by Stacy Gail
“Congratulations on your new home.” I heard the polite words come out of me as if they came from someone else, and for a moment I wondered if I was in shock. A second later I dismissed the notion. I knew what shock was. I’d been in it when Polo had “died” right in front of me, and I’d remained in shock for a long, long time.
This was something else. It was as though I’d become a time bomb whose clock was winding down to triple zeroes.
This feeling was all about being a Vitaliev.
We passed an open and airy kitchen with a massive center island with a chef’s sink, a commercial-sized stainless steel refrigerator, a six-burner oven, and a big bay window that looked out onto a sweeping backyard with a slide and swing set. I remembered Rudy had once mentioned his wife was a foodie, but the swing set both surprised and alarmed me. After the night Polo and I had had, it was safe to say we weren’t the kind of houseguests that should be around children.
“How many kids do you have, Rudy?”
“None, yet.” He glanced back at me as he led us down a short hall that ran past an angled staircase. We maneuvered around a stack of boxes in a welcoming, two-story foyer, and pushed through a French door off to one side. The small office was cramped but private, complete with a desk and chair, a couch, and several unpacked boxes. “I’m the youngest of five, and all my siblings have at least two kids. My parents are getting antsy for another grandkid to spoil, but Sass…well, she grew up rough in Chicago’s child welfare system before she landed at the Panuzzi house as a foster. Getting her to the point of feeling secure enough to start our own family is taking some time, but she’s making progress. Considering she never imagined she’d get married or buy a house in the ‘burbs, she’s doing pretty damn well when it comes to putting down roots. I can wait until she’s ready to make that next big step. She’s worth it.”
Maybe it was because of all the unbelievable violence we’d somehow managed to escape just hours earlier, but that simple sweetness made my eyes burn. “She’ll get there.”
“If we’re done with the fucking pleasantries, I’d like to get to the point so I can get the hell out of here.” Polo looked like he badly wanted to pace, but since there was no room to do it he settled for glaring at Rudy. “I’m dropping Dash with you so you can get her locked down in PSI’s safe room until I’m done.”
I darted a sharp glance his way. “Wait, what?”
He ignored me. “Celestial Bodies is no longer a safe house. In fact, it’s no longer in existence. It’s gone.”
Rudy went still. “Gone?”
“Burned down. For all I know, it’s still burning. I’d be willing to bet you’ll hear about it on the news later, so I’ll just lay it all out for you. There will be a lot of bodies found in there, including the owner, Jubilee Lafitte, her head of security, Judd Koslowski and his crew, and at least five individual fuckwads whose names I never got. Those five fuckwads, if they’re ever identified, will have ties to the Vitaliev Bratva.”
“Shit.” Rudy’s hands bunched together, and I didn’t trust him not to punch a fist through the wall. “So after all the precautions we took, they found you?”
“Not at all,” I interjected more jarringly than I’d intended, because his comment reminded me that Rudy had known Polo was still alive while he’d watched me grieve. Of course, now that Jubilee and Judd had been murdered, my fury over Rudy’s misdeed was a small flame compared to the inferno pouring through my blood. But it was still there. “As far as I know, my brother Knives and his goon squad still believe Polo’s dead.”
Rudy stared at me for a long moment, not moving. “Your brother? You’re saying Knives Vitaliev was there?”
I worked hard at swallowing against the sudden constriction in my throat. “Yes.”
“Looking for you, or for Polo?”
“Neither.”
“Then why was he there?”
“For some reason I’ve yet to completely nail down, my brother and his Bratva came to Celestial Bodies looking for my brother’s old bodyguard, Grigor Dmitriyev.”
Rudy’s eyes widened. “What?”
I nodded. “From what I overheard, Knives had apparently followed Grigor to Jubilee’s place. When he and his minions couldn’t put their hands on him, they set Celestial Bodies on fire to flush him out. Leave it to the amateurs to use Napalm to swat a fly.”
“Fuck,” Rudy said, looking thunderstruck as he glanced at Polo. “Here we are, turning the whole damn state upside down looking for that guy, and he’s the one who found you?”
