The Recluse Heir by Monique Moreau
14
Like clockwork. Alex entered my apartment on time.
“Hey, what’s up?” he asked as he sauntered into the kitchen. I smirked at the irritation in his tone. My door and Nicu’s were never closed since we were the only two who shared the floor and the elevator was special access only. I saw Cat’s lovely nose twitch as Alex’s feet halted behind me.
“Cat?” he said. After a beat, he continued, “Are you alright? What are you doing here?”
Turning around to face him, I waited as Alex processed the sight of me with my shirt off and Cat, her hair a mess from last night, in my robe. I’d made sure she wore something of mine as a statement, although I did like knowing my scent covered her.
Laced in danger, his eyes jumped from me to her to me again. Alex’s voice dropped. “What in the fuck is going on?”
Casually taking a sip of my coffee, I declared, “Congratulate your new sister-in-law, frate, Cat and I are getting married.”
“Explain yourself and make it fast. You always call me brother when you fuck up,” he spat out, his green eyes darkening as they narrowed on me.
I gave a long, audible exhale. Granted, I was used to getting flak from him, but shit could escalate rapidly between us, and I wanted to spare Cat any of Alex’s unfettered commentary. He was pissed off enough that he wouldn’t hold back much longer. Leaning over, I planted a kiss on Cat’s forehead and whispered in her ear for her to leave us and to shut the door of the bedroom behind her. Eyes flared wide with trepidation, she stood up and cradled her plate to her chest. After a little swat to her plump ass, I got to my feet and followed her far enough to make sure she disappeared down the hall.
Once I heard the door click closed, I stalked toward the kitchen and rounded on him, “Watch your fucking mouth around her.”
Sitting at the table, his brows hit his forehead. His expression told me exactly what he was thinking—since when did I care about women or how they felt? The question was branded on his face.
“She’s eighteen years old. She’s got a good reputation. She’s a damn virgin, for fuck’s sake. You took advantage of her,” he proclaimed, his voice hard.
“She’s not a virgin anymore.” I sat down heavily beside him, making a scoffing noise in the back of my throat. “Right, like Nina was only twenty when she ambushed you into popping her cherry and forging a blood bond. Don’t insult them by underestimating how willful they can be.”
A low growl emanated from him.
Now it was my turn to apologize. Raising my hands in retreat, I said, “Hey, no disrespect to Nina. I’m trying to explain that Nina and Cat may be young, but they have brains. Hearts. They make informed decisions, regardless of their age or experience level. Nina knew she wanted you and went to great lengths to lock you down. Cat knows who she wants to be with, and I can assure you, it’s not Nicu.”
Pinching the bridge of his nose, he squeezed his eyes shut like he was in physical pain.
“Why, why, why? And why now? Just when we have Nelu where we want him, you have to choose this moment to fuck up our advantage? You know how conniving he is. After years of strife, we finally have the upper hand. Christ man, I gave up on you ever marrying, and now this—” He thrust his hand out. “You had your chance. I cajoled, I begged, I fucking pressured you to take her, and you rejected her. You do realize that, right?”
“Hey, just because I didn’t bend to your will doesn’t mean I’m incapable of caring for someone,” I snapped.
“Sure about that? You rejected her, Luca,” he emphasized. His words triggered a little tsunami of remorse in my chest. Guilt wasn’t an emotion that I had much experience with, but I felt it, nonetheless.
“It’s not that simple,” I replied. He could blame me all he wanted, but I didn’t even know her then. Yeah, okay, lay the blame on me. Anything to spare Cat.
In an exasperated tone, Alex went on, “We had an ugly-ass fight that dragged on for weeks. Weeks. Through it all, you held strong. I thought you said that you didn’t trust her, that you could never trust a Popescu, that they were planting her as a spy to undermine us. God knows, that’s what Nicu still thinks.”
