“You are insane for that.”
“Brother, you hear this? She’s calling me names, even though I’m right,” Sasha says. “Control her?”
Marianna laughs and raises her eyebrows at me. “Well, Maxim? What punishments will you dole out to your rude wife?”
“She can be as rude as she wants,” I say. “Especially if it’s to you.”
“Man,” Sasha says, but he’s laughing too as he pulls through the gates to the Morelli home.
Marianna climbs out of the car first, forgetting the box of donuts that sit between us, so I grab it and follow after her into her sister’s home.
“Yo,” Marianna calls when we get through the door. Vanessa calls out from down the hall a response that I don’t make out, but we follow the sound into Vanessa’s office where Vanessa and Leo sit across from each other at the table.
Vanessa looks surprised to see me and Sasha trailing behind her sister.
“Bring Your Guy to Work Day?” Leo asks.
“Morning, Orlov,” Vanessa says, indicating I take a seat in one of the three chairs across from her.
I do, Marianna dropping into the one next to me after giving her sister and cousin kisses on their cheeks.
I place the box of donuts on the desk and Leo reaches for one.
I don’t know her cousin well, but I know his father was Lorenzo Morelli’s right hand and a widower, so Leo was raised with the rest of them. He’s strong, well respected, and would beas feared as Marianna if he wasn’t seen as her more reasonable counterpart.
“What do you have for me?” Marianna asks.
“Hugh Sullivan,” Leo says, and his expression is grim. “Third strike.”
“What’d he do this time?”
Vanessa clears her throat, her eyes flashing momentarily to mine. “Almost killed an Orlov. Said it’s bad enough Cillian couldn’t take me down, now we had to go merge families again with,” she reads from a paper on the desk in front of her and sighs, “thelittle psycho girl.”
Marianna whistles before reaching for a donut.
“Why haven’t I heard about this?” I ask. I might have taken him out myself if I heard he’d said that.
“I heard about it,” Sasha says, reaching between Marianna and me for a chocolate sprinkle donut himself. “Dmitri beat the shit out of the man for threatening him and talking shit. Score seemed settled.”
“Maybe for you, but this isn’t his first infraction,” Vanessa says.
“And if he was Cillian’s side like that? Well, that’s just one step too far,” Leo says, and I completely agree. Cillian attempting to force Vanessa into marrying him last year secured his death. He should’ve died sooner, but nobody knew he was responsible for Marianna being shot.
“Sean knows?” Marianna asks.
Vanessa nods as she rubs her pregnant belly absent-mindedly. “He made the final call.”
Marianna sighs and takes the last bite of her donut. Sean’s rise to head of the Donovann family was unexpected, and the weight of the last six months has probably aged him a few years. He’s looked tired since taking over, but wears it well. He’s tough and sharp.
I’m rooting for him, more than I had his traitor of a brother. It’s difficult making decisions like this one—it’s not easy killing someone you thought you could trust, even after said three strikes.
“Alright. I’ll handle it,” Marianna says.
My gaze snaps to my wife. What does she mean she’llhandle this?
“Handle it how?” I ask. Both Vanessa and Leo look a little uncomfortable at the question.
“I’ll take him out,” Mary says, like it’s the most casual thing in the world. I blink, processing this. We are here at nine in the morning because they want Marianna to do ahit? Like she’s a fucking unmade lackey?