“Why were you looking for Grigor?” I asked, frowning. “In fact, why is everyone looking for Grigor?”
“None of that shit matters right now.” Polo pushed the words out through the barrier of his teeth, causing me to glance over at him. My stomach dropped when I saw that he was smiling that terrifying Scorpio smile. “I hid out at Jubilee’s place, and that brought Grigor to her doorstep. As a result, Jubilee’s dead and Grigor’s in the wind once again. We’re back to square one, and after two months of this shit, I’ve officially had it. I don’t see any point in being delicate about this, so I’m going to just cut to the chase and kill Knives. That’s what matters.”
“Jesus, Polo,” Rude gritted, crossing his arms and looking as though he was doing all he could to stop himself from throwing Polo out the window. “I cannot fucking believe you just said that. You do not talk about murdering anyone while under my roof.”
“Trust me, I won’t be here for long.”
That crazy smile on his face, the smile of Scorpio, had my heart crawling up into my throat. “Polo—”
“I don’t want to fucking hear it, Dash,” he snapped, and the danger that crackled around him was palpable. “I know Knives is your brother, but at this point that’s in name only. He doesn’t deserve your loyalty, or your love. You don’t know what he’s done.”
“You’re right, I don’t. How could I? You’re the one who keeps me in the dark about everything.”
“Here’s a thought,” Rudy muttered to no one in particular. “How about I go back upstairs while you two sort your shit out? I don’t have to be here for this.”
“Agreed,” I said, and the low tone that came out of me was so ominous it made him stiffen, watchful and alert as he paused on his way to the door. Whether I was being fair or not, I was Vitaliev enough to enjoy his reaction. “In fact, considering the ridiculous role you’ve been playing for the past couple of months whenever you’ve been around me, I don’t see how you’re needed anymore, period.”
Rudy’s eyes narrowed. “The role I’ve been playing?”
“Fuck,” Polo muttered, looking to the ceiling. “I can’t believe you’re doing this now.”
I ignored him. “Every step of the way, you and your cronies at PSI helped Polo pull off his dead-man act. You even brought in a shrink to help me deal with his death to make your asinine scenario appear that much more legit. But now that I know Polo’s still alive, I don’t see how your services are still required.”
“First, you can’t fire me because you’re not the one paying the bills, and I wouldn’t stop looking out for you even if you were. Second, I told you the truth about why I brought Luke in. As your bodyguard, it’s my duty to protect you from all sources of danger, including yourself. You were grieving yourself into an early grave.”
“Over a death that never fucking happened. Yes, Rudy, I know. I was there.”
“Don’t bitch at Rudy, and don’t you bitch at me for doing whatever the hell it took to keep you safe,” Polo cut in while the viciousness of my tone scalded the air and left no doubt of how I felt about the treatment I’d suffered at their hands. “You’re out of your mind if you think I was keeping you in the dark for shits and giggles. Every damn step I’ve taken has been to shield you from the truth of what your brother really is, but I can see now that was where I fucked up. All that weak-ass pussyfooting around cost Jubilee her life, so that’s it. I’m done with walking on eggshells when it comes to you and
Knives. I’m done.”
“I never asked you to walk on eggshells,” I shot back, while the knife of grief over losing Jubilee twisted deeper. To know my brother was responsible for it all made the bitter pain of loss that much worse. “Believe me, at this point, there’s nothing you could tell me about my brother that would shock me.”
“Careful,” Polo said, so quietly it probably should have terrified me. “You don’t know what the fuck you’re asking for.”
“What I don’t know is why you’d try to keep me from knowing anything about Knives. Forewarned is forearmed—that’s what Jubilee said right before she told me my brother was so dangerous my father had to assign Grigor to him. Not to protect Knives from the world, but to protect the world—and me—from Knives.”
I could tell I’d shocked him from the way his chin snapped up. “What?”
“And I have to say I appreciated her honesty,” I went on, nodding. “Jubilee said she wanted me to have my eyes wide open when I dealt with Knives. She knew I loved him, but she cared enough about me to make sure I had my guard up around the man my father nearly put in a mental institution.”