“That was before I met her. Before I got to know her,” I ground out. “I wasn’t going to get bullied into a mafie marriage, so, yes, that was partially why I rejected her. If I had met her, things might’ve been different. As for not trusting her because she’s a Popescu…” I waved my hand dismissively. “Knowing her as I do now, she could never be underhanded like that. Betrayal is not in her nature. She’s the one pure, untouched thing that’s come out of that mongrel clan. She’s a goddamn miracle, but there it is.”
“Well, too fucking bad,” he retorted, his eyes snapping dangerously.
What a double standard.
“Don’t act as if you pushed me to marry her for my own good,” I scoffed. “It was your duty as şef, but you tried shirking your responsibility off on me so that you could marry Nina. You didn’t hesitate sacrificing me for your happiness.”
Rising slowly to his full height, he snarled, “Don’t you fucking dare lecture me on responsibility. I fucking live and breathe the Lupu clan. I’ve sacrificed far more than you have for this family.”
I rose swiftly to meet him, the chair screeched against the tiles behind me. We eyed each other like a showdown in a spaghetti Western. We’d fought for years, but there was a shift in me. Maybe it was talking to Cat about my father that loosened my tongue, or maybe it was me stepping up to fight for her, for us. Whatever the reason, I was prepared to bring up the unmentionable.
My tone was controlled, but deadly. “Bullshit, I sacrificed in ways that you will know nothing about. I have scars you know nothing about. Nothing. And thank fuck for that, Alex. Yes, you’ve sacrificed, but the fundamental difference between us is that your sacrifices came of your own free will. I sure as hell can’t say the same, and maybe that’s why every demand or, yes, every request on top of those endless years of sacrifice seems like one too many for me.”
His gaze shot away from me, shame and regret stark on his face. Again, I wondered exactly how much Alex knew, but another part of me didn’t care. Keeping Cat took precedence over my lifelong code of silence.
“No, don’t look away from me. You were ready to go toe-to-toe with me until I dragged out the one secret we never talk about. Only then are you consumed by guilt. Why do I need to remind you, huh? Oh, right, because you didn’t live through what I lived through. You can afford to forget. And I rarely bring it up because I don’t want to go there, but I’m doing it now. That’s how important this is to me.”
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath, eyes shooting to the ground.
My shoulders dropped a little. “I’m not playing the victim card. I despise reliving the past, but it rears its ugly head when I’m asked to put myself aside for the needs of the family. My childhood was consumed by the drive to remain silent to protect the cohesion of our family, to protect his absolute authority, to protect your sensibility and the twins’ sensibilities. Once the bastard died, I was done. Do you know what level of self-control it took to go to his funeral? Watching everyone weep over a man who was a monster? I rejoiced in his death. I was drunk from relief. I wanted to throw a party—”
“Enough,” he interjected with a slash of his hand.
“See, you can’t bear to listen to me even now. How could you handle listening to the details of what he did to me? You’ve never asked me what happened. Not once.”
His eyes flew up to mine. “It’s true. I didn’t want to know, but I also knew you wouldn’t tell me.” He paused for an instant. He always paused before asking me something he didn’t want the answer to. “Will you…will you tell me now?”
I huffed out a weary laugh. In moments like this, I admired my big brother. I was reminded of why I loved him, despite the perpetual distance between us. He never backed down from a challenge, no matter how difficult, how painful. That’s what made him not only a boss, but the Lupul, a title bestowed on only the most impressive of Lupu şefs. While he might know the broad strokes of what went down between my father and me, he didn’t know the particulars.
Could I tell him about how our beloved pater ordered me to strip and lie down in the downstairs bathroom tub? A tub filled halfway with water so when he whipped me with a telephone wire, the blood, the proof of his cruelty, swirled down the drain, leaving nothing behind but my scars. Scars my father knew I’d take great lengths to hide. Scars that were now faint, barely noticeable lines. But what about the scars those sessions left on my fucking soul? Yeah, telling Alex was never going to happen.
