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She smiles apologetically, and I fix her with a firm expression of my own.
“Mrs. Romanov, it’s obvious you came here to tell me this, so we may as well get on with it.”
I hate how abrupt I sound, but I’m not one to mess around and to my surprise, she laughs out loud.
“Now I can see why my son likes you so much.”
“He hardly knows me.” I say with a wry smile, and she leans forward and says in a lower voice, “I know my son, Serena, and women haven’t featured much in his life. He fools around and never brings anyone home and I’m aware of what he’s like, what he’s capable of and when I heard he was bringing you with him, it gave me hope.”
“He didn’t have a choice. I’m sorry, he was just being kind.”
I try to tell her how it is, but she shakes her head.
“No. Alexei isn’t a kind man, Serena. Everything he does is for his own gain. If he didn’t want you here, you wouldn’t be.”
I say nothing, but inside my heart is fluttering. To be needed is the greatest gift anyone could give me because I have been alone my entire life. The fact he brought me here means a lot, but it changes nothing.
I decide to change the subject and say sharply, “I’m sorry, Mrs. Romanov, but I would really like to listen to the memory you have of my aunt.”
“Of course.” She straightens up and fixes me with a look I can’t place, and then she says softly, “You are a lot like my husband, Serena. You don’t mess around and like the facts. Andrei would have admired that about you. He was the same, and I learned a lot through him. It appears that comes naturally to you, and I admire you for it.”
She smiles and then says with a sigh.
“It’s not a happy story, I’m afraid, but I have a feeling it’s one you very much need to hear.”
“Me?”
I’m confused, and she nods, her eyes gleaming as she takes a trip down memory lane.
“There was a party on campus. There always was, but this one is memorable for one reason. The next day Giselle Vieri returned home and never came back.”
“Why?”
I’m intrigued and she sighs. “There was a lot of alcohol and drugs and things started to get out of hand. Giselle was a beautiful woman and attracted attention. That night, it was the wrong kind. She became the target for a group of guys who belonged to the worst kind of fraternity. They were out of control and believed they were invincible. Sadly, for Giselle, her reputation as an ice queen did her no favors, and they trapped her in one of the rooms, and well …”
“Well, what?” My blood has turned to ice as Mrs. Romanov shakes her head. “They raped her, Serena. Every damn one of them.”
I have no words and stare at her in shock. Just thinking of what my aunt went through breaks me and she leans forward and stares at me hard. “The guys who did it came from powerful families who always bought their way out of trouble. In this case, they didn’t get the chance.”
“What happened?”
I almost can’t breathe, and she laughs softly. “Your grandfather happened, Serena. Word around campus was Giselle told him everything, and he took them out one by one. They never made it to graduation and the official reason was they were excluded. Nothing was ever said, but we all knew they disappeared off the face of the earth. Five lives cut short because they messed with the wrong family.”
“I’m guessing you understand what that’s like, Mrs. Romanov.” I say with a knowing smile, and she nods. “Of course. It’s what families like ours do. They pull together and protect.”
“But why are you telling me this?”
“Because the story doesn’t end there.”
“Go on.” I lean forward, my heart racing.
“I met your aunt several years later. She was married to Carlos Matasso at the time, and her friend Catherine was married to Joseph Stoner.”
“My mom’s Joseph Stoner?”
I don’t believe it, and she nods.
“They were a tight group. They did everything together, and we all knew the kind of business the men were involved in.
