AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I appreciate your honesty…”
“Alexei. Please.”
“Alexei.”
She smiles warmly. “Before we join the others, Don Vieri would like to see you both in his office.”
My heart sinks as nonna whispers. “Don’t worry, Serena. You can do no wrong in your grandfather’s eyes. You never could.”
She kisses me on both cheeks and says firmly, “Now don’t keep him waiting any longer. Dinner will soon be served, and nothing must interfere with that.”
I nod and turn to Alexei and reach for his hand.
“We may as well get this over with. Nonna’s right. Even business comes second to one of her meals.”
* * *
As we headin the familiar direction, I am strangely nervous. It’s unusual to be summoned to my grandfather’s office without my brothers for support. I’m guessing I have a lot of explaining to do and so I whisper, “Perhaps it’s best if I handle this. We must get on his right side if we want him to agree to our plans.”
Alexei smiles and I detect the humor in his eyes. “Of course. You know best, little one.”
He winks, and it makes me smile because having him beside me makes everything better.
We head to my grandfather’s den, and I knock on the door before pushing it open. As we step inside, I take a deep breath because I’ve always loved the smell inside his personal space. Cigar smoke laced with brandy fumes. A real man’s den and in my eyes, there is no better real man than my grandfather.
He is sitting behind his desk with the ever-present unlit cigar held between his fingers. As he glances up, I note the pain in his eyes and feel completely responsible for that.
“I’m sorry.” I say with a sob, and he shakes his head and crooks his finger, summoning me to his side.
I can’t get there fast enough, and he stands and takes me into his arms and pulls me close, sighing heavily. “If anything happened to you, princess, there would have been hell to pay.”
I cry on his shoulder as he whispers, “You mean everything to me, and I can confirm you were never in any danger. I made certain of that.”
“You should have told me.” I say with anger, and he growls, “It had to be that way. Giselle was always a loose cannon, and I blame myself for not dealing with her sooner. However, I reiterate, you wereneverin any danger. Connor was there for you, not her.”
“I wish I’d known that at the time.” I’m still pissed they used me in this way and then something strikes me that I hadn’t considered until now.
I pull back and stare at him with a hard expression that irritatingly only appears to please him.
“You knew about this all along and you never once thought to tell me. Killian and Shade knew, but you sent me off to Australia in ignorance. How long have you known?”
I glare at him, and he shrugs. “Long enough.”
“Connor placed the gun in my hand.” I think out loud and then face him with a furious hiss.
“You set me up to kill her for you. Killian and Shade said there were marksmen with trained rifles on her and you still set me up. Why?”
My grandfather points to the chairs set in front of his desk and says in his low drawl.
“Sit and I will explain.”
He nods to Alexei and says coolly, “Mr. Romanov. There is much to discuss, but first I will address Serena’s question.”
He taps the cigar on his desk and stares at us with his penetrating glare that defies anyone to interrupt.
“Serena.”
He fixes me with a hard expression. “For your entire life, you have asked to become part of this business, equal to your brothers.”