“No, I won’t. It’s my burden and I won’t share it,” I replied. “What good would it do to tell you? It would only tear you up inside. Divide your loyalty. And, let’s be honest, you psychologically need to admire our father, if not outright love him, to effectively lead this family. I know what it’s like to live with hatred and distrust in my heart, and I don’t want that for you. Your job is difficult enough as it is. As the second oldest, my duty is to make it as easy as possible for you to rule, and that hasn’t changed. Do you remember that time in Romania, hunting down the Roma assassins who shot at us?”
“Of course, I remember,” he grunted.
“In the silence of that birch forest, we had to work as a team to track them down. We were united. That was the only way we could succeed in picking them off. If we hadn’t worked as one unit, we would’ve been slaughtered out there.” I clapped a hand over his shoulder and squeezed hard. “That birch forest is a metaphor for our world, Alex. We still work as one, yet we each carry our own burden. I’ve been labeled as the contrarian, the difficult one. I know what Nicu thinks of me. I hear the whispers behind my back. The recluse, the rebel, they call me, but only I know the truth of how much I carry, and trust me, it’s more equal than you think.”
With a heavy sigh, Alex fell into the chair, slumping over the table. “Be honest, how much does this have to do with Nicu? From the looks of it, once your little brother had her, you went after her.”
It might seem like a rational conclusion, and one that was sure to come up again in our vicious gossiping circles. Luca, the jealous older brother, snatching away his younger brother’s fiancée, whom he loved so much. Yeah, right. It might sound logical, but the accusation felt like a slap in the face. I did my best to take it in stride.
Pulling my chair toward the table, I carefully took a seat and laid my cards out on the table. “What I have with Cat has nothing to do with Nicu. Don’t for an instant think this is about jealousy. I may be many things. Impatient, rough, unruly. But jealous is not one of them. You know damn well that I’ve never been envious of either you or Nicu. Sure, I hate the way Nicu behaves like a spoiled brat hero-worshipping his father figure, but that has nothing to do with this situation.”
Rubbing my knuckles against the scruff of my jaw, I added, “If he cared for her, if he’d shown a sliver of interest in her, hell…if he looked at her like he wanted her, then I would’ve backed off. It would’ve killed me, but I would’ve done it. Instead, last night he lusted after her best friend in front of her, blatantly disrespecting her. He doesn’t care for her. At all. But I do.” I smacked my hand to my chest. “I fucking care for her. I will be a good husband to her. I blood bonded with the full intent of making her mine. No one’s taking her away from me. Not even you.”
By the time I finished my speech, my chest heaved with emotion. The muscles around my throat were strained, but to hell with it. For the first time, I was speaking my truth. I was willing to suffer through feeling exposed. I’d go out on a limb for Cat, but also because I had to make him understand. It was the only way to win him over.
“If it wasn’t to get back at me or Nicu, or to simply make my life harder, then tell me why? Of all the women you could have, why did you have to go after her?”
I gave a humorless chuckle. I understood his confusion. His frustration. But my brother hadn’t seen me and Cat together or he wouldn’t ask such a ridiculous question. Why, he asked. A better question was how could I not? She was pure gold. Precious and untainted. When a man like me found someone like Cat, he had no choice but to grab and hold on for dear life. It was the closest to clean as I’d ever get.
“I’m not a good man. None of us are, but the difference between us is that Tata took that chance away from me early in life. For her, though, I want to try. Do you remember when we were boys, we’d challenge each other to stare straight into the sun? We knew that it was too bright. Too strong. Mama would scold us that it could blind us, but we’d try anyway. That’s what being with Cat is like. It makes me want to reach high.”
His face went slack with shock.
Fucking finally.
He got it.
“I don’t have words,” he replied.
“Believe me when I say that I didn’t intend to fall for her,” I explained. “The baggage I carry was one of the reasons I figured I’d never marry, although by no means the only one. If daddy dearest failed to beat the stubbornness out of me, you certainly wouldn’t have succeeded in pressuring me into a traditional marriage. Perhaps I took one too many beatings for the sake of the family and it no longer held the same weight for me as it did for you and Nicu.” I gave a small one-shouldered shrug. “In any event, I was content with the knowledge that I’d live out my life alone.”
