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“I know, baby. You keep telling yourself whatever you need to sleep at night.” Vin turns an angry shade of red but it doesn’t reach his eyes. He can talk a big game but we all know Vincent would never hurt Carlina, he can’t. He is too far gone when it comes to her. Vincent is the type of guy to burn cities down if anyone ever tried to come for his wife or daughter.
Bishop cuts in before they can go at it more. “Fine.” Car turns back to B with a devious smirk on her lips.
“Now, was that so hard?” Bish growls and pins her with a scathing look. She smartly clamps her mouth closed, knowing not to push Bishop too far or he will snap. “Baby, take Channel out in the living room with the others, I won’t be long.” Most men would bristle and argue about their wives telling them what to do in a room full of men but not Vin. He places a chaste kiss to her lips and warns her to be good before leaving the room with his baby. Car plants her ass on the armrest of my chair and waves her arm for Bishop to continue, which just earns her a snarl from the big bastard.
“The crows want Ivan back.” At the mention of Ivan, Car rests her hand on my shoulder offering me her silent support. I reach up and rest my hand atop hers. A small gasp escapes her at the contact but no one comments.
“Why?” Knight asks with a trace of anger lacing his words.
Bishop meets my gaze as he answers. “They say the Russian’s are getting antsy waiting for his death.”
I narrow my eyes at my brother, reading between the lines. “You gave them a timeline on his death and the deadline is approaching, isn’t it?” He exhales loudly and nods. I shake my head in disgust. “Who the fuck are you to givemea timeframe, Bishop?”
“He didn’t have a choice, Rook.” King tries to defend our brother. I turn and shoot him a scathing look.
“Did you give Ally a timeline with Pauly and Donny, or am I just the lucky one?” King’s eyes blaze with contempt. He tries to take a step toward me but Gage stops him with a hand on his chest. I scoff and turn back to the Don. “How long?”
“You have a week to get it done or—” I cut Bishop off, knowing exactly what he is going to say next.
“You’ll do it so our family doesn’t look weak.” Bishop nods. There is no way he can send Ivan back to Russia alive. Me not being able to kill him means my weakness will be projected onto our family and that is something as the head of the family Bishop can’t allow.
“I’m sorry, Rook.” I turn to Gage perplexed why he is sorry. “Anya fought for you to be able to do this at your own pace but she is no longer the head of the Bratva and Andreas overruled her.” Hearing this gives me pause. I don’t even really know Anya Volkov. I mean, we share a fucked-up connection because of what we went through together when Ivan held her captive, but I never expected her to go to bat for me.
“I’ll do it.” I snap my gaze to my other side and pin Knight with a glare, but he’s focused on Bishop. “You need to have a live feed, right?” Bishop nods causing me to grit my teeth. Those fuckers want to watch me exact my revenge on the bastard that tortured me! “I’ll do it. They’ll never be able to tell the difference between me and Rook.” I brush Car’s hand off me as I stand and meet Bish’s concerned stare.
“I’ll be ready in three days. I’ll send you a list of what I’ll need.” I turn, ready to flee the confines of this space when Bishop speaks, halting my movements.
“When this is over, we are going to sit down and work out this hate you have toward me, King and Knight. I can’t have us divided—” I keep my back to him as I cut the fucker off.
“Yeah, I know why you need this sorted, Bishop. You want to take Miami from Anthony and you want me as the head of the Murelo territory so Car can step down.” I peer over my shoulder to find him looking at me with wide eyes. “I know everything. You may think I’ve had my head buried in the sand for months but I haven’t. I know everything you have in motion. You want the rest of us to step up so you can control Miami and New York making us the most powerful family in the continental US.”
Clare
I shouldn’t be standing outside Bishop’s office eavesdropping but when I heard Knight speak about killing Ivan on a live video feed for Rook, I couldn’t help it.
