I frown. “Your ridiculous schedule?”
“No. Dad.”
I tense, the smile fading from my lips.
Roman sighs. “I got some news from Moscow this morning.”
Oh God.
“Rome—”
“He’s fine, Evie,” he grumbles.
I exhale heavily.
“He’s apparently struck a deal with the Egorov family,” he grunts. “I don’t know shit about them, but they’re a small-time bratva family. I have no idea what the fuck Pavel had to offer them, but he’s officially under their protection now.”
“Well, don’t soundtoohappy about it,” I mutter.
“Evie, you’ll forgive my lack of fucks to give about our father after he stuck a fuckinggunin Val’s faceandmine, in case you’ve forgotten,” he says sharply.
“I haven’t,” I sigh. “It’s just… He’s ourfather.”
“That’s a matter of perspective,” he snaps. “And it’s pretty clear we have differing ones on the subject.”
“I know he’s an asshole!” I yell. “I know he’s doneawful, unforgivable things. But I'm sorry, I still don't want to see him killed!”
“I don’t either, Eves! If I did, he’d be fuckingdead, not banished!”
Both of us go quiet for a moment.
“You weren’tthere,” he says gently. “You didn’t see him put a fuckinggunto the forehead of someone you love so much it hurts. I may not want to see my own father dead, but in every other sense of the word, he’s fucking dead to me already. I need you to understand that.”
I nod, closing my eyes. “You're right, Rome,” I exhale. “I wasn’t there. It’s just…”
“I know,” he says.
We both take a breath before I blow air through my lips. “Can we please change the subject?”
He chuckles quietly. “I’d love to talk about literally anything else. And on that note…” He clears his throat. “I saw Ethan Campbell this morning.”
I stiffen. “You weren’t kidding aboutanythingelse. My psychotically overprotective big brother wants to talk aboutmy ex-boyfriend?”
Roman laughs. “You know how I’ve been looking into better asset management for the organization? Ethan’s a senior managing partner at Hudson Equity, and he reached out the other day. I’m probably going to go with Ironclad Holdings, since that's Gavan Tsarenko’s firm and he’s also bratva and all. But Ethan gave a pretty compelling pitch, and I respect that he came to me despite…you know…”
I roll my eyes. “What,kissing mea handful of times? When he was my boyfriend? Theaudacity.”
“Har har har,” Roman laughs. “It still took balls. So we sat down this morning.”
“And?”
“It was a great presentation, and their performance numbers are solid, but I’m probably still going with Gavan.”
I frown. “So… Why are you telling me this?”
Roman exhales. “Because Ethanmayhave asked me about you, and if I would pass along his number.”
I arch a brow. “Really?”
