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“Of course we are. We’ll be ready for him this time, Angel.”
I sit up and shuffle back until I’m leaning against the headboard.
“You want to talk about it?” Conor asks.
I chew on my lip because the answer isn’t so straightforward. “I don’t want to. But, I’m not sure I can avoid it any longer.”
He sits up too and puts an arm around my shoulder. “Okay. Let’s start with what we already know” he suggests.
That sounds like a good idea. Perhaps putting things a little straighter in my head will stop my mind from racing for now. I take a deep breath. “Alexei and my father were twins. He believes he's my father though, and that my mom and dad stole me from him.”
Conor nods. “And Alexei is the head of the Russian mob.”
“You’re certain of that?” I ask.
Conor nods. “One hundred percent. His identity has always been a closely guarded secret, but, well, when you disappeared with him, let’s just say we turned over every stone we could to find out who he was.”
I swallow, recalling the heartbreak I caused myself and the brothers, believing that Alexei was the father I had watched murdered by the Wolf, and leaving with him that day. As if reading my mind, Conor reaches up and strokes my cheek with the back of his knuckles.
“What else?” he whispers.
“We know that Alexei was married to my mom two years before I was born. And that her name was Nataliya then.”
“But your mom left Russia when she was pregnant with you. And she changed her name to Veronica?”
I nod. “So, my mom was married to Alexei? But she fell for my dad? Or maybe she always wanted my dad?”
Conor nods his agreement. “Maybe.”
“We know for sure that Alexei paid for the hit on my family and that the Wolf was supposed to deliver me to him, but decided to keep me for himself.”
“Yeah.”
“I wonder why, though? The Wolf was the Bratva’s top assassin. Why would he risk his whole career for some girl? He defied the head of the Russian mob to keep me prisoner. I mean, I get what he wanted from me.” I shudder at the memories and tears prick at my eyes. “But he was so powerful, I’m sure he could have had his pick from so many women.”
Conor presses his lips against my forehead and his body tenses. “I will never let him hurt you again, Angel.”
“I know.”
“We will find Alexei and the Wolf, and we will make sure they give you the answers you need before we make them pay for everything they have ever taken from you.”
“I’m not sure there’s anything you could do to them that would make them pay for everything, Conor,” I say as a shiver runs down my spine. A tear rolls down my cheek and Conor brushes it away with the pad of his thumb. “I don’t know who I hate more. I suppose the Wolf was just doing his job, and if it wasn’t for Alexei, I would still have my family. But the Wolf…” I shake my head. “He took everything I had left,” I whisper.
“You’re a fucking warrior, Jessie Ryan.”
I don’t want to think about the Wolf or Alexei Ivanov any more. “I like being a Ryan,” I say with a smile.
He arches an eyebrow at me. “We could swing by Atlantic City on our way home and make you a Ryan for real?”
“As in get married? Are you serious?” I shove my hands against his chest. “The twins would kill us.”
He laughs out loud. “Liam and Mikey would get over it eventually, as long as I agreed to share you, but Shane would cut off my balls.”
“Why? Does he hate me that much?” I ask as my heart flutters in my chest. I don’t think I will feel okay about anything until I can speak to him again. There were so many things we left unsaid. I will never forget the look in his eyes when he told me he would never forgive me for leaving them. He was right too. I had promised them all I would never leave. But I still did.
Conor cups my chin in his hand and leans closer to me. “No. He doesn’t hate you at all. But I can’t have this conversation with you, Angel, because I promised him that I wouldn’t.”
I blink at him. “What conversation?”
