The Bastard’s Betrayal by Katee Robert

Chapter 17

The flight back to New York was aggravating as fuck.

Rose’s head pounded from where Casimir had slammed her into the ground. Her throat felt like she’d swallowed live coals. And her ankle ached just enough to be truly irritating.

Most of all, her cousin and uncle refused to answer a single one of her questions.

Uncle Jude had made sure she was okay as soon as they got on the plane, but the second he realized she wouldn’t stop pestering them, he’d muttered something under his breath about stubborn women, pulled out his laptop, and for all intents and purposes seemed to be ignoring them despite his lack of headphones.

“Grady, just tell me what happened. You were at the wedding.”

Grady crossed his arms over his broad chest. He was even bigger than his dad, which was saying something. They had the same dark hair and dark eyes, though Grady was just built solid. Uncle Jude was no slouch, even now that he was in his sixties, but Grady looked like he could just plow through a concrete wall without missing a step. He also had Uncle Jude’s glare down to a science. “We were hired to find you. We don’t have anything to do with the rest of it.”

She didn’t roll her eyes, but it was a near thing. “Yes, yes, I’m aware you aren’t actually connected with the less-than-legal activities. God forbid you dirty your pristine hands the way the rest of your family has.” Back in the day, Jude and Sloan had lived outside of Boston for several years before they moved back to the city, and even then it was with the understanding that they would not be included in any of the O’Malley businesses, either legit or in the shadows. She respected their choice, but Grady’s holier-than-thou attitude never failed to piss her off. Especially right now, when she wasn’t actually asking him to delve into anything but what he saw personally. “But you were at the wedding and you’re here now.”

“The only reason I’m here is because we’re good at finding people and you needed found.” He glared harder. “And, fucking hell, Rose. You’re family even if you’re a pain in the ass.”

“Thanks, Grady, so sweet of you to say.” She wouldn’t pretend she hadn’t needled him whenever the opportunity arose at extended family get-togethers; he was so uptight, she was practically required to mess with him. She huffed. God, her throat fucking hurt, but she wasn’t about to let that stop her from getting answers. “You won’t tell me? Fine. Give me a phone and I’ll call home myself.”

“No.” This came from Jude. He didn’t look up from his computer. “Your parents specifically said they’d update you when you got back.”

Frustration reached a rapid boil inside her. “Since when do you care what Dmitri fucking Romanov wants?” There was a time when Papa and Jude were actual enemies. That hatred had faded over the years, but they were hardly what could be termed friends.

“Rose.” He finally lifted his gaze from the laptop. When she was a little girl, she just thought Uncle Jude was a quiet guy with the patience of Job. He wouldn’t play silly games like Uncle Cillian or Uncle Teague, but he also had no problem reading to their chaotic group of cousins for extended periods of time.

Now, as an adult, she couldn’t quite forget the fact he used to kill people for living. It was there in the steadiness of his gaze, in the quiet way he held the body he’d kept strong despite the years passing and the gray in his hair. Every once in a while, he gave her a flash of that man he used to be, and he was giving it to her now.

She wasn’t a little girl anymore, though. She lifted her chin, fighting back a wince when the move made both head and throat ache. “Tell me.”

“You’ll find out soon enough.” He leaned back and surveyed her again. “You were sure quick to get out of there. Left some loose ends.”

A wealth of implication beneath those words, implication she certainly didn’t want to examine too closely. By all rights, she should have shot Dante and left him for dead. Again. It was the smart thing to do, even if it meant having to dodge the law. She’d seen the look on his face, heard the truth in his words.

He wouldn’t stop coming for her.

Not while they were both alive.

That was a bad thing. No matter how conflicted she felt the past couple days, ultimately a few days of mind-blowing sex with that man changed nothing. She was meant for Romeo. It was the only way to dodge issues with the Capparelli family, and that was doubly important now that the Russian branch of her family was involved.

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.

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.