Suddenly, I felt in over my head, not knowing what came next. I’d put my plan in motion for my revenge against the Pavlovs, sure, but what about after?
I shook my head, knowing it made no sense to think so far ahead. I just needed to get through tonight and do this one thing right.
“That’s Sergei Vadim, and his wife, Lilliana,” I whispered to her before leading her toward them. “The Vadims are quite power—”
No. No fucking way.
I froze, my eyes at the swung open doors, through which now strode in six very angry men. Caspian, Giovanni, Federico, Dante, Luca, and Achille.
Beside me, I felt Beatrice sway.
“Wha…what are they doing here?” she whispered, her voice filled with agony.
The Lebedevs. They’d found us.
Caspian, Beatrice’s brother, was the first to notice us.
I stepped slightly in front of her, instinctively shielding her from them, as though to say she was mine because now, she was. How had they found out about tonight? Who had leaked the information?
The room went silent, and Beatrice pale.
Her brothers strode toward us with fury in their eyes.
“Beatrice!” Caspian lunged to grab her, but I stepped in his path.
“Move out of my way,” he hissed.
“Are you certain you want to do this tonight?” I hissed back. “This is a party hosted by my allies. There are more enemies here tonight than you can count.”
I made a valid point, and knew so when I noticed that flash of uncertainty in Caspian’s eyes.
“Caspian?” Beatrice breathed behind me.
“Are you hurt?” he asked his sister, trying to look at her over my shoulder, just as Giovanni and the others flanked him.
“What the hell did you do to our sister?” Federico hissed.
I felt Beatrice start to move forward, but I caught her wrist, keeping her at my side.
“Let go of her hand, you bastard,” Giovanni roared, stepping forward. There was violence etched onto his every feature, and I knew he was capable of doing something stupid.
Beside me, I felt my brothers arrive, giving me my own private guard. Beatrice must have realized things could get ugly, real soon.
“I’m okay,” she said, her voice trembling. I could feel her shaking with the effort not to run to them.
“Let her go, Pavlov,” Federico said, his hand inching toward his holster.
“That’s not how this works, Lebedev.” I kept a firm grip on Beatrice’s wrist. “Your sister is my wife now.”
The shock on their faces would have been satisfying if I weren’t so focused on keeping the situation from exploding into violence.
“No!” Achille shook his head at last, in disbelief. “That…that’s not possible.”
“She agreed to it,” I said, ignoring the twinge of guilt that surfaced. “The marriage is legal. Want the paperwork to prove it?”
Luca stepped forward, his face contorted with rage. “It can’t be legal if you forced her after you set that club on fire just to take her!”
I felt my heart stutter, then stop, before it started to race. While I hadn’t planned to see them tonight, I wasn’t frazzled by the sight of them. But this…the fact that they had somehow known I had been the one to set that fire and declared it tonight, thrown it right in Beatrice’s face when I had tried to keep it from her, threw me off my game.
