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“I was so worried when we heard…”
Heard about what? It takes me a minute for my brain to figure out she means yesterday’s attack at the auction house. With everything that happened afterwards, the attack seems like a distant memory. Which is messed up.
“Sis!” Daniil’s booming voice sounds beside me and as Aly releases me, my middle brother wraps me in his arms, kissing the side of my head.
Leo is the next to embrace me in his big, powerful arms, and finally Andrei steps in with a tense hug.
“You okay?” he whispers into my hair.
“I’m okay, I promise. Can we … sit down and talk?”
In the space of a heartbeat, Maxim wraps a protective arm around my shoulder, lowering me beside him onto the couch. My brothers take a seat opposite us. It feels like a standoff, with tension lacing the air. Aly’s eyes ping-pong between all of us before she lowers into the space beside Leo. Though it’s probably a really bad time to squeal in delight at seeing my brother and Aly in love and finally together, I can’t help but flash her a smile. She smiles warmly back at me.
My brothers don’t. They’re frowning, all three of them staring at Maxim’s arm slung around my shoulder and how close we’re sitting. I’m relieved to notice that Maxim threw on a T-shirt while I was in the shower. Still, we do look pretty damn cozy.
I clear my throat and try to put a few inches between us, but he straight-up stops me with a firm squeeze, his fingers lightly tracing circles on my knee. My brothers might look tense, but Maxim seems completely unbothered.
Talk aboutawkward. Last they saw us together, guns were pointed, Maxim was surrounded by legions of guards, and threats were being made. Now, well, the fact that Maxim practically pulled me down into his lap makes it pretty obvious where things stand.
Since no one speaks, I decide to break the ice. “I’m fine, really. I don’t know what you heard, but Maxim was on my attacker so fast I didn’t even register what happened.”
Aly arches an eyebrow at Maxim. Her father. “You risked your life to save her?” she asks in a quiet voice.
Maxim makes a dismissive gesture as if to say,Of course. “She’s my wife.”
His words ignite a warmth in my chest.
Leo points accusingly. “It’s your fault she was in danger in the first place. What the fuck were you thinking parading her out in New York if you’re about to go to war with the Black Company?”
Beside me, I can feel Maxim bristle at Leo’s aggression.
"You seem to forget," I say with a slight smirk, "I was born into this life. Danger is something I've always known."
Leo ignores my attempt at lightening the mood. He sees Maxim as a twisted opportunist who granted his daughter freedom only when a better opportunity was presented. From the outside, that’s exactly what happened, but I know that in his own fucked-up way, he cares about Aly. He let her go because it was best for her.
Aly lays a hand on Leo’s shoulder and whispers something in his ear, likely telling him to take it down a notch since he’s still vibrating with anger.
“It’s okay, Leo.” I give my brother a weak smile. “We were well protected. Maxim’s men surrounded the room. It was one of those things…”
Leo continues to shake his head in disgust and I hold my breath, not sure how this is going to play out.
Maxim speaks, his tone low and serious. “My head of security believed they wouldn’t attack on American soil, and I agreed with him. We were wrong.”
My head snaps towards him. Why is Maxim blaming himself? It was a private event and we were well guarded, but he seems to think everything that happens is his responsibility, which is messed up.
Andrei crosses his ankle over his knee, his expression intense. “So you’re at war with the Black Company now?”
“Going to war,” Maxim clarifies. “They don’t appreciate competition in the wine fraud market.”
Daniil cocks a brow, raking a hand through his hair. “You’ve got more money than you know what to do with. How can selling a few bottles of fancy wine possibly be worth going to war for?”
Maxim chuckles and runs a thumb along his bottom lip. “It’s true, I’m not in it for the money.” His warm hand lands on my thigh, causing a shiver to blast up my spine. “I’m in it to prove a point.”
“And that is?” Aly asks, even though her eyes are glued to where Maxim rests his hand possessively on my body.
“There’s nothing more pretentious than rich people with more money than sense. If these idiots think it’s worth spending hundreds of thousands on a bottle of old wine, let them give their money to me and I’ll make sure it goes to a better cause.”
“What, like your palace on the sea?” Leo shoots back.
