So he focused on Charlie and the game dwindling to a close between her and Mae. He hadn’t trusted her before in how she handled the situation with the Eldridge heir. He trusted her now.
“All in.” Charlie pushed all her chips to the center of the table with a flirty wink at him. “Dinner’s going to be on me tonight, baby.”
She loves this. The risk, the role-playing, the outwitting of dangerous enemies.
He made a noncommittal sound. Alethea leaned over from where she sat next to him and murmured, “Trouble in paradise?”
“You’re awfully concerned with my love life.” He didn’t look away from the game, where Mae was considering Charlie like a cat toying with a mouse before devouring it.
She laughed softly. “This is about business and you know it—you also know that your love lifeisbusiness. Since you’re going to play coy on the subject, let’s put the rest of it on the table. You want us to work with you against Dmitri Romanov.”
Finally.Trust the woman to leave it until the last possible moment to broach the real reason they were there. When he looked at her, he found she was wearing the same expression as her daughter.
Normally, Aiden knew which way he wanted to play a person, depending on a number of factors. His sisters got the older brother who was kind of an asshole but still loved the shit out of them. The people under his command got Seamus 2.0, because that’s what they responded to best. Charlie got…Well, she was currently beside the point.
Alethea spoke and acted bluntly, but she was capable of subtlety—if she wasn’t, Romanov wouldn’t consider her such a large threat. So Aiden went the most direct route. “It’s in your best interest.”
“No, it’s inyourbest interest. My best interests lie elsewhere currently.”
He reminded himself that he’d expected he’d have to persuade her—if only on sheer principle. He walked the knife edge of danger, and it wasn’t only his life on the line. If Alethea turned against him, he wasn’t walking out of this warehouse alive. It was a risk, and it seemed a whole lot larger with Charlie at his side. One mistake and they were both going to pay.
He couldn’t let fear rule him now any more than he’d let it when facing down his father. Fear was how a man got himself killed. He gave her a lazy smile. “Oh? Is that why Romanov is going to marry my little sister?”
Her blue eyes flashed. “That was a low blow, and rude to boot. You know very well that he turned down my darling daughter.”
Yes, Aiden did know—because Romanov had told him. He got the impression that Romanov would have been happy letting them run their territory if they hadn’t threatened him, but they’d forced his hand with that proposal. It would have been smart to say yes and merge resources. It’s what the O’Malleys and Sheridans had done. Fuck, it was what the O’Malleys and Hallorans had done to a lesser extent. Those alliances made them all stronger.
Then again, having met Mae, he didn’t blame the Russian one bit. That woman had black widow written all over her.
“His loss.” He sat back, feigning disinterest. “Did he tell you why?”
“Does it matter?” Alethea frowned. “What do you know?”
It was time to dangle the bait and see if she’d bite. Aiden’s gaze drifted back to Charlie. “I have it on good authority that your shipment to Romanov in two weeks will be your last.”
“It’s not.” She narrowed her eyes. “He wouldn’t dare.”
“You know better.”
Dmitri Romanov had no shortage of balls. He wouldn’t have accumulated so much power if he was afraid to take risks. Taking on the Eldridges was a risk, even with the O’Malleys at his side. He was a smart man. He had to know that turning down a marriage with Mae would be enough to spark a response. So why had he done it?
Surely not because of Keira…
Alethea drummed her fingers on the table. “I’m listening.”
“Consider it a token of my goodwill to pass this information along.”
“Mm-hmm.” She snorted. “It wouldn’t have anything to do with you wanting him dead, would it? Easier to put a bullet between those gorgeous eyes of his than to orchestrate all this.”
If it was that easy, he would have done it already. But he’d been telling the truth when he talked to Cillian—Dmitri Romanov might be a threat, but at least he was a known quantity. Romanov was also gunning for the O’Malleys—for Keira—and Aiden couldn’t allow that to stand. He was still repairing his relationships with his other sisters after putting the good of the family before their individual needs. He’d give his baby sister a choice about her future. “I can’t do it alone.” Aiden kept his voice low, as if itpained him to admit it.
“Now the truth is out. Though, my dear boy, if you can’t do it on your own, how do you imagine you can help me?” She shot him a look from the corner of her eye. “I’m going to put that Russian bastard in the ground the way I have with every other enemy that’s crossed me. I don’t need you.”
The two guards in the room moved closer at the threat in her voice. Liam looked like he wanted to do the same, but Aiden waved him off. He kept one eye on Charlie and Mae as the last card was placed on the table. “We’re stronger together than we are apart.” It made him feel dirty to offer her an alliance—dirty in a way that nothing he’d done in his life up to this point had managed to. It didn’t matter that it was a ruse. He was effectively getting into bed withbothRomanov and the Eldridges.
I’d do this and worse to keep my family and my people safe.
“Hmm. Well, I guess time will tell, won’t it?”
