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He glares playfully. "Shut up, Mel."
He pushes the door closed, walks over to the passenger door of the SUV, and slips in beside me.
I turn to him and whisper the words I've kept to myself this entire time, festering in my stomach like worms. "I still hate him."
Daniel turns to me, his hazel eyes deep and hard. "He probably hates you just as much. The past didn't wound you alone. You know he was just as hurt as you were."
"And then there's Lucian. How do I explain that?" Daniel is right. And I can't deny it. Xander had been just as hurt as I was. Maybe even more broken. The split had, after all, been my idea.
Daniel sits back against his seat and, resting his head against the headrest, closes his eyes. "There's going to be hell to pay. Even his family won't survive it."
"Why can't we cancel this? We don't need the money. Father certainly has enough."
Daniel opens his eyes and takes my hand. The car pulls out of the driveway, and we're on our way to the lion's lair.
"The Russians are getting stronger, Mel. He needs the combined power of our family and his. Father is worried handing our business to him without some leverage will spell doom for us, but he also understands we can't not do anything."
I feel a twinge of guilt as I ask a question I've asked one too many times. "Why don't you take over the business?"
Daniel’s eyes darken. "I can't. I don't want it. My law firm cannot be associated in any way with the Mafia, Mel. You know this, someone has to keep the legit side of the business up.”
He squeezes my hand a look of guilt in his eyes, “I’m sorry we're throwing you under the bus like this, but you know we have less than no choice. Father doesn't even want to do this.”
Which makes my reluctance so much worse. Father is probably festering in a soup of guilt right now. I bite my lip and nod.
I inhale harshly and close my eyes. "You're right. I just hate to think about Lucian. I hate to think what will happen when he finds out. What if he tries taking my baby from me?"
Daniel pulls me across the seat and tucks my head into his shoulder the way he's always done when I'm in need of comfort. I let myself relax into him for a moment.
"He can't do that. You two will be married, and you know he can't leave you. Same as you can't leave him."
The words do not bring me any comfort. Instead, I mumble the family vows, which suddenly sound like a death keel to my ears. "Till death us do part."
Daniel chuckles darkly, and I wince, grateful he can't see my expression. "Exactly. It's easier to leave if you're dead, Mel. And Xander will never let any harm come to you. He'd rather die."
For some reason, I doubt that. The Xander I knew is nothing like the one who dressed me in solid red for a wedding I don’t want. Xander still exists, but he’s not mine.
That Xander knew I don't like the color red, not since I'd seen it spill out of my mother's side before she'd keeled over to her death. Not since every flower at her funeral had been the red roses she'd loved so much.
Father had made sure all of it had been arranged around her casket, and then he'd torn down her rose garden and went on a vengeful spree of killing that had lasted an entire month.
No, this wouldn't be anything like when we'd both been younger and thought ourselves in love.
2
XANDER
I tip my head up and down half of the drink. My brother Alec hitches his brow and smirks like he's seen something funny.
"Mel really won't love it if you're drunk by the time she arrives."
I eye him out of the corner of my eye, then keeping my eye on his, down the rest of the drink. His lips twitch at the corner.
"Fucking asshole. They're here. Get the bottle away from him." Declan growls. Two years younger than Alec, he's the stiff one of the family, and he's always loved Mel.
Actually, all my siblings have always loved Mel. Of course, they don't want me drunk when she arrives.
They also do not understand that the only way I can face the woman who broke my heart six years ago is if I'm three sheets to the wind.
