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Not breaking his stride or even slowing down, Taras walked us over to the stairs that led up to the entrance.
“Well now, Bruce, that’s what I’m here to talk to you about.”
Dad glared at him before moving to where I was standing, frozen in place. He wasn’t stupid and I could see things starting to add up for him.
Shit, shit, shit!
Chapter Ten
Taras
I probably should have been nervous, but I felt calmer and more centered than I’d ever felt in my life.
Bruce circled to the other side of his desk, and sat down in the chair that looked like it should have been thrown out twenty years ago.
“What’s this about?” he asked, looking between us and then down at where I was still holding Nell’s hand, periodically tightening my fingers when she tried to tug hers free.
“I know you’re aware I’m married to Donna Azarov,” I began, deliberately not giving her my last name, something I’d stuck to from the beginning.
“The marriage was only to create and strengthen an alliance between our families, it wasn’t one of choice.” It was imperative that both of them knew this fact. I didn’t care how many times I had to rehash it, and I wouldn’t stop until Nell understood that.
“My family is expanding in Russia, and joining our name with the Azarov family gave them the means to do so.”
“And this has what to do with my daughter?”
I held back the smile that wanted to break free at his question. Just.
“Before I was aware of the agreement being fully agreed upon, Nell and I were in a relationship. I’d intended to ask her to marry me, but then I was made aware of the marriage to Donna and couldn’t.”
Seeing the look in his eyes turn to one that I’m sure would make most men shit their pants, I leaned forward, letting him see the truth on my face.
“Before you lose it, listen to what I’m about to say. I fought it, but in my world, in any Bratva or Mafioso or Club, your duty is your honor to your family, and it’s unbreakable. There is no halfway or adjusting or reneging on the terms—you’re either all in, or you’re not.
“Still, I fought it, but when it became clear I wasn’t going to win, I began to make plans. One of them was to take Nell away on vacation to the Bahamas, and marry her while we were there.
“When that fell through, I spoke to Donna and explained that it would never be the marriage she’d planned. I was hoping she’d back out, but instead, she’d been determined to do it, and said it was okay.”
His eyes dropped back down to where our hands were still joined, and this time I realized that Nell’s fingers were slack in mine. Looking over at her, I saw her staring at the floor, tears rolling slowly down her cheeks.
I’d told her this much, but hearing it laid out like this to her father must have felt like I was stabbing her in the back all over again. She hadn’t known I’d intended to marry her while we were away and that those plans had been shelved.
The whole situation was a clusterfuck for all of us, but I wanted to get it straightened out today.
“So you’re the boys’ father?” Bruce clipped, and Nell’s eyes lifted to look at him, more tears falling down her cheeks.
Turning my head so my eyes were back on him, I nodded. “Yes, I’m their father.”
Bracing his hands on the top of his desk, he stood up slowly and leaned his weight on them.
“So, you’re telling me you left my pregnant daughter to go marry another woman, as part of a fucking alliance?”
I opened my mouth to reply, but Nell’s voice croaked, “He didn’t know. I didn’t know.”
Keeping his head still, he turned his eyes onto her.
“And when you told him, then what, Penelope? Did he say he’d leave her for you? What exactly did he say? Because let me tell you what I’m hearing him say,” he hissed as he pushed up off the desk until he was standing tall.
Bruce Hamilton was a big man, built much like my father, and stood at about an inch shorter than my six foot five inches.
“I’m hearing him say that he said fuck you, and put his duty to his family first. I’m hearing him saying, even though you told him you were pregnant after you knew, he stayed far away and enjoyed his wife—”
“I didn’t tell him,” Nell cried, and I tensed in my seat. “I didn’t, okay, because I knew he was married, and I didn’t want you to do whatever it is you do to people who piss you off and cause a war. I also didn’t want him to call me a liar or say he didn’t care. What about the code and our duty to it?” Her words were all over the place, hardly making sense with how frantic she was.
