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“Yeah, yeah, we’ll keep your precious house spotless, okay? Jesus, Luca, it’s an engagement party,” Alex said. “It’s a celebration. There won’t be a bloodbath.”
I gave him a baleful look. It wasn’t too long ago that Nelu had tried to con Alex into marrying the Popescu girl, and they’d been at each other’s throats.
“Whatever, I said everything would be all right. I have no intention of getting into an argument with Nelu or Cristo,” Alex stated. “I have a honeymoon to go on and I want to peacefully start my new life with Nina without drama. I can’t afford a war, at the moment.”
“Since everyone will be congregating, it’s an opportune time to invite other business associates from abroad. Nothing screams more ‘innocent’ than your baby brother’s engagement party,” quipped Tatum.
“Agreed,” replied Alex. “Anyone with an iota of sense would know that engagements aren’t a big deal for Romanians, but it will create a perfect cover.”
“Since the DEA knows next to nothing about our traditions, we can take advantage of it. I’d like to meet Nelu’s Afghan contacts face-to-face,” said Alex.
“Then we’ll need serious protection. And don’t think for a moment they’re staying at my place,” I snapped.
“Of course not,” replied Tatum smoothly. “I’m certain there are hotels nearby. We’ll book the most extravagant one.”
Alex turned to me and gave me a hard look. “Nelu and his family are staying at your place. That’s nonnegotiable. He won’t be able to deny us and it will put him at a disadvantage to be in our territory. We’ll need at least three days to get in the number of meetings I’ve deemed necessary. Of course, we’ll have to fortify the locks to make sure everyone is safe. Add more guards.” Snooping wouldn’t be a problem since any valuable information was encrypted and stored in a bulletproof server farm, owned by an eccentric cybercriminal who lived in an underground bunker in Germany. It took all kinds to make a criminal network viable and thriving.
Alex turned to address my half brother, “Sebastian, you and Emma can return to the city if you’d like. I want you to stay close to her during this time. How is she handling the shift?”
“You mean since you put a guard on her?” Sebastian asked with a sardonic tilt of his mouth. He was a cool motherfucker. It was a miracle that he’d turned out so normal. Apparently, our father had doted on them. He hadn’t thought Sebastian would enter the family business. If he had, I bet their childhood would’ve been vastly different. Was I resentful of how he treated them compared to me? Not one bit. I’d have to have yearned for his approval and love for that to happen.
Since Alex welcomed our half siblings into the fold, their lives had changed. The transition had been more difficult for Emma since she’d grown up as a freewheeling American girl for the first twenty-two years of her life. Now, not so much. Those were the breaks, though. Once she became a pawn that could be used by our enemies, it was our duty to protect her to the utmost.
Alex replied, “That is exactly what I mean. I heard that she got the drop on them a few times.”
“Meh, you know…” Sebastian answered.
We all turned, waiting for him to finish, like the idiots we were. She obviously didn’t like it, but we had next to no idea how it affected her. We’d been raised in our world, with its strict rules, our entire life. We’d met her, sure. Spent time with her. But Sebastian was the one we saw on a daily basis. Hell, we discovered that we barely knew our own sister, Tasa, when she ran out on her engagement to Cristo. Here we thought she had accepted her lot in life as a mafie princess. That backfired on us. Turned out, she wasn’t as biddable as we thought. Turned out she was deeply resentful of the domineering way Alex had treated her for her entire life. Turned out she ran off and got hitched to a former Bratva prince turned biker and got knocked up by him. Turned out we knew jack shit about what her life was like.
Seeing our blank stares, he sighed and muttered, “Not great. She’s not handling it well. Luckily, she’s reserved and likes to spend most of her time at home or in her lab with her research, but even having a guard outside her office at work did not go down well. She’ll adjust. She needs time.”
“It’s been a couple months,” Alex said matter-of-factly, as if that amount of time, in and of itself, would suffice. Despite what happened with Tasa, Alex’s wife, Nina, had taken to the life like a fish in water.
“She’s not like Nina, Alex,” I explained. “She didn’t grow up next door to us and have Tasa as a best friend practically her entire life. Nina knew what she was getting into. Anyway, most women are not like Nina. Not so…pliant.”
A grin spread over Alex’s face. I had to look away at the expression of lust mixed with pride over his new wife.
“Christ, Alex, we see what you’re thinking. Mind reeling it in?” Nicu griped.
He sobered and shook his head. “I seriously doubt you know what I’m thinking,” he trailed off with a glassy-eyed look.
After pining for each other for years, they’d finally hooked up. Granted, he was more insufferable than usual those few weeks after he’d fucked up and broke it off with her. Not that it was entirely his fault. I never envied Alex his position as head of our clan. His life wasn’t his own.
Right after Tasa ran off, Nelu wanted Alex to take her place and marry his daughter to save the trade agreement that underpinned the marriage contract; that alone was a powerful enough reason. Alex would’ve normally had no issue with it, but for the fact that he’d fallen for Nina. So, he tried to force me to take his place, and I categorically refused him. There was no doubt I loved my family, was loyal to it. But blind loyalty didn’t work for me. Our father broke me of that nasty little habit. I was as loyal as I could be, considering what that fucker had put me through.
Did I feel guilty for not taking Alex’s place?
Not really. Especially since part of his motivation was to deliver on our father’s dream to reconcile with the Popescu family. In his place, would I have sacrificed the love of my life to fulfill our father’s dream and reconcile with those Popescu dogs? Hell, no.
But all that was water under the bridge.
“Anyway, Tasa’s coming. It will be her first time back home since she left. I don’t think Mama can handle having her and her baby daddy under her roof. Not until they’re married, at least. It’s better if they stay over at my place,” I said. Tasa was already nervous about coming back, and I’d go out on a limb to smooth the way for her and Mama.
“God knows, you have the room,” Nicu replied snidely.
Always a thorn in my side, that one.
“Don’t act like you care. You love the city.”
