“My God. I don’t know what to say to you any longer except you’re just like Alexander. And don’t think that’s a compliment. You’re both paranoid all the time. I don’t want to live my life that way. I won’t live my life always looking over my shoulder. You witnessed her dance and evidently, her… performance was good enough for a man like you. Anna is my guest and will be moving into my apartment. She can stay as long as she wants.”
“What about the bruise on her cheek? Someone did that to her.”
Emmeline shook her head several times. “You’re right and whatever happened is painful to her but very personal. As is her private life, something you wouldn’t understand.”
“Emme.”
“Don’t you Emme me. Do I need to repeat myself?”
Wow. I took a deep breath, uncertain what to say to her because I knew in the back of my mind nothing would be right. “No, you don’t.”
“Then why don’t you run along, Jax? Someone should look at that injury for you. Maybe you can suck up to one of our brothers and commiserate over how many people you want to kill just for fun.”
“You’re kicking me out?”
“Yep. I’ll hire a plumber. All by myself.”
I’d never been so stunned in my life, but she wasn’t budging. I turned around only to find Anna standing in the doorway, also with her arms crossed. If looks could kill, I was getting ripped apart by daggers from both sides of the kitchen.
My sister didn’t understand I’d go to the ends of the earth to keep her safe.
However, I’d obviously made an ass of myself. Even I could admit it.
From time to time anyway.
Anna was standing in a pair of jeans and a shirt, her bare feet drawing my attention. They were bruised, almost misshapen. In the darkness of the night before, the passion that had provided a connection we’d both needed, I hadn’t noticed. Now, I wanted to pay attention to every detail about her. And not just because I couldn’t trust her.
“My name is Anna Scavo. I was lucky enough to be selected to attend and train with the American Ballet Theater in New York at sixteen. That was my dream for my entire life, a life of sacrifice and darkness. I was attacked after a performance by someunknown thugs. They scared me. That’s why I took the offer to come dance with the New Orleans Ballet. Are there any other questions, Mr. Prince?”
The pain and anger in the girl’s eyes reflected my behavior. She’d overheard enough to know I didn’t trust her.
However, she was lying about the unknown thugs.
Her frankness once again pulled at the darkness inside of me. “Not right now.”
As I came close to her, she turned her head away. Not backing down, but out of disgust.
The electric connection we’d shared before had been eradicated, even though I could still taste her on my lips.
And I wished I could taste more.
CHAPTER 14
Jaxon
“You ran into her four times?” Sinclair asked, which was the second time from the group. My second to oldest brother had an amused look on his face.
At least it was better than his angry mood from the night before.
“Yeah, including at the warehouse this morning.” Donatello shifted from foot to foot after I answered. “Don’t ask him about last night at the ballet.”
“The ballet?” Montgomery burst into laughter. By the end of the meeting, all three brothers and their Capos would know intimate details of my sex life.
“Emme asked for a favor since we donate an exorbitant amount of money to every arts program.” I was in no mood to play games. Irina Novikov had yet to make contact. She would not be able to avoid me for long. After leaving Emme’s house, I’d been frustrated for hours. Even having Zorro by my side had yet toprovide any comfort. I hated riddles or puzzles of any kind. They drove me nuts until I found the answers.
“Anna Scavo along with a half dozen of our sister’s roommates and friends were investigated by our father. There were no red flags at the time and obviously, our sister made it back from Columbia alive several years ago. Now, tell me about this morning and not about the woman,” Alexander directed. He was in a shittier mood than normal, likely because he had a toddler running loose and with Catherine being pregnant again, he’d gotten little sleep as of late. “How the hell did you find out about the shipments?”
I’d suspected as much after what little my sister had told me. That didn’t mean she hadn’t managed to hide a significant secret about her past.
