matt said, sliding an arm around Katya’s waist as he kissed her on the cheek. She blushed beautifully as she smiled.
“You don’t scrub up too badly yourself, Matt,” she replied, turning to fix his tie slightly.
“It must be a Wilde brother thing,” Kirsten added as she helped herself to another glass of champagne, sending a sly grin my way. “Alex dresses pretty sharply, too. Wonder how long it’ll take before Dad invites him for family dinners so he doesn’t feel left out.”
“Now, now, better not to start wishing for the impossible,” Ian joked.
Liam and Patrick made their way through the dining area to the sounds of the five of us laughing at Ian’s joke.
“Good to see everyone in good spirits already,” Liam announced as I handed him a glass of champagne, after which he took a seat. I handed another glass to Patrick, who took it from me with a tired smile on his face. He looked pretty exhausted, as if he needed around three days worth of sleep.
“Long day?” I asked him sympathetically.
“No different from any other. I need a vacation.” Patrick and Ian sat. Matt held a chair out for Katya, so I followed suit for Kirsten. It made me wonder, was this a test dinner to see if I could suitably date Liam O’Leary’s daughter? It was a concept that made me nervous, so I tried not to think about it.
“You look stunning,” I murmured into Kirsten’s ear as she sat down. I was happy to see her skin flush.
When Matt and I sat, Liam raised his glass, so we all followed suit.
“I never imagined I would have two of the Wilde brothers sitting down to dinner with my family, let alone a Petrenko, even if said Petrenko is really an O’Leary.” He smiled warmly for Katya. “This can only mean good things for our families if we work together. So, here’s to working together.”
Liam almost imperceptibly looked at me as everyone clinked their glasses, so did Patrick and Ian. It wasn’t difficult to know what those looks meant.
You’re working with us now, like it or not. You know our family secrets, so you better step up to the challenge and not fail us.
I barely suppressed a gulp. Now I was definitely nervous, especially when Kirsten smiled at me curiously. It wouldn’t take long for her to realize I was hiding something. She was far too sharp to miss even a small change in my behavior. Even if she was gloriously oblivious to male attention, she was never oblivious to me.
I briefly thought of Dean Collins and about how Kirsten was going to let the man down. Gently, but firmly, I hoped. Despite everything, I knew deep down he was a decent man who clearly cared for her on more than just a romantic level.
But that’s a trivial matter for now, I thought as the first round of dishes were brought over to the table on large, silver platters.
“So, Rafe,” Liam began, between mouthfuls of ravioli, “you played basketball in college, didn’t you? Do you still play?”
“Not anymore, unfortunately. My days of playing the sport are long gone.”
“Replaced with drinking sessions and takeout Chinese food dates with yours truly,” Ian announced.
“I swear, Ian, if you were the one who wanted to date Rafe instead of Kirsten, you’d have absolutely no issue with the matter,” Patrick quipped easily.
Kirsten literally spat her champagne out at the comment, she laughed so hard.
“That’s so damn true. Oh my God, why did I not see—”
“Language at the table, love,” Liam chided.
“As if you care about language at our usual family dinners, Dad.”
“Ahh, but as you can see, we have guests.”
“Who are practically family. May as well let them see us at our worst, or maybe our best.”
Liam let out an exaggerated sigh. “I can’t think who you possibly take after with this behavior in the slightest.”
Patrick and Ian exchanged a knowing glance but didn’t say anything. It made me wonder if Kirsten took after her mother in personality as well as her looks—though she had her father’s eyes. I was told her mother’s eyes had been the palest blue a person could imagine. It was something Ian had once told me in a drunken stupor one night. It was the only thing he professed to remember about the woman—her eyes.
I found that unbelievably sad. Was it worse for someone to forget all but one detail of a person they loved or have no memories of the person in the first place?
I shook my head slightly. It wasn’t a subject to be thought about in the middle of dinner with the O’Learys.
“How’s the casino running, Matt?” Patrick asked my brother politely.
“Much better now that the Russians don’t have their hands in the vault anymore,” he replied, smiling at Katya.
