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“The two of you got off to a great start, I see.”
“If you say anything about a cat fight, I’m gonna fling something at you. My sister and I used to—” Then something passes over her face, and all the wind in her sails disappears. “Celine. I haven’t even… Fuck, I’m the worst person on earth. Are she and Dad with Mom?” She seems to forget the fact that she’s still in a towel. She steps out of the bathroom in her bare feet, but she stops when she sees the dark expression on my face. “T-they’re not, are they?”
Of all the times to lie, now is it. So why can’t I?
“No.”
“Then—”
“They’re not dead,” I tell her quickly. “So don’t start freaking out.”
“Then don’t tell me shit that makes me freak out!” she counters. “Where are my dad and sister?”
“The Bellasios have them.”
“‘The Bellasios have them,’” she repeats. “Am I supposed to know what that means?”
“If you were paying any attention at all today, then you should.”
She takes a deep breath. “Do they have something to do with the fact that you’re a mob boss?”
“Bratva don,” I growl. Technically, the term is “pakhan”, but I’m in no mood to split hairs.
“From where I’m standing, it’s the same damn thing. So who are the Bellasios to you?”
“An enemy mafia whose leader has been obsessed with taking down the Zakharov Bratva for as long as I’ve been in charge.”
“Why?”
“Why?” I ask incredulously. “For more power. Why else?”
“Jesus,” she mutters. “Men.” She shakes her head to clear the thoughts and looks up at me again. “You have to get them back.”
“Great point,” I retort, rolling my eyes. “Let me just go ask nicely.”
“Have you tried that?”
I glare at her. “Did you really think I would let my enemies take off with my fiancé and not do anything about it? For fuck’s sake, trust that I’m capable.”
“Ha!” she guffaws at full volume. “Trust? Trustyou? My sister trusted you, and look where that landed her! No, thanks. I’d rather trust in the people I know I can count on.”
“Which is who? That Bradley fuck who tried pawing at you when no one was looking?”
“My father. My mother. My sister,” she rattles off without breaking eye contact. “That’s it. All the people you put directly in harm’s way.” Before I can respond, she keeps going. “I had a bad feeling about this relationship from the moment she mentioned you to me. She didn’t even tell me your name, but I knew there was something off about this whole thing. Celine’s a pacifist at heart. She’s also the most moral person I know. If she knew about any of what you do—”
“What makes you think she doesn’t?”
She scoffs, waving a hand in my face. “There’s no way Celine would have agreed to date you, much less marry you, if she knew you were some big, bad villain.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Are you so sure?”
Her lip trembles as her confidence comes crumbling down. I saunter toward her, backing her up until she bumps into the doorjamb.
“Maybe you don’t know your sister as well as you think you do, Taylor. She did know. She knew everything—because I told her. I told her exactly who I was… and she agreed to marry me anyway.”
24
TAYLOR
