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“Why?” Lena asked, the question soft, her disappointment clear.
I didn’t think that was becauseIwas the disappointment, but because he’d made his choices without conferring with the family.
“Because I’m a man, Ma. I can pick my own feckin’ wife.” He grunted. “I’ll admit things were sped up a little by certain circumstances that happened recently but Da’s the one always going on about us getting married, settling down. Well, consider me settled.”
Aidan, whose scowl had been growing darker and darker as his son spoke, rasped, “What ‘things?’”
Unsure what Brennan was about to say, whether he was about to blend the truth with fiction, I tensed up, just waiting for his next words:
“Vasov’s been murdered.”
He was going to lie.For me.
“What?” Aidan straightened up. “I’ve heard none of that chatter.”
I licked my lips. “He died the other night.”
Brennan squeezed my arm, a noiseless command that told me to shut up. “They’re keeping it under wraps.” He reached up, scratching his jaw with his free hand like the stubble I knew he’d shaved off earlier was already growing back in. “Looks like some mess up with that bitch of a wife of his.”
“Svetlana’s pregnant,” I murmured, being careful with my tenses.
“With another man’s baby, apparently.” Brennan shrugged. “I only heard more of the tale this afternoon from my in with the Bratva. The second I know more, you’ll hear it first.
“But I wanted Camille out of that place, so I did it the one way I knew would give her the permanent security she deserves. Whether you like it or not, Da, she’s an O’Donnelly now.”
“Not by my say so she isn’t,” he growled.
“So, you’ll give Inessa the family’s protection because you forced her on Eoghan, but the woman Ichooseto be mine, you’ll cast out?” Brennan scoffed. “That makes sense.”
Lena tugged on Aidan’s hand. “He’s right.”
“No, he isn’t. Inessa was—” An explosive snarl escaped Aidan as he pulled away from Lena and ran a hand through his hair. “Inessa was an olive branch between us and the man you tell me is dead now. What fucking use are either Vasov daughters if they’re not tied to the Pakhan anymore?”
His words should have meant nothing to me, but they made me want to scream. An endless, eternal scream that was like falling into a black hole, one I’d never escape from, one that would reclaim me time and time again.
I was worthless to another father.
A womb, a defective olive branch, never a woman.
Never someone to love—
Unaware of my anguish, Brennan merely snorted, stunning me with how brave he was. Where Aidan Sr. shoved me down that black hole, Brennan leaned into it to help pull me out.
“If you don’t know what use a good woman is to a man like me, then there’s no hope for you. I thought you of all people would get it.” He cast a look at his mother who flinched. “Anyway, don’t worry, Da. You’ve still got two sons left who aren’t married. I’m sure you can shove the next Pakhan’s daughters on Con and Junior.”
When Aidan spun around, I didn’t tense up, didn’t show I was scared because I recognized that inherent, brewing violence that was simmering beneath the surface.
Just like my father.
God, Brennan had been raised exactly as I had.
I reached for his free hand and tangled my fingers with his, squeezing them, putting pressure on them as I tried to give him some of my meager strength. He’d saved me from that black hole which was still trying to grasp a hold of me, clinging tendrils escaping the pit, swirling about my feet as the mist pulled me deeper...
I knew he wasn’t frightened of his father now, but that didn’t mean the young Brennan hadn’t been. What had he suffered as this man’s spare heir?
“Calm down, Aidan,” Lena snapped, wading into things in a way that surprised me.
Mama would never have dared get in the way of Father when he was in this mood, but Lena did it with ease, which gave me hope for Brennan and made me wonder if this was why she had his devotion. Why she’d earned thatpromiseof his, whatever it might be.
