“Aw, bright eyes, yes, you really will.”
And, God help her but she did.
Chapter Seven
You look tired.”
Aiden ignored Cillian’s pointed statement—and the implication behind it. He’d known what he was doing when he told Charlie not to stifle her cries, though it wasn’t solely to make everyone believe that they were madly in love. He’d liked hearing his name on her lips and being the reason she lost control again and again.
When he’d finished with her last night, she’d passed out before managing to give him that blow job she was so determined to deliver. Knowing he was responsible for her being in his bed, exhausted from pleasurehe’dgiven her, had satisfied a primal part of him he hadn’t even been aware of before last night.
I’m a goddamn savage in a three-thousand-dollar suit.
He drank down his coffee, though he was wired even before his first cup. Everything was finally falling into place.The end was in sight. He just had to hold it together long enough to see the plan through.
The next stage started now.
He pulled out his phone, earning a frustrated curse from his brother. Aiden spoke to Cillian without looking up, keeping his tone even and disinterested. “I’m ignoring you because you know damn well why I’m tired and you’re fishing for information that you won’t get. We have work to do.”
“Work that involves selling our baby sister to a monster.”
“If you want to look at it that way.” He hated the expression of betrayal on Cillian’s face, hated how little his brother trusted him. There was no help for it. He dialed Romanov.
The man himself answered the phone. “Da?”
“Before we do anything official regarding Keira, you need to understand that there will be negotiations required.”
Romanov sighed. “Andyouneed to understand you have no rights to be making demands of me.”
“Oh, my mistake. I didn’t realize that you’d already dealt with the Eldridges and didn’t need my help.”
The silence stretched for a beat, and then two. “Explain these demands.”
Interesting. He’d expected more pushback. Romanov might need some assistance with the Eldridges, but he could have potentially called in favors with his extended family back in Russia. There were politics there, and he wouldn’t do it lightly, but itwasan option.
He hadn’t. Instead, he’d come to the O’Malleys.
Because he wanted Keira.
Romanov wouldn’t still be pressing for a marriage alliance if he didn’t need it desperately. Being spurned by Carrigan had hurt his reputation, a hurt that was onlyaggravated when his half sister, Olivia, fled the Romanov home and name, into the arms of the O’Malleys. In his world, reputation was everything. Demanding the only remaining O’Malley daughter would repair his damaged status and reinforce his power base.
Maybe hecan’task for assistance from his extended family, because they think he’s weak. That would explain a lot.
“We will announce the engagement at a party.” A distraction in the carefully planned circus he had put into motion. He needed Romanov focused on Keira and everyone else focused on Charlie so he could make his next move.
The thought that he could be sentencing his sister to an actual marriage with that monster made him sick to his stomach.Not real. I won’t let it get that far. Romanov gave his word, and she’d never choose him.He didn’t let any of his inner feelings into his voice. “I’ll put together something and issue the appropriate invitations.”
“How considerate.” Romanov didn’t sound like he found it considerate in the least. “Don’t think to cross me, Aiden.” He hung up, his words ringing in Aiden’s head for several minutes afterward.
Aiden couldn’t shake the feeling that, despite his plan, he was playing right into Romanov’s hands.
He set down his phone and looked at Cillian. “If you have something to say, say it now. We’ll move forward as a single unit, so I won’t have you questioning me every step of the way.”
His brother gave him a long look and sank into the seat across the desk. “I don’t know what game you’re playing, but I don’t like it. You’re putting our baby sister on the line, and if you don’t manage to do whatever it is you’re trying to do, she’ll be the one to pay the price.” Cillian huffed outa breath. “I know the world we live in. I get that you’re doing what you think is best—truly, I do. But how about we stop pretending that you fell so deeply in love with some stranger that you brought her in here and plan to marry her. Maybe Teague and Carrigan—and even Keira—will fall for that. They aren’t here, day in and day out. I am. And I know you’d never let your heart get the best of you.”
His brother was right, even if he’d never admit it. Aiden’s heart didn’t even come into the equation when the O’Malleys were on the line. He managed a brief smile. “Always damning me with faint praise.”
“It’s the truth.”
