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“She’s different, Angelo.” I don’t know how else to explain it to him or how to make him see.
“How much could you even know in a week?”
“It’s not like you knew Rayne all that long before shit went down with you both,” I fire back at him. The moment the words leave my mouth, I want to punch myself in the face.
He steps towards me, his nostrils flaring, and grabs me again. “You fucking leave Rayne out of this. I’m warning you!”
“I’m just trying to put things into perspective here. These things can work in strange ways, Angelo, you of all people know that. I feel something for someone else for the first time in five years. You know better than me what that feels like. We both had things taken from us against our will.”
He lets go of me abruptly, and I fall backwards. I regain my footing in a heartbeat, although I see the look on his face. I’m not trying to piss him off further, but that struck a nerve.
“Don’t you dare talk to me about the things I lost, it’s hardly the same thing at all.”
I stare at him. He knows this shit hasn’t been easy for me since Lisa did what she did. I’ve never truly gotten over it or spoken much about it.
“You know how hard it was for me,” I say to him. “That’s all I meant.”
“While I agree with you on that, why her? Katiya Petrov, of all people?”
“Angelo, it’s done. I can’t change it. I’m sorry, I never meant to go behind your back.”
“That’s the part that’s fucking unbelievable, betraying your family like this. Seriously, you should have come to me, Marco. This is bullshit, me finding out this way, being hauled out in the middle of the night to deal with this, and in front of the Familia and fuck knows who else on the street.”
“You've got to trust me on this. I know it’s asking a lot, but I can’t back down. There are things going on. She’s not safe in that situation with any of them.”
“I trust you implicitly, or Idid, until this came to light. It’s them I don’t trust, the fucking Petrovs. It stops now.”
We stare at each other. I don’t back down.
“I won’t,” I say, my jaw clenched. “I won’t do that, Angelo.”
He looks at me with disbelief. “You’d go against a direct order?”
I swallow hard. The last thing I want to do is fight with my brother, especially tonight of all nights. “Look, let’s go upstairs, and I’ll explain everything. But if you’re asking me to just give up on her, I won’t, Angelo. I won’t walk away.”
He gives me a look that crosses the lines of disappointment and pain. I’ve lied to him.
How the fuck am I supposed to explain to him, or the Russians, that I have feelings for Katiya and that I’m fucking falling for her? Aleksi is going to know we weren’t playing pattycake up there in my Penthouse, and he will know pretty fast if he doesn’t already.
I’m not prepared to let her go. Angelo can rant and rave and throw his weight around all he likes. I won’t see any harm come to Katiya. Not now. Not ever.
The Petrovs owe us big time. Aleksi knows it; we all know it.
And there’s only one thing I want. And only he can give it to me.
Angelo assesses me and nods toward the door. “Let’s go,” he says. “Those are big words you throw around, and I can’t wait to hear what caused you to go against your family, and everything you’re supposed to hold dear.”
He doesn’t wait for me, crossing the room in furious angry strides.
I run a hand over my face.
This fucking night is just beginning.
* * *
“Well, I’ve got to hand it to you,” Enzo says, walking into the room before the sun is even coming up. I still haven’t been to bed yet. “You certainly know how to get the whole Familia worked up.”
At least he got some sleep earlier after Valentina and her friends retired to their suite.
