Dante shrugged. “It won’t be necessary.” Normally, he’d bristle at the threat, but his mood was too light at the moment. Her father and the others would come around. He didn’t really give a fuck what they thought of him, but it would upset Rose if he became a wedge between her and her family. He’d won her over; he’d do the same with her parents and sisters. Eventually.
Anya came next, a sleek blond predator dressed in pants and a loose button-down shirt that showed off a slice of her chest. Of the Romanov daughters, she looked the most like Rose, even with the different hair. She squeezed Rose’s hand and eyed Dante. “Watch your back.”
Finally, it was the last sister’s turn. Sasha. She had tear tracks down her pretty face, but he couldn’t tell if they were happy tears or mourning tears. She grabbed his arm, her grip fiercer than he expected. “You keep my sister safe, do you hear me?”
“Sasha.”
He ignored his new wife and focused on her sister. “No one will touch her. I promise.”
She searched his face for a long moment and then nodded. “Good. That’s good.” The barest hesitation and then she released him and moved away.
Just like that, it was finished. No one seemed overeager to linger, which suited Dante just fine. He wanted to be alone with Rose. When she finally took his hand, he marveled to find himself trembling a little. This was really happening. They’d gone too far to turn back now. That was his ring on her finger and hers on his.
Husband. Wife.
She led him out of the sitting room and down a long dark hall to a set of stairs. He should have taken in the details, but he was too focused on her. At least until she opened a door on the second floor and ushered him inside. “I don’t know what living arrangements will look like long term, but we need to stay here in the meantime.”
He stepped into her room and looked around. The room was a treasure chest of Rose. A vanity stood against one wall with an overlarge mirror and every bit of space filled with more makeup than one woman could possibly use, though it looked like she used it regularly. A feat, that. Her bed was large and covered with a lush, deep-green comforter and a scattering of pillows. There appeared to be a sitting area with two chairs, but it was hard to tell beneath two massive piles of clothing. Two doorways led into a walk-in closet and a bathroom with a decent-sized shower and a tub.
Dante walked back into the bedroom. “Your family isn’t going to thank me for whisking you away the first chance I get.”
“No, they won’t.” She searched his face. “But it’s also not going to be comfortable living with them for who knows how long. They’re rather angry with me right now.”
He shrugged. “They’ll get over it. This is your home. I’m not going to take you from it.” She’d be safer here in the coming confrontation, and it also eliminated the risk of someone deciding to undermine her authority because she wasn’t present. No matter how pissed her family was, they loved her. Once they realized he loved her as well, they’d get over it.
If they didn’t? He was more than capable of handling it.
Rose didn’t seem so sure. “I don’t think Anya is going to stab you, but…”
“Amata.” He crossed to her and pulled her into his arms. “I am here for you and you alone. I can deal with your family, attempted stabbings, or no. You’re the heir of this family, and you need to be here. I can handle it.”
She ran her hands up his chest. “I’d say you’re too good to be true, but there was the kidnapping.”
“Si.” He backed toward the bed, taking her with him. “Though you started it when you shot me.”
“I did, didn’t I?” She unbuttoned his shirt, and he let go of her long enough for her to slide the fabric over his shoulders and down his arms. She touched the scar on his shoulder. “It’s barbaric, but I like that you wear my marks.”
Desire shot through him with a strength that staggered him. He took her hand and pressed it to the scar fully. “I was yours from long before the moment you pulled the trigger.”
“We’re so fucked up,” she whispered.
“No.” He cupped her face with one hand. “We’re twisted so perfectly that we balance each other in a way other people could never accomplish. You’re mine, amata. I’m yours.”
Rose turned her face and kissed his palm. “Husband.”
“Wife.”
She stepped back and reached down to grip the hem of her green dress. One smooth move and it was on the floor next to her, leaving her in a pair of matching black bra and panties. “Tomorrow we have a meeting with Vladimir Romanov.”
Dante sat on the bed and cupped her hips, urging her closer. “He will make threats. You will make your own threats. It will end in an impasse.”
“Da.” She straddled him and pushed him back to lie flat on the mattress. “It’s the opening move in a chess match between us.” A line appeared between her perfect brows. “I don’t know what happens next, d’yavol. There’s a reason we avoid war at all costs. The price is too high.”
“You have nothing to worry about, amata.” He bent up and kissed her. “You have the devil on your side. I’ll keep you safe.”
She smiled against his lips. “And my family? My people? My territory?”
“Don’t you know how powerful the devil is?” He stroked a hand up her spine and cupped the back of her neck. “There are more alliances to consider and more plays to make. You’re smart and you’re ruthless, and Jovan Romanov has bitten off more than he can chew by fucking with you and your family.” He kissed her hard. “We will prevail.”
“I love you, Dante.”
He rolled her, moving them up the mattress enough that he could settle between her thighs. “I love you, too, Rose. Amata. Wife. Forever.”
Epilogue
Sasha hadn’t been invited to the meeting with Vladimir Romanov. She was never invited to the tense meetings Rose and Anya and even Lorelei attended at times. Well, not Lorelei any longer. Not with her sister married off to a Capparelli.
If her family members were left to their own devices, they wouldn’t tell Sasha anything. They were too worried about bruising her or hurting her feelings. She couldn’t help that she worried about them, that tears got the best of her when her emotions were high. Now that Rose had married Dante Verducci…
Sasha’s family wouldn’t ask her for help. They’d be too busy protecting her to consider her an asset, and she wasn’t even sure they were wrong. The temptation to hide in her room until this was all over was nearly overwhelming. She couldn’t do it, though. She wouldn’t.
Which was why she was currently crouched on the other side of the door to the sitting room where her parents and Rose were holding the meeting. Not the one in the hall, where anyone could catch her. The door that went from one sitting room to another. They never used it, so no one thought to worry about eavesdroppers from this direction.
She pressed her ear to the door, closing her eyes to focus better on the conversation in Russian going on in the other room.
“My daughter can speak for herself.” Sasha instantly recognized her father’s terse tone.