Keira laughed out loud at the sight.There weren’t bars on the window, but there might as well have been a sign proclaiming it to be home of the resident evil overlord.It was in the overlarge front door—even bigger than the one in the O’Malley residence—and the massive iron-framed windows, each with dark curtains on the other side, blocking out any view of the interior.It was beautiful, but there was a definite modern gothic flair that she wouldn’t have expected from Dmitri.“You called me dramatic.Those living in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”
“Hmm?”He climbed out of the car, her bag firmly in one hand, and held the door open for her.
“This.”She stepped onto the sidewalk and frowned at the building.“You have private parking somewhere, I’m assuming.”He didn’t answer, but she wasn’t about to letthat stop her.“Would have been smarter to go in there, but you couldn’t resist making an impression, could you?”Keira strode up the stairs to the massive wooden door.It looked like something that should be at a dark and stormy castle, complete with gargoyles.There was even an oversized knocker right in the center of it.“It’d be better if this was a face, preferably screaming in agony.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
She ignored the amusement in his tone and tried the handle.Unlocked.Keira pushed through the door and stepped into the massive entranceway.If the building looked like renovated apartments on the outside, the interior had been completely gutted and changed.She looked around, trying to feel something other than the itch to pop open a bottle, but she couldn’t focus.“Where’s my room?I want to be alone.”
“Keira.”
She could charge up the stairs, but her pointed exit would be ruined by not knowing where her bedroom was.She sighed and turned to face him.“Yes?”
“When is the last time you spent twenty-four hours sober?”
She wasnottouching that question with a ten-foot pole.“I don’t remember reading anything requiring sobriety in the contract…” Keira snapped her fingers.“Oh, that’s right.There wasn’t a contract.There was just you being shady and expecting everyone else to play along.”She had to get out of there.She was holding it together by a hair.Even though it went against everything she was, she let a little vulnerability creep into her voice.“Romanov, please.I’m tired and I’m worried about my friend and brother, and you just threw a surprise marriage at me.Cut me abreak and give me some time to find my feet.”She held her breath, watching him watch her.
Finally, he nodded.“Your room is on the second floor.Third door on the right.”
That was it.No offering to walk her up there.No pointed comments about her wifely duties.She wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed.Keira pointed at the bag he still held.“My things.”
Dmitri passed it over, though he didn’t look impressed.“Whatever you need will be provided for you.Just let me or one of my men know.”
Don’t look at the bars of the cage.Look at all the pretty things you can have.
She clamped her mouth shut to keep from saying the words aloud, as if that would somehow make this whole shit show real.Keira nodded and headed up the stairs, feeling his gaze on her the entire way.
Alethea Eldridge studied her only daughter.She’d had such high hopes for Mae when she was a little girl, dreams of her daughter following in her footsteps and carving out a little territory of her own—expandingthe territory they currently occupied.It was what Alethea herself had done when she’d reached the point wherehermother trusted her with operations.
Those dreams were dust now.First when Andrei Romanov forced them to become part of his operation, and again when Dmitri Romanov tried to extinguish their existence completely.
Alethea knew her strengths.She never wanted to ruleall of New York—it was more trouble than it was worth—but being stripped of what little power the Eldridges had and treated as little more than a henchman?
It couldn’t go unanswered.
The situation was even more dire now that Mae had lost control yet again.Alethea crossed her arms over her chest and looked down her nose at her daughter.“I had Romanov and O’Malley right where I wanted them, but you managed to get them to stop bickering and unite against us.Twice.”
“They insulted us.Maybe you could let it stand, butIwasn’t going to.”Mae lifted her chin.She’d never be a beauty, but she was strong and vicious, and Alethea had spent her life teaching Mae the ins and outs of their world.Not that the girl had listened.She liked blood too much, liked others’ pain.That tendency could be valuable in an enforcer, but in an heir?
“Some insults are worth bearing if it will get you closer to the end goal.”She wouldn’t get through to her this time any more than she had the last few.
The temptation rose to just… walk away.To take what little money they had left after getting Mae out of jail and leave.Go west, or maybe take a flight to Europe and lose themselves there.
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, Alethea set it aside.Her mother hadn’t raised her to be a coward any more than Alethea had raised Mae to be one.Several generations of Eldridges had spent money and blood carving out a place for themselves in New York, and she’d be damned before she let that upstart Russian drive them out.
There was no way out of this as long as Romanov and O’Malley were alive.O’Malley, they could avoid if theystayed in New York.He was new to his power and, with an upcoming wedding and a healing fiancée, he would be focused on Boston.
Nothing would distract Romanov.He had more at stake, and it washisterritory they currently stood on.
No, the only way out was through him.He was the last of his family in the city.His extended family might not like it if she took him out, but anyone they sent to deal with her would be an outsider, and that would work against them.
Alethea opened her eyes, a plan already forming.“Youwillobey, Mae.Our very survival depends on it.”
Mae stared at her with those cold, cold eyes, and Alethea caught herself wondering if she could draw the gun in her purse faster than Mae could get to whatever weapon she had secreted on her person.Then her daughter smiled.“Of course, Mother.I wouldn’t dream of disobeying.”
Dmitri stared at his phone.They’d been back in New York for hours, and he’d expected a call from Aiden O’Malley.The man wouldn’t be able to let Dmitri taking his little sister go without at least an attempt at a fight.The fact that hehadn’tcalled wasn’t a good sign.
He drummed his fingers on the desk, irritated at himself.He’d told Keira that her brother was safe.
