Dante shrugged. The Romanov-Capparelli alliance was a nonissue from where he stood. If anything, Rose’s little sister marrying that bastard Romeo was a benefit. It cleared the path for him. “We have bigger problems.”
Matteo tried to stare him down but finally gave up and dropped back onto the bed. “The Russian Romanovs.”
“Si. You think they’re going to start fucking with the families stateside without trying to smash us beneath their boot? You know better.”
“Even if I did, that just proves that I need you here instead of in New York.”
“Matteo.” He waited for his cousin to look over. “I’m going—I was always going—and it’s not to kill my woman’s little sister.”
“When you talk like that, it sounds like you’re saying goodbye.”
He gave Matteo a long look. “Make your move and do it soon. If he fucks up my chances with Rose, I’ll raze this fucking territory to the ground.”
His cousin lifted his hands and dropped them. “She’s just a woman, cugino. We’re family.”
Family. The very idea was laughable. Family hadn’t saved his mother from being tossed out the moment she stepped out of line. It hadn’t stopped Lorenzo from threatening Dante with the same fate so many times, the threat finally lost its teeth. Family wasn’t worth the blood spilled to claim it.
His cousin wasn’t the same, though. He owned Matteo at least some explanation even if he didn’t fully understand his connection with Rose. Dante’s life would be significantly easier if he’d chosen literally any other person to pursue. It didn’t matter. He didn’t want to pursue anyone but her. She felt the connection, too. She wouldn’t have melted beneath his touch if she didn’t. She definitely would have killed him in that parking lot. “She’s mine.” As complicated and as simple as that.
“Fuck, Dante, but you don’t make things easy, do you?”
“Never.” He dropped onto the bed next to Matteo. “I know what they say about me.”
“Who?”
“Everyone.” He shrugged. “I’m a liability, and you know it. There’s a reason Lorenzo up and decided we needed to fuck with the Capparellis after decades of mostly ignoring each other. There’s a reason he sent me after the New York Romanovs in particular. It’s not because he wanted me to succeed.”
Matteo clenched his jaw. “You don’t know that.”
Yeah, he actually did. Dante wasn’t one to take an order without question, especially from his uncle. He’d done his own research before agreeing to the task and decided to go for his own reasons. “A junkyard dog is all well and good, until it bites the hand that feeds it. Lorenzo afraid of me.” Dante glanced at his cousin. “Our men are afraid of me.”
“Yeah, because you’re nuts and violent and don’t care about the hierarchy.”
His cousin joked, but they both knew it was truth. “Exactly.” He nodded. “That’s not going to change. Take care of the old man and cut me loose.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“I am.” He cared about his cousin, but he didn’t really give a fuck about the petty rivalries and ground wars they constantly engaged in. They were a side effect of the things Dante actually wanted to do, but he didn’t have that core-deep belief in them that Matteo did. If he hadn’t met Rose, maybe he’d have been content to coast along playing the part of his cousin’s junkyard dog the same way he’d played the part for his uncle. It was too late to go back. He had met her, had recognized her on a fundamental level that went beyond knowing.
Rose was his, and he’d do whatever it took to ensure she chose him.
Matteo stared at him a long time and finally sighed. “You won’t be dissuaded.”
“No.”
“You don’t even know if she wants you. If she doesn’t kill you, her family will.”
“Può essere.” He shrugged. “It’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
“You’re out of your damn mind.”
“She says the same thing.”
Matteo shook his head. “I can move my timeline up, but it won’t be immediate. I need a week to get things into place. You can’t do anything to raise suspicion in the meantime.”
“Fine.” He wouldn’t do anything to tip the old man off to what his cousin was up to. “I was heading to New York anyway.” It would mean playing the part, at least in sight, but that could work in his favor. Plenty had changed in the two weeks since he took Rose. He needed to get the lay of the land before acting.
“Good. I’ll keep you in the loop.” Matteo stood and walked out of the room without looking back.
Only then did Dante let himself fully process the information he’d had circling his brain since Lorenzo gave the order to kill Lorelei Romanov. Lorelei Romanov, who’d married Romeo Capparelli. Not Rose. Her little sister had stepped in to secure the alliance, and it freed Rose up in the process.
The way to her was hardly clear, not with their history and her family and her fucking pride, but her sister’s misfortune had been a boon to Dante. He didn’t have to dance around the Capparellis or kill Romeo, because he’d effectively been removed from the playing field.
“I’m coming for you, amata.”
“I can’t believe you let this happen.”
Anya and Sasha sat on Rose’s bed, watching her pace back and forth. Sasha twisted her fingers in her lap, looking sick to her stomach. “We didn’t have a choice. We didn’t even know what she planned until they ushered us back into the church, and then it was too late. Interrupting it would have caused a scene.”
“More of a scene than when you disappeared.” Anya crossed one long leg over the other. Today she wore tailored cigarette pants and a white button-up shirt she’d left half undone. “It’s too late, anyway. There’s nothing to be done. Lorelei chose this. I tried to get her out the next day, but she wouldn’t come with me.”
“What?” Sasha twisted to face her. “You didn’t tell me that.”
“It wasn’t relevant.” Anya examined her fingernails. “She chose. We have to respect that.”
Rose understood that on a rational level, but she couldn’t let it go. “I have to see her.”
“Nyet.” Anya shook her head. “Romeo was very clear that he didn’t want to see your face for a while. Let him cool off. Otherwise, you’re putting Lorelei and the alliance in danger because you feel guilty that you’re relieved she took your place. Knock it off.”
Rose flinched. She hated it when Anya did this, used cold logic to dive right into the heart of things Rose would rather not say. Her sister was right. She did feel relieved that she wouldn’t be required to marry Romeo, sleep with him, and eventually have his kids. She would have done her duty without complaint, but now that it’d been taken off her plate?
Guilt wrapped around her throat harsher than Casimir’s hands had. “I should have been here.”
“Eh. You aren’t the only one shouldering that burden. No one expected Dante Verducci to be that arrogant. We should have put more security on you or not left you alone.” Her dark eyes glinted dangerously. “If I’d been there, things would have gone differently, and that’s on me.”