“Fuck me,” he grated, looking like he’d never get his anger-tense jaw unclenched again as he dragged a hand through his hair. “That’s just fucking perfect. Here I am, turning myself inside-out handling you with kid gloves, while your brother does all he can to destroy everything I hold dear. The freedom your father granted me, Jubilee and Celestial Bodies, you… all of that is fucking gone because I didn’t give Knives the strong response that sonofabitch has been fucking begging for.”
I frowned, because there were so many things wrong with what he’d said. No matter what route Polo had chosen to take when it came to dealing with Knives, he couldn’t have stopped my brother from being who he was. And I sure as hell wasn’t gone, whatever that meant.
“I need to make it clear right here and now,” he went on, fury scorching the dangerous edges of his voice. “I’m not gonna do one more goddamn thing to try to make things easy for you. No more kid gloves. No more holding back. I do what I fucking have to do, and you don’t get to bitch about the outcome.”
“I won’t,” I said, keeping my eyes level with his through sheer strength of will. But damn, when he went full-tilt Scorpio, it was hard not to hide in the nearest corner until it was safe to come out. “I once told you that I was taught to deal with problems before they got so big they dealt with you. That’s still who I am. So as ugly as the truth may be, I still need to know what’s going on around me so that I can deal with it. I know you were trained to protect me, but at some point you have to trust me to be strong enough to handle reality, especially when there’s zero chance of escaping it. And I am strong enough to handle it, Polo. I know I’ve never been a part of the Bratva, but don’t you ever forget that I am a Vitaliev.”
A sharp gasp from the doorway sounded loud in the small room. “What?”
Our attention snapped toward the office door, where the faint female voice had emanated from. Rudy, who was blocking the door, jerked his head around to look over his massive shoulder, and all at once a crushing tension filled the room.
“Oh, fuck,” Polo muttered, so quietly I almost missed it.
“Sassy Pants.” In a flash, Rudy turned toward the door while Polo surprised me by pushing me back against the office’s far wall and shielding me completely, as if he expected Rudy’s wife to be packing an AK-47. “What are you doing down here, baby? The sun’s not even up yet. Go back to bed, I’ll be right—”
“Rude, you cannot be serious. Go back to bed? As if.”
The bang-pow volume that came out of Rudy’s wife was impressive, and the force-of-nature quality of it filled the room as much as Rudy’s tension.
“Sassy—”
“There’s no way I’m going back upstairs. What the hell is going on?”
“I’m so sorry for disturbing you at this hour of the morning, Mrs. Panuzzi,” I blurted from my place across the office. Rudy wasn’t exactly my favorite person at the moment, but the last thing I wanted was to rock his domestic boat. “It’s our fault. My friend and I ran into trouble and your husband was kind enough to help us out. We won’t be staying long, and we’re sorry for disturbing—”
“I don’t care about being disturbed, and no one’s going anywhere until I get a few answers,” came the hard-edged tone. “Did you say you’re a Vitaliev? As in, Borysko Vitaliev?”
Shit,” Polo said under his breath, while my heart lurched in my chest. Considering the wide swath of destruction the Vitaliev Bratva had made throughout the decades, it was almost never a good thing when I ran across a stranger who recognized my father’s name on a personal level.
“Um…”
“I knew this was going to happen. The moment you called looking for a place to hole up, I totally fucking knew.” Sounding oddly resigned, Rudy loosed a gusty sigh. Then he moved to one side to reveal a petite woman who probably weighed only half as much as he did, with long espresso dark hair as thick as mine, golden skin and strangely familiar waif-large eyes that dominated a delicate, knockout face. “Sass, this kinda sucks because this wasn’t how I wanted this moment to go, but I guess it’s too late now to worry about setting up the perfect, fairy tale scene for you. Damn, I don’t even have a camera.”
She lifted an expressive, vaguely haughty brow that also struck a familiar chord in me. Where had I seen that face before? “Rude, what are you talking about?”
With another sigh, he swept a hand my way. “Babe, I’d like to introduce Dasha Vitaliev. Your sister.”
