“The Russian situation is complicated. You’re safest here with me.”
Somehow, I suspect he’s wrong about that, but for an entirely different reason. When Alessio’s guard is down, he’s alarmingly magnetic. He’s also not nearly as good at shielding his thoughts and emotions from me, which is how I sense there’s a whole lot more than what he’s telling me.
I take a sip of wine, choosing my words with care. “Is it something more than the Russians?”
His jaw tenses. “You don’t give up, do you?”
I’m not sure of my place here, but I am completely at this man’s mercy for the next week and a half. If something is affecting him, chances are it will also affect me. I want to know what that is. I need to know, so I can do my best to protect myself.
What if the police are after him? What if he’s about to get hit with a racketeering charge, and meanwhile, I’m gleefully hopping on his dick?
Maybe there’s another way to get the truth out of him.
I shrug. “If it’s too sensitive of a subject to talk about, we don’t have to.”
“Mother Mary,” he grumbles, scrubbing at his jaw as he’s back to glowering at me again. “I don’t have a sensitive bone in my body. You should know that by now.”
“Sure,” I say noncommittally, like I don’t believe a word he’s just said.
“I don’t.”
I drink my wine, not bothering to argue. My silence says it all.
Finally, he makes a low sound that’s reminiscent of a growl. “You really want to know?”
I wait.
“The woman who spawned me,” he grinds out, the words sounding like they’re torn from him.
This is not what I was expecting to hear. I set my wineglass down on the marble with a clank. “Your mother?”
I turn that information over in my mind. Luna told me that Priest’s mother disappeared years ago and he and his brothers had no idea where she’d gone or if she was still even alive. My heart pounds harder. “Is she…?”
“She’s alive and well,” he announces bitterly. “And apparently, she’s decided to return from the dead, twenty-five years too fucking late with some sob story about how my old man threatened to kill her. She’s also brought my twin sisters with her. Well, technically, half sisters.”
Now I’m more confused than ever. “You have twin sisters? I had no idea.”
He snorts. “Neither did I, until today.”
Oh my God.
Suddenly, Alessio’s mood makes awful, perfect sense. The pieces click together in my mind like a fucked-up puzzle.
“If you didn’t know you had twin sisters until today,” I say slowly, “then that means Priest doesn’t know either, does he?”
Alessio lifts his wine in mock salute. “Nope.”
Then he drains the rest of it in one gulp.
“You’re not going to tell him until he gets back, are you?”
He gives me a look. “What do you take me for? No, don’t answer that. I’m sure you think I’m a heartless bastard, and I don’t want to hear that. My mood was starting to improve for the first time since Scorpion came to me with the news.”
I wince. “I can imagine it must have been quite the shock.”
“Understatement of the fucking century.” He finishes the last of the leftovers and gets up, stalking across the kitchen to rinse his plate at the sink.
I slide off my stool and follow him, stopping with a few steps between us for sanity’s sake. “I don’t think you’re a completely heartless bastard, for the record.”
