“No,” my dad roared, all semblance of calm disappearing. “Don’t you dare fucking question me again, boy. I have power you can’t even comprehend, and I will do whatever it takes to see this deal through.”
“Power that will be mine when I inherit the syndicate,” he shot back. I gasped as my dad indicated with his finger, and Tommy, one of my dad’s thugs, smashed his fist straight into my brother’s stomach. Ryker doubled over with the force of the blow, and without a second thought, I lunged for Tommy, lashing out with my hand and scraping my nails down the side of his face.
The next moment, a searing pain bloomed in my cheek, and my arm was twisted behind my back. The arm holding me was gentle, the movement designed to keep me immobile, not hurt me,but that stinging slap had been designed to hurt. Tears sprang to my eyes as I stared at my mother, her hand still lifted and her palm red from the force of the blow.
“Nov. Not now.” Ryker panted breathlessly into my ear, his grip on my wrist loosening. I nodded shakily, and he released me.
“Darling. Apologise to Thomas,” my mother said stiffly.
I swallowed around the lump in my throat. How had everything managed to go so wrong, so quickly?
As soon as we were alone, my twin turned to me, his voice low and fierce. “I’m going to get you out of this, Nova. However I can.”
I wiped at my eyes with shaking hands. “We both know it’s not worth it. It would be suicide to try and sabotage this agreement. And it wouldn’t just be our family who was affected. You know the connections the Volkov Syndicate has. You know how powerful the Kozenki Bratva is. There’s no way we could go up against them and win.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. He knew I was right. When our father took control of the syndicate from our grandfather, one of his aims was to expand its reach farther south and east, bringing in more opportunities and strengthening its position. The Volkov Syndicate controlled a portion of that territory that our father wanted to get his hands on, and so, over the course of several years, he bribed and blackmailed and intimidated his way into the Volkov network. He discovered they had been looking for access to less-patrolled ports for their cargo ships, and the Thorpes just so happened to control a particular port in Gloucestershire with access to the sea and handpicked security who didn’t ask questions.
That was where I came in. A mutually beneficial agreement would strengthen both crime firms, and I was the shiny jeweloffered up as a bargaining tool. Marriage was a sacred bond in our world, and family came first, so my betrothal to Anton Volkov, son of the Pakhan of the Volkov Syndicate, was a show of trust between two groups still wary of one another. The Volkov Syndicate was also a subdivision of sorts of the notorious Kozenki Bratva, who controlled a huge crime network stretching across Europe. In my father’s eyes, this was one of the most important deals he’d ever brokered, and to even think I had a chance of getting out of it…
“Fuck,” Ryker ground out. “This should be me. Listen. We may not be able to stop the marriage from going ahead, but I’ll do what I can to get the contract adjusted to give you an out, okay? I don’t care what it takes.”
Placing my hand on his arm and lightly squeezing—because my brother was touch-averse and didn’t tolerate hugs most of the time, not even from me—I met his gaze. “Don’t do anything stupid. Please.”
“I won’t. But I will do everything in my power to make this a better deal for you. You have my word.”
“Ryker doesn’t like it any more than I do,” I said. “But he tried so hard to make things better for me, and somehow, he managed to persuade my dad and the Volkovs to amend the contract. Not much, but enough to give me a promise of something in the future. I have to remain married until I provide Anton with an heir, but after that…divorce is a potential option. It’s a choice with so many strings attached, but it’s better than the alternative. Being trapped in a loveless marriage for the rest of my life? You know how my world treats women. The Kozenki Bratva is even worse. It would kill me.”
Aleksi shook his head. “No one deserves that. You, especially. You deserve to be with someone who loves you.”
“Maybe one day I will,” I whispered. “As for Ryker… He’ll be expected to marry someone suitable, I’m sure, who’ll give us a business advantage, but he doesn’t have to worry about any of that yet. My father is far more interested in training him up so he can take over the syndicate one day.”
“Good luck to whoever gