She’d wanted him—had missed him—so she spun the fiction necessary to justify taking him. She still wanted Dante if she were perfectly honest with herself. It didn’t matter. She’d told him the truth when she said they weren’t meant for each other. The barriers were too high, too strong. The best she could hope for was that he took her at her word and stayed out of New York. At least that way, he’d stay alive.
When she finished, her parents were silent for a long moment. Finally, Mama said, “You did the best you could, given the circumstances and the knowledge you had at the time.”
It wasn’t a condemnation, but it sure as fuck felt like one. “Was I supposed to risk someone getting hurt when I had a chance to find a solution for myself?”
“No.” Mama sighed. “But your disappearing…complicated things.”
Once again, frustration choked her more effectively than the Mad Wolf ever could. “I’ll make nice with Romeo and beg a little to assuage his pride. It will be enough. Even with a little pie on his face, he’s too smart to go to war over something like this. There’s a way around it, even if it means we shift the marriage contract to be more in his favor.” A concession she didn’t like, but with the situation spinning so out of control? Better to bend than to break.
For the first time in longer than she could remember, her father wouldn’t quite meet her gaze. “A marriage with you and Romeo Capparelli is no longer on the table.”
“Excuse me?” She extracted her hand from Mama’s and sat up straight. “What do you mean it’s no longer on the table? It’s understandable that Romeo’s pissed, but even he has to see that it’s in everyone’s best interest if this alliance remains intact. War is only profitable for our enemies. It will bleed our respective families dry.”
Papa sighed. “Romeo is aware of that.”
She looked between her parents. “Then what’s the problem?”
“Apparently someone suggested that Lorelei should smooth things over as best she could.” Mama’s sigh mirrored Papa’s. “She married Romeo.”
“What?” Rose shot forward so fast, her seat belt tried to strangle her. “The fuck she did. No. Absolutely not. Not even Lorelei would be that reckless.” But even as she said it, she heard the strange note in her sister’s voice. “Why would she offer herself up as a sacrificial lamb in my place?” Had Dante known about this? Even as the thought crossed her mind, she discarded it. His jealousy whenever she mentioned Romeo was too pointed. If he’d known her sister had stepped into her place, he would have taunted her with the information. She was sure of it.
“It’s done.” Papa sounded so tired. “The contract was adjusted, and the vows were spoken. She moved in with him the day after the wedding—the day after you were taken.”
The world took a sickening spin around Rose. It was so vivid, she looked out the window to ensure they were still right side up. The outcome she’d wanted to avoid was reality. Her baby sister, married to Romeo Capparelli. Sacrificing everything to take Rose’s place, when Rose should have been the one to make those sacrifices. She was the heir. The one to shoulder the majority of the burdens that came with being a Romanov. Her sisters were supposed to have more freedom. They were supposed to marry for love if they decided to marry at all.
They weren’t supposed to share her fate. “It should have been me.”
“There’s no room for ‘should have been.’” Mama crossed her legs and twisted to look at Rose. “It’s done. The alliance is secured, and not a moment too soon, if Jovan’s turned his attention this way.”
Casimir might have been the one to show up, but he wouldn’t have done it without his uncle’s direction. Only one person held the Mad Wolf’s leash, and they all knew it.
“I’d hoped to avoid this.” Papa scrubbed his hand over his face.
“It’s time to close ranks,” Mama said flatly. “Ivan and the others will want to know about this…if they don’t already.”
They started discussing which of their American cousins were most likely to stand against Jovan’s people and which were in danger of folding, but Rose’s mind kept skipping no matter how she tried to focus. Lorelei had married Romeo in her place. The alliance was secured without Rose’s participation. Talk about bittersweet. She hadn’t been particularly eager to marry Romeo, but she sure as fuck wasn’t willing to put one of her sisters on the chopping block as a result.
It should have been Rose.
Chapter 18
“I want her dead.”
Dante watched his uncle pace back and forth across the office. The old man looked like shit. He’d obviously been at the bottle again, and his skin was flushed and bloated from the effects. His bloodshot eyes roamed around the room, barely touching on Dante before he was off again.
For his part, Dante didn’t move. Didn’t fidget. Didn’t say a single fucking word. He just sat there and stared as Lorenzo ranted. The longer he stared, the more intense the rant became. Lorenzo would never admit it, but he was scared shitless of his nephew, and Dante used it to his advantage whenever the opportunity presented itself.
His uncle turned and slammed his hands on the desk. “Fucking say something, you ungrateful little shit.”
“Let me get this straight.” Dante leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees. “You want me to go back to New York City and kill Lorelei Romanov.”
“She’s not a Romanov anymore. She’s a Capparelli.”
He highly doubted she’d taken her new husband’s last name, but he chose not to comment on it. “Semantics.”
“It has to look like Romeo did it. Drive a wedge between that fucking alliance, and do it properly this time. No months of bullshit and fucking around. We need to send a clear message. Do this for me, nephew. You owe this family everything, and we ask so little of you. Take care of it.”
Funny how his uncle liked to remind him of what he owed the family while also skipping right over the fact that he wouldn’t have needed saving if Lorenzo had done right by Dante’s mother. He owed it to Matteo to let his cousin be the one to finally put the old man out of his misery. Doing anything else would potentially undermine his cousin’s bid for power. Matteo had never fucked Dante over, so the least he could do was practice a little patience waiting for his uncle’s murder.
Easy enough when Lorenzo was giving him exactly what he wanted. He pushed to his feet. “Sure. I’ll be on the next flight out to New York.”
Lorenzo flinched and tried to cover it up with bluster. “Good. Go.”
Dante went. He was still chewing on all the new information when he walked into his bedroom and found his cousin sitting on his bed. No one looking at the two of them would mistake them for anything other than family. They shared the trademark Verducci blond hair and strong jawline, though life hadn’t run rampant over their bodies the way it had over Lorenzo’s.
Dante shut the door and leaned against it. “Move up your timetable. He’s a liability.”
“Is he the liability?” Matteo stood with a frown. “You’ve got your head spun all the way around with this bi—this chick. The old man’s nuts, but he’s not wrong that a Romanov-Capparelli alliance is bad news.”