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The sounds of a furious argument leaked through the walls as we approached. Ginevra strode right in. Antonio’s face was red with rage as he tore into Alexi.
“My daughters!” he shouted.
Alexi yelled right back. “I told you they had no business at the port. And now look at them!”
My fists clenched, but before I could call him out on his lack of preparations, Rian was already in his face. “You fucking told us you had it under control!”
“I did! Until this fucking princess,” he shouted, pointing at Ginevra, “wandered off on her own!”
Watching Ginevra’s fury melt into confused guilt broke something inside of me, and I surged forward, shoving Rian out of the way. Why wasn’t he defending her?
“Fuck you, Alexi. How dare you blame her for getting shot?” I poked his chest with my index finger. “You told me I didn’t need to provide extra men because you had the whole route covered. How many men were there at the port? Fucking none! You and Antonio are in your goddamned fifties, and you had to go running after the Russians because there was nobody else to fucking do it!”
My voice rose until I was shouting. Rian and Cormac looked at me with surprise.Fuck.I never lost my cool. Something about this woman really burrowed under my skin.
Alexi just shook his head and looked at Antonio. “Are you going to let him talk to me like that?”
Antonio sighed and gestured for all of us to sit. Linking his fingers back in Ginevra’s, Rian pulled her down on the couch, to sit between him and Cormac. The movement was gentle so as not to disturb her wound, but no less possessive for its care.
Although she didn’t object to the press of their thighs against her own, she removed her fingers from his, folding her hands together in her lap as she leaned forward to listen to her father.
“This is unacceptable,” Antonio said from where he leaned on his desk, his arms crossed, a flash of the intimidating man he’d been in his youth coming through. “I offered my daughter’s hand in marriage in order to protect her, to protect us.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I can’t protect your daughter if your people lie to me about their readiness to protect her.”
Alexi shot back to his feet, ready to get in my face. “I can’t protect your girlfriend if she doesn’t stay where she’s supposed to.”
When I stood, I’d shed the affable mask I wore during the day to convince these fucking idiots I was sane and could be trusted. In its place was the Butcher, a man so fucking twisted the Irish sent me to America to get me out of their hair.
Antonio watched me warily as I stalked closer to him. “We’re taking responsibility for Ginevra’s safety from here on out. I don’t want another fucking argument when I say a security measure is necessary.”
13
RIAN
Ginevra clutched her hands in her lap, but I could feel her shake as our thighs pressed together.
“Easy, Liam,” I murmured, willing him to stand down before he antagonized Antonio Russo so much he called the deal off, or worse, got himself shot.
He turned and pierced me with cold, green eyes. It had been a long time since he’d dropped his charming facade and let the Butcher out to play.
“Our partnership is only good as long as Ginevra’s alive. If she doesn’t survive until the commitment ceremony, I’ll let the Russians pick off every single goddamned Russo,” I said.
Liam nodded his agreement and backed off, standing behind us on the couch, one hand on Ginevra’s shoulder. To my surprise, she didn’t shrug him off, even when her eyes flicked once again to the blood on the cuffs of his shirt.
“Except my sister,” Ginevra added, her voice angry, even as she trembled beside me.
“Except Sofia,” I agreed, rubbing her knee through her trousers. When she didn’t resist, I left my hand there, sweeping my thumb over the inside of her knee, more to reassure myself that she was okay than anything else.
“Great,” Ginevra said, closing her eyes and sighing deeply. “Now that the dick waving is finished, would someone please tell me what the fuck happened today?”
As the room erupted again, I almost flew over the same destructive edge as Liam. I was ready to murder Alexi. I’d come a long way since we were kids, running around the wrong side of town, but that rough edge of violence still peeked out from time to time.
Cormac’s hands clenched into tight fists. Like Liam, rage wrote itself into every angle of his body. And Ginevra, our beautiful Italian goddess, sat rigid on the couch between us, her face carved into stony fury on her sister’s behalf.
“Protecting Sofia was the whole goddamned reason I’m sacrificing everything to be here!” she exploded, leaping to her feet when Alexi offered more mealy-mouthed explanations. “Enough!”
Ginevra took a deep breath, wincing as the movement stretched the wound on her side. “I’m done. And I still have to work today. Papà, tomorrow, I want to sit down with Pietro and your accountant. I want to see everything.”