“Rafe had something to do with that somehow, didn’t he?”
I stared at Patrick, shocked. How could he possibly know? I hadn’t told anyone.
Matt winced slightly. “That’s not common knowledge, Patrick. How did you—”
“Just a hunch. Thanks for confirming it.”
“Bloody bastard, Patrick,” Kirsten cussed, earning her a stern look from her father.
Patrick laughed. “It’s not as if I’ll tell anyone. If anything, I’m impressed by the fact you all got away with whatever it was you did in the first place.”
Clearly, we’d all been underestimating Patrick for far too long. He was going to make a formidable mob boss when he took over for his father. Not for the first time, I was grateful my brothers and I were out of the game.
Well, almost out of the game in my case. As much as I hated for Katya to pull some strings to have a meeting with Sergei, I understood why it was necessary. Had Kirsten not already arranged the meeting, I would have tried to broker one myself.
Kirsten was right. It was better to leave the Sergei stuff to her and Katya. Clearly, Sergei and Katya had some innate understanding going on. I had no doubt she’d be able to wrangle the information we needed out of him.
If that didn’t help clear things up, then…
We were back to square one. Suddenly, I remembered I was supposed to have talked to Detective Peters yesterday. Maybe he had leads I could investigate. I had avoided the man’s calls because I’d been busy processing everything Liam O’Leary had explained about his wife’s past.
To be honest, I still didn’t know how to treat it. As I watched Kirsten happily cuss and insult her brothers as she passed Katya and Matt the garlic bread, I understood why the men in Kirsten’s family didn’t want her to know anything. That meant I had to get better at hiding things from her.
“Something on your mind, Rafe?” Liam asked mildly.
“Just Kirsten,” I let out before I could filter my thoughts, much to my horror. I clapped a hand over my mouth as she blushed furiously. Ian began to grow red for an entirely different reason. “I mean—”
Liam laughed uproariously, cutting off my feeble attempt at an excuse. “At least you’re honest about it. I can’t be having someone trying to court my daughter if he can lie to my face.”
Lie to Kirsten, but don’t lie to me, was what Liam was getting at. Certainly, the man could tell what I had truly been thinking about in relation to his daughter.
I decided to stick to the truth as I responded, “I would never lie to you, Liam. I never have. Even when Kirsten and I were stealing your whiskey as teenagers, I never lied to you.”
>
“Because you let her steal it so you couldn’t be held accountable,” Ian muttered. Despite his tone, there was a smirk on his face.
I waved the comment off. “Surely, you must realize by now I’ve only ever had Kirsten’s best interests at heart. Now more than ever. I’d do anything for her. I hope you understand that.”
There. I’d said it. It was possibly too serious a statement to have come out of my mouth midway through dinner, but what better time to announce my feelings than in front of the entire, extended O’Leary family?
Even Matt looked embarrassed for me.
And Kirsten…
She looked delightfully horrified. It caused me to grin foolishly in response.
“I suppose there may have been a better time or place to say that, but…I’m going to clear her name. When I do, I hope nobody will have reason to suggest Kirsten and I should not be together.” I looked at Ian when I said that, but he looked away.
Obviously, Liam had suggested something along those lines the other night, but I had to be sure. I had to know, in no uncertain terms, that nothing was going to stand in our way once the charges were dropped against her.
Liam smiled, seemingly satisfied. “I couldn’t have said it better myself. And you’re no boy now, Rafe—you’re a man. I’d have answered differently if you had come to me at eighteen saying something similar. Although, I know you’d been thinking the same back then.”
“Patrick again?” Kirsten exclaimed, seeing the look on her oldest brother’s face. “You were the only one who knew anything close to a confession was gonna happen.”
I was confused. “Patrick, how…?”
“I overheard you and Rafe discussing it back in the day. I may have told my old man, and Ian may have heard us—”
“Ah, which is why he was so pissy with me before we started college. Now I get it.”
“That and my girlfriend at the time broke up with me because she was in love with you, or did you forget that bit?” Ian threw out as he drank more champagne.
Betting On Us (Wilde Love Book 3) Page 10
