“Hey,” Fiona says softly, squeezing my hand. “You’re safe now. Roarke won’t let anything happen to you. None of us will.”
I nod, but I can’t stop the tears from falling.
The truth is, I’m terrified.
More than anything, I’m scared that this could mean the end of Roarke and me. Now that Yuri is no longer a threat, he has no reason to stay married to me. It’s clear that Alexei is nothing like his father, and something tells me he won’t try to hold my father to the agreement with Yuri, at least not in the same way his father did. Besides, Matteo and Sofia will be back from their honeymoon in a few days, and I know Matteo willmake my father pay for planning something like this behind his back.
Fiona seems to sense my thoughts. She sets down the washcloth and turns me to face her. ”You’re worried about Roarke, aren’t you? About what happens now?”
I bite my lip, then nod. “Yuri is dead. There’s no reason for us to stay married anymore.”
I consider opening up to Roarke’s sister. She’d be inclined to be more loyal to her brother than to me, but I still need to tell someone, so I find myself spilling and telling her everything. All my fears and uncertainties. All my feelings. “I didn’t even believe in love until a few days ago—that’s my sisters’ thing. They’re the hopeless romantics,” I say, brushing my hair from my face.
Fiona is quiet as I spill, her expression selling nothing. “Do you know why my brother has the nightmares he does?” she says, surprising me by the sudden shift.
“No, he’s never told me.” In truth, I’ve been scared to ask.
“Before he started working for Da, Roarke was in the military—special operations. He saw combat, lost men under his command. He came back different. Darker.” Her voice softens. There’s this darkness around him now that worries everyone in my family.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“This morning, my brother—the same one who hasn’t slept through the night in two years—called me in a panic and told me that his wife was missing. She’d left while he was sleeping.”
“Oh!”
“And I saw his eyes when he married you, Elena. For the record, no one can force my brother to do anything he doesn’t want to. My dad didn’t want him to join the military, but he did it anyway without telling anyone. Hell, my parents were convinced he had run away when he did. So if he married you, it’s because he wanted to. Regardless of the reason.” Her mouth stretches into a mischievous smile as she speaks. “If my big brother isn’t as insanely in love with you as you are with him, then I will eat all of my computer chips.”
I laugh at that, feeling all the tension leave my body. Just then, I hear voices coming from the living room. “Your family is back.”
“Let’s go see what’s going on.” Fiona grabs my hand and pulls me out before I can point out that we’re probably not supposed to listen to them talk about committing a crime by hiding evidence. The men don’t stop talking even when we join them.
“Are you boys surprised that the body was gone and that the place had been swept clean?” Patrick asks with the same mischievous grin I’d spotted on Fiona earlier. “Mob families move fast Bratva cleaners are the best in the business.”
“We weren’t gone for more than twenty minutes,” Roarke points out. “How did they do it that fast?”
“The Balshov cleaners were in there the second you stepped out,” his father tells him, clapping his shoulder. “The bratva are intelligent and lethal, as are most mob families. And you just married the sister-in-law to one of the most powerful families in New York City—you need to understand how their world operates, Roarke. You’re in it now, whether you like it or not.”
I freeze when he mentions our marriage. Patrick O’Shea knows? How does he know? Did they tell him already?
I turn to Roarke, panicked, but he doesn’t seem one bit worried that his father already knows. “I knew I would be dealing with the Rossis when I married Elena,” Roarke says instead, looking at me. “I intend to stay by her side, protecting her from that world until death do us part. Elena is mine. I don’t care who or what she’s connected to.”
I gape at the man. Sure, I had his sister’s assurance, but a part of me needed to hear it from Roarke himself. I get yet another dose of surprise when the father pats his son on the shoulder before turning to me.
Patrick O’Shea pulls me into a warm hug before pushing back to smile at me. “Welcome to the family, Elena.” He laughs heartily at the shocked look on my face before turning to walk out, calling over his shoulder. “And call your mother, Roarke. For the record, I was not here and know nothing about this marriage thing. You’re alone on this one, son.”
Roarke’s groan is followed by his siblings’ laughter as they follow their father out, leaving us alone in the hotel room.
I turn to Roarke, confused by his family’s reaction. “Why did everyone react like that? Will your mother…hate me?”
“Of course not,a chroí,” he rasps, wrapping his arms around my shoulders and pulling me flush against him, burying his face in my neck. “My mother will love you. She’s been riding my ass about settling down and giving her grandchildren. She’s not going to like that I kept her in the dark and robbed her of the chance of having a big wedding.”
I swallow, “And do you want that? Children?”
Roarke pulls back, and those ocean blues light up with so much affection that I feel my heart clench with love. “With you, Elena, I want everything,” he says, brushing his lips over mine. “A home, a life with you and our children, as many as you want.”
“I want that too,” I whisper, giggling when I’m suddenly lifted in the air and he carries me to the bedroom. I moan and wrap my arms around his shoulders as he lowers me to the bed, his mouth finding mine in a kiss so hot my toes curl in pleasure. For the first time in days, I feel all the tension melt from my body and ease sets in, that and affection for a man I had no business falling for but did anyway.
“I love you, Elena,” Roarke rasps when he pulls back to look at me. “That’s why you couldn’t sleep, wasn’t it? Worrying about things when I’m the one who’s supposed to be worrying about you.”