Chapter Fourteen
It was a toss-up who was more stunned—me, or the woman named Sage Ambrosia Stone-Panuzzi.
With a name like that, I didn’t blame her for shortening her handle down to Sass.
“So let me get this straight.” Seated next to Rudy at a round table tucked into a breakfast nook off of the kitchen, Sass studied me over the rim of her coffee mug. Then she slid her husband a frown. “I have an older sister.”
“Not that much older.” Really, I had to say it. “Just a couple of years.”
“And I have an older brother?”
“Half,” Polo put in. Unlike Sass and Rudy, who shared a moving box as a seat and therefore sat almost on top of each other, I sat alone on another box, with Polo off to one side, leaning against the wall. “Knives is your half-brother, Sass. Same father, different mothers.”
“I have a half-sister, and a half-brother. Oh, and Polo’s fucking alive.” She pursed her lips, her gaze so fierce on Rudy I almost felt sorry for him. “Anything else you want to tell me?”
“Yeah,” Rudy said, his muscle-heavy arm curling around her delicate shoulders to cuddle her close. “I love you very much.”
“Aww,” I said, unable to help myself when I saw how clearly this big, dangerous man adored my sister. Then that thought hit me anew. Holy crap, I had a sister. “I mean, all that sugar’s not going to save your ass from her, but still—aww.”
“Knowing any one of those factors could wind you up dead in a ditch, Sass.” Polo’s tone was mild, and I glanced over my shoulder to see a hint of his affable smile in place. Scorpio was now front and center, and I had no idea if this was good or bad. “Your anonymity was the only thing that kept you safe from all the dangers that come with having Vitaliev blood. So while you’re gearing up to bust Rudy’s balls, keep that in mind, yeah?”
Sass raised a brow, and that was when I realized why she seemed so familiar. I’d seen that look in the mirror too many times to count.
“I’m not a complete idiot, Polo,” she said, scooting closer to her husband for support. “I know some serious shit must’ve gone down tonight, because you’re here. You never would have come to us if your back hadn’t been up against the wall, so I get it. I’m not out to bust anyone’s balls. I just want to know what’s going on around me.”
Polo shook his head. “Trust me, you don’t.”
“It’s too dangerous, Sass,�
� Rudy added.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t agree with either of you.” I looked first at my sister and her husband, then to Polo. He watched me with a churning expression I couldn’t read, and that was something that alarmed me all the way to my soul. I had gotten used to being able to read Polo as well as I read myself, but now it was as though he had put himself a million miles beyond my reach. Was this what he meant when he said no more kid gloves? That he was going to shut me out entirely?
“Is that the play you’re going to make with me from now on, Dash?” Polo wanted to know, his tone so ominous it trickled down my spine like ice water. “Oppose everything I say? I say left, so you go right?”
“No, not at all.” Then I took a calming breath, because that sounded exactly like what he’d just accused me of doing—opposing him. “I’m simply saying that from my point of view, keeping Sass in ignorance could be the worst thing that anyone could do. After all, I didn’t know my brother was so dangerous he was capable of dragging me out onto a restaurant terrace for a sniper to shoot me, but you did. You knew it before it even happened, and you didn’t tell me. That lack of knowledge on my part has led us to where we are now, so obviously I’m not an advocate for keeping people in the dark.”
Polo straightened away from the wall, his eyes burning like hell itself.
Rudy shifted. “You told her about that?”
“No.” Polo’s tone was almost silken, it was so calm. If a cobra had the ability to speak before it struck, that was the voice it would have used. “But you just confirmed it for her, so nice going, asshole.”
“Polo, I didn’t need any confirmation. I heard Knives mention it earlier, while Celestial Bodies was burning. I should have known even before that,” I added, hating how my voice got thick with tears I absolutely would not let fall. If I started crying now, I’d never be able to stop. “Knives went against everything our father taught us about wide open spaces. I should have realized my brother dragged me out onto that terrace for the express purpose of having me killed. So don’t get pissed at Rudy, okay? And another thing—no one needs to confirm that one of my brother’s minions was put in Konstantin’s path to take him out. I just don’t know why my brother chose to do that.”
