There’s accusation in her eyes now, holding me there, daring me to look away. “Scorpion took her. What happens to her is up to him. Either way, he’s getting her out of here tonight.”
She stiffens in my lap. “But?—”
“No.” I hold my index finger to her lips. “She’s not innocent, Isla. Believe me. She’s a part of a very dangerous crime family, people who are capable of anything, however ruthless and sadistic. Twisted fucks who bombed a restaurant that was filled withactuallyinnocent people whose only crime was to be grabbing lunch. Not to mention all the people on the sidewalk and street and side alleys they might have taken out with their bomb too.”
“I thought you said it was timed perfectly and they didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”
“Yes, but they planted a bomb,tesoro. There’s no explaining that shit away as anything less than evil.”
“Yeah.” She shakes her head like she’s trying to clear it, looking suddenly dazed. “I guess you’re right. But one wrong doesn’t justify another.”
“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
“So bomb their restaurant, then.”
I chuckle, wondering if she even realizes what she’s saying. “They don’t have a restaurant, and even if they did, we don’t stoop to their level.”
“How is kidnapping someonenotstooping to their level?”
“I didn’t authorize what Scorpion did,” I tell her patiently. “And for the record, he didn’t kidnap anyone. She went with him willingly.”
At first, but I don’t tell Isla that part. She knows too much as it is, and with the Feds about to come knocking on our doors, I can’t afford a loose thread like her hanging out there in the wind, ready to spill all her secrets after a round of good cop/bad cop in the interrogation room.
“She doesn’t sound willing now,” Isla points out grimly.
Ekaterina shouts something in Russian.
I hope Scorpion gets her out of here soon. Lucky will be showing up any minute now with our sisters and, unfortunately, Antonella. I protested bringing her to the safe house. She doesn’t fucking deserve our protection. But Lucky was afraid she’d be taken as leverage, so I’ll just have to ignore her existence until this shit blows over.
Which I hope it does.
Soon.
“Whatever the case may be, just remember they started this war by following you and then handcuffing you to a bed, knocking out my men, and blowing up our restaurant. Anything that comes after that is fair fucking game.”
“I thought I wasn’t family, so I don’t matter. You can’t count me as part of this. Retaliate for your restaurant’s sake, but don’t pretend like it’s for me.”
I hear hurt in her voice, and I realize I fucked up earlier when I was talking to Scorpion. What I said was technically true—she isn’t part of the family. But I’m still grappling with what Isla means to me, and I was mad as hell at my brother for being a hothead and kidnapping a Russian Mafia princess, landing us in an even more dangerous and precarious position than we already were.
“I didn’t mean that you don’t matter,” I tell her, holding her stare so she knows how serious I am about this. “You do matter. A whole fucking lot.”
To me.
And Jesus, it’s terrifying. I’m not ready to admit that aloud just yet.
She doesn’t say anything. Just looks at me.
“I meant that what happened to you didn’t justify kidnapping the head of the Russian Mafia’s sister, damn it,” I burst out,essentially giving her the ammunition against Scorpion and me that I know she wouldn’t use unless she had to one day.
Shit.
“So, he did kidnap her, even though you said she went with him willingly,” she says.
“I’m not going to get into the specifics with you because I need you to be insulated from all this. I need to be sure that if the Feds were to come calling, you’d have nothing to offer them.”
“So now I’m going to be interrogated by law enforcement?”
“I can’t predict the future. All I can do is play it as safe with you as possible. Because you do fucking matter.”