That wasn’t completely true. I was resigned to it. I thought it was the only choice left to me. Never thinking I’d couple up, I’d accepted my fate.
But Cat changed that. I had no idea who she was when I first laid eyes on her, but something shifted inside me that day.
He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Okay, you won. I believe you. Still, though. Why do you always have to make things difficult?” he retraced his steps back to the same argument. “For once, we have the Popescus at a disadvantage. You used the blood bond to circumvent the rules, but you didn’t handle the situation properly. Especially for a Lupu son like you. There are standards to uphold, Luca.”
“Lupu son?” I scoffed with a laugh but sobered at Alex’s steady gaze on me. He saw me as equally Lupu as him. Sure, I was, but I wasn’t as good at upholding those precious ideals as he was.
Shaking my head, I said, “I didn’t think I had a choice.”
“Bullshit, you always have a choice,” he growled.
“Then I didn’t want to risk someone denying us, whether it was you or Nelu.” I spread my hands out in supplication. “Either way, here we are. I understand that this is inconvenient for you, and for that, I am sorry.”
“That’s the first time you’ve apologized for anything you’ve done,” he grumbled. Spotting the coffeepot, he retrieved a cup and poured himself what was left over. I was pretty sure there was only sludge left at the bottom but didn’t stop him.
Sitting down heavily, he took a sip and made a grimace. Yup, sludge. “I swear, I have half a mind to join Cristo when he and his thugs beat the shit out of you. If I didn’t have to show them a united front, I’d be right there by his side. First time in a fucking lifetime.”
“You always were constrained by your position as şef,” I joked. “You should be used to it by now. Guess I should count myself lucky this time.”
Leaning over the table, he gave me a small slap to my cheek. “You owe me big time. Beating you up won’t be enough. It might’ve worked if Cristo was head of the family because he’s a hot-headed idiot, but not Nelu. He’s a wily motherfucker, and he’s going to milk this for all he can. He’s going to require serious monetary retribution, and I’m warning you now, it’s going to come out of your paycheck.” He snorted. “Who am I kidding, your portion won’t cover half of what he’ll demand. I hope you’re ready, asshole, because it would serve you right if I left you to clean up this mess by yourself.”
I suppressed a grin. Knowing Alex like I did, that was an empty threat. He wouldn’t leave me alone with this mess any more than he could stop breathing. Anyway, he was the best negotiator in the family. There was no way he’d step aside to let me take on a formidable opponent like Nelu. Alex was a competitive prick who could barely stand to lose a game of chess. He’d be chomping at the bit for a showdown with Nelu.
I’d let him pretend for as long as he needed to, but in the end, we both knew he’d never leave me out to dry or allow the Lupu name to get dragged through the mud by the Popescu. That wasn’t happening. The fucker might have his faults, but it felt good to know that when it mattered to me, he’d have my back.
Eyeing me curiously over the rim of his cup, he asked, “Seriously though, you trust her? She’s a Popescu after all.”
He was throwing my main argument for not marrying her in my face. That she would spy on us for Nelu. It was certainly what Nicu and many in our clan thought. For an instant, there was a niggling doubt in the back of my mind, but I shoved it away brusquely. Cat didn’t have a duplicitous bone in her body.
“I trust her implicitly,” I responded. “I wouldn’t blood bond with a woman that I didn’t trust with my life.” That was a lie. I didn’t trust anyone with my life, but I trusted myself and my ability to read people. “She’s a young, innocent girl. And it helps that she’s lived away from that nest of vipers for the past six years. Truth be told, they treat her like gold. Probably the only nice thing I can say about that family. They sent her away for her mental health, and it was a sacrifice.”
“Why did they send her away?”
