Some large families managed to coexist, like the O’Malleys. Six adult siblings, and while some had married into other families like Mama did, there was no jockeying for power or backstabbing. No one really wanted to lead except Uncle Aiden, and everyone had their place and were mostly happy in it. Such wasn’t the case with the Romanovs.
Rose’s great-great grandparents had five sons, and from the way the story went, it quickly became apparent that if they all stayed in Russia would mean only one of them would survive. So, they kept the oldest son and sent the other four to the US with the instructions to carve out a piece of territory for themselves. Kind of a fucked-up American dream, but they managed it. Their descendants got along well enough because of the distance involved, but all continued to answer to the branch of the family who remained in Russia.
In her grandfather’s generation, they mostly kept their hands off their American cousins. They had their own shit they were dealing with at the time, and the freedom benefited the Romanovs on this side of the world. Then Vladimir Romanov died, and his son Jovan took over.
And things changed.
Jovan and his two brothers weren’t like the Russian Romanovs of the past. They functioned as a unit. Jovan in charge of everything. Artem, the muscle, who enjoyed getting his hands dirty. Jacek, the money man, who’d turned their finances into something truly outstanding—or at least that was the rumor. Even their now-adult children—like Casimir—kept in line. They might be Romanovs, but they were not allies to their American cousins.
Ever since Jovan took over, he’d been looking for an excuse to bring the American Romanovs back into the fold…and dip his hands into the deep pockets of money Papa and the others had earned over the years.
An excuse she’d unwittingly given them when Dante kidnapped her. Though, if it hadn’t been this, it would have been something else. They were too old-school to appreciate her as heir. No matter what else was true, eventually they would have found a reason to come calling, weapons in hand.
Which meant she needed the alliance with the Capparellis and anyone else she could find. Rose’s family and territory was strong, but she didn’t know if it was strong enough to hold against her Russian family. No, that was a lie. She knew for a fact they weren’t strong enough. Not alone.
All this added up to any future with Dante being entirely out of the question. And not simply because her family would shoot him on sight.
Neither Grady nor Jude would answer her questions, and she eventually fell into a light sleep, only to jar awake as the plane touched down. Jude shut his laptop and shoved it into a bag. “Your parents are waiting.”
Rose didn’t expect the sudden nerves tightening her shoulders. She’d done everything she could to escape, hadn’t she? She’d put the family first and ensured no one was hurt during her kidnapping…
She didn’t have an excuse for sleeping with Dante, though.
Grady rose with her, so tall, he had to duck a little to avoid beaming his head on the roof of the plane. His gaze landed on her throat. “I’m glad you’re okay, Rose.”
That was just like Grady. He was kind of a dick and abrupt to the point of rudeness, but when push came to shove, he would show up every time. She managed a smile. “Thanks for coming for me.”
“Yeah. Always.”
Rose wanted to stop in the bathroom to put herself together, but it wouldn’t matter. She’d seen the bruise darkening her throat, could hear evidence of it in the rasp of her voice. Frankly, she looked like shit, and no amount of sprucing would fix it. She took a deep breath that burned and followed her cousin and uncle out of the door and down the steps to where her parents waited.
Mama and Papa stood next to a black town car, appearing as perfectly put together as always…at least until she took a second look. The lines around Papa’s eyes and mouth were deeper than normal, and there were faint smudges beneath Mama’s eyes that not even her expertly applied makeup could effectively cover.
Papa raked his gaze over her like he hadn’t quite believed she was on the plane. Relief flickered through his eyes for a moment before he masked it and nodded to Jude. “Spasibo, Jude.”
“There were complications. Rose will fill you in with the details.” He jerked his chin at Grady. “Let’s go.”
“See you around.” He gave her parents a respectful nod and followed his father to the truck parked a short distance away. Within seconds, they were inside and roaring away from the plane. No doubt headed back to Boston and away from all this trouble. She couldn’t fault them for it. They chose to stay as far from the sketchy shit as possible, and even if they hadn’t… Ultimately her Boston family had their own battles to fight. If the situation became truly desperate, she could call on them for help, but it would look weak to do it now. She couldn’t afford to look weak. Not with so many unfriendly eyes on her.
“Roza.” Mama dragged Rose into her arms and held her tightly, and then Papa wrapped his arms around both of them. Rose closed her eyes and let her parents comfort her for several long seconds. In that moment, she was a child again and there were no battles her parents couldn’t win to keep her safe.
She wasn’t a child any longer, though. She was an adult. More, she was heir. She had to fight her own battles instead of hiding behind her parents and letting them do it for her. That started now, with the rough conversation they needed to have. She counted slowly to ten…and then did it again. It wasn’t enough, would never be enough, but she still managed to step back. “We need to talk.”
“Da.” Papa looked around as if expecting an attack from any angle, and then ushered them into the car. She caught sight of Vasily behind the wheel and they spared her a brief smile of relief. Papa settled into the seat across from her, and Mama took the seat next to her. His gaze lingered on her throat. “Now, tell us.”
“Casimir Romanov tried to kill me.”
Papa startled. “What?”
“Da. This?” She touched her throat. “His handiwork.”
Her parents exchanged a look, and Mama hissed out a breath. “I told you so.”
“That’s not—”
“No, Dima. I told you they wouldn’t just lie back and allow Rose to stand on her own. They still see gender as a defining characteristic.”
Rose sighed. “I’m sitting right here.”
“Keira, moya koroleva.” He reached over and covered her mother’s hand with one of his. “They won’t risk such pointed attacks now that she’s back in our territory.”
“You can’t be sure.” She flicked her hand at Rose. “Look at our daughter. They never should have dared lay a hand on her.”
“Still sitting right here.” Most of the time, her parents were good about including her in any and all major conversations about the territory and the family business, but sometimes they’d do this kind of bullshit. They got so caught up in each other that they seemed to forget there was anyone else in the room. Namely, their very uncomfortable eldest daughter.
“Da.” He squeezed her mother’s hand and sat back, finally focusing on Rose. “We need the full story, Roza.”
Apparently they wouldn’t be answering her questions until they had her side of things. So be it. She honestly couldn’t expect much different, not with so much hanging in the balance. Rose strove for calm and relayed the events since her kidnapping in as much detail as she could remember. She left out sleeping with Dante. It wasn’t her parent’s business. More importantly, she didn’t have good reason for doing it, no matter what she’d told herself in the moment.