“Yeah, I know why you need this sorted Bishop. You want to take Miami from Anthony and you want me as the head of the Murelo territory so Car can step down.” The anguish in his voice spears me right in the heart, he can’t do this. “I know everything, you may think I’ve had my head buried in the sand for months but I haven’t. I know everything you have in motion. You want the rest of us to step up so you can control Miami and New York making us the most powerful family in the continental US.” At the sound of his retreating footsteps, I quickly race into the kitchen and pour myself a glass of water to act like I wasn’t just spying. Rook comes into the kitchen a second later, the look in his dark gaze tells me I’m so busted. “You heard all of that?”
I don’t bother lying, I nod. “Yeah,” I say as he scrubs a hand down his face and nods.
“Come on, I have to do something.” I don’t question him, he reaches his hand out to me and I take it without hesitation knowing I would follow this man into the depths of hell without blinking. He leads us out of the kitchen, passing his brothers and sister as we head for the front door. At the sound of laughter coming from the living room, he pauses then changes directions and heads toward the sound of laughter with his siblings following after us.
When we enter the living room everyone is where I left them. Koby, Anya and Ally are all sitting on the floor with the twins who are playing on their playmat. Kiara and Vin sit on the three-seater sofa with Amelia between them as she keeps darting her gaze between them both staring at her cousins, that Vin and Kiara each have clutched to their chests as they sleep. At the sight, a pang hits me square in the chest. What would our baby have looked like? All conversation stops and all eyes turn to us. Knight and the others step around us and go to join their partners and kids, making them all look like the picture-perfect family.
“Anya.” Her gaze flickers from Gage to Rook, looking confused as hell as she stares up at Rook. Gage slips in behind her, wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her flush against his chest as she rests between his legs. “Thank you.” Her brow furrows slightly confused by Rook’s gratefulness. “I-I didn’t help… you.” He blows out an exasperated breath. I squeeze his hand letting him know I’m right here with him. “But you still tried to help me and… I’m sorry I didn’t—” Anya pulls free of Gage’s hold as she stands and moves toward Rook. Knowing that this istheirmoment, I pull free of his hold and step back so she and him can have some semblance of privacy. She reaches out and tentatively grips his hands in hers, I can tell her touch makes him uneasy but he doesn’t pull back and that makes me so proud of him.
“You have absolutelynothingto be sorry for.” The conviction in her tone is awe inspiring.
He shakes his head denying her claim. “You stopped what was happening to me and turnedhisattention back to you, why?” The anger in his voice is felt by everyone but it isn’t directed at Anya.
“I mean this with all due respect. I knew I could handle it. I saw the look in your eyes, Rook, and knew you were at the breaking point and I couldn’t allow that to happen.”
“Why?” he whispers. Everyone in the room is waiting with bated breath for her reply, she smiles at him.
“I may not have known you then, I still don’t really and that’s okay, but I felt like I got to know you through Gage. My love for him meant I had to do something to help his little brother, even if it was the last thing I did.” I turn to Gage to see he is just as surprised as Rook hearing this revelation. Rook pulls his hands back and shocks everyone when he pulls Anya to him and… hugs her. They both are stiff for a few seconds before they relax into the embrace. Tears cloud my vision at the sight before me—he is healing and he doesn’t even know it yet.
“Thank you for saving me. You had no idea but I had managed to get hold of a blade from that trolley and planned to end my suffering that night.” Gasps sound out around the room. Anya pulls back and cups his face between her hands. A shuddering breath escapes him as he closes his eyes, clearly embarrassed by his declaration. He keeps his eyes closed as he continues on. “What you did for me, stopped me from giving into my demons.”
“Look at me!” Her voice leaves no room for argument, Rook slowly blinks his eyes open and stares at her. “I didn’t save you,yousaved yourself! What you went through, none of us will ever understand. We can empathize with you but we can never relate because everyone experiences things differently.” A lump forms in my throat when I see his eyes fill with moisture. “You are stronger than you even know. What Andreas is asking of you is my fault. I had the chance to end his life but I didn’t because you need to do this.” I cringe at her telling him he needs to murder his molester. “He can’t hurt you anymore, Rook. If you want… I’ll be there with you the whole time.”