I shrugged. “Not my story to tell. Once you get to know her, you can ask her yourself. She’s an open book. Gotta say, it’s pretty refreshing after the intrigue and drama that’s routine among our people.”
He arched an eyebrow. I had surprised him. Members of a mafie family were taught to covet secrets like hoarders. Perhaps because she’d lived away from her family, Cat wasn’t like that. I wasn’t lying when I said that she was like a breath of fresh air. Unlike so many women in our society, with Cat, what you saw was what you got. It was one of the qualities that I liked most about her.
There was one more issue that needed to be addressed with my şef.
“I’m blood bonded with her, Alex. Under the circumstances, I can’t allow her to go home. I won’t have them shaming her or stressing her out. You need to contact Nelu ASAP. Explain the situation and set up a meeting. She can only avoid their texts and calls for so long.”
“Are you fucking serious? It’s ballsy of you to have one more ask after what you did. How did you manage to get her out of the house? Did she climb down her window, or what? Because I haven’t gotten any alerts that she’s missing, although Nelu might try to keep it from me as long as possible.”
“They allowed her to sleep over at her friend Jewel’s dorm room last night,” I explained with a huff.
Neglectful at best, dangerous at worst.
Alex looked at me with an incredulous expression. “Have they lost their minds? Fuck man, this is half their fault for letting her out of their sight. Do they even care about what happens to her?”
I waved away his arguments. “They’d already had her in a boarding school for the past six years. After that, what’s another night?”
He shook his head. “Un-fucking-believable.”
“The point is, we need to get this resolved before the day is out. There will be a lot to discuss and negotiate, but it should stay between us, Nelu, and Cristo. I don’t want her going back there.”
“You’re kidding me, right? You want her to stay with you, out of wedlock, for the next two months before the wedding?” he ground out.
I gave a matter-of-fact shrug. “I popped her cherry,” I drawled. “What more is there?”
“There’s a fucking wedding, Luca,” he snapped.
“I know, but it’s no longer a wedding to a virgin. There’s no point in living apart for the interim. You know blood bonds are a sealed deal. It irrevocably tied her to our clan. Cat is now a Lupu. If you prefer that she live with Mama and Bunică in Queens, I’m open to the suggestion and willing to bring it to her. But they’re strangers to her. I’m her husband in every way but paper.”
He let out a long-exhausted sigh and gripped the sides of his head.
“She’s my responsibility now,” I continued relentlessly. “I don’t want them poisoning her toward me. She’s strong but impressionable, and for the safety of the clan, you don’t want her living with Nelu. God only knows what he can stir up. If they were true allies, that would be one thing. I don’t trust Simu either. He and Cat have a bit of history, so he might take this worse than he took her engagement to Nicu. That, along with our history, and the douche will take any opportunity to make my life difficult, and I don’t want Cat caught in the middle of our feud. Anyway, it’s in our best interest to take her in as a Lupu right away. The added perk is that it will solidify our reputation for ruthlessness. Stealing a bride, blood bonding her, and not giving her back? A warning to the daddies who fuck with us. We take what we want without fear.”
“You make a valid point,” he mused, rubbing his lips with his finger.
Pulling out his cell phone, he shot off a few texts. “It’s done. Now we wait and see, but you’re going to make this up to me. I am not fucking joking. For the foreseeable future, you’re my little bitch, understand? If I say jump, you ask how high.”
Nodding, I slapped my hands on the table and stood up. “I’m going to check on Cat and let her know what’s happened.”
Canting his head to the side, he inquired curiously, “How do you think she’ll react to not going home?”
“There are pros and cons, either way. As you might already know, her mom was sick recently, but I imagine she’ll be relieved that she won’t have to live with their disappointment. She was a naughty girl,” I said with a wink.
“You won’t be able to protect her completely,” he called out after me as I stepped out of the kitchen.
“True, but I can serve as a buffer. I already told her that she can put the blame on me. They’ll likely try to assassinate me in retribution, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take,” I tossed out as I walked into the living room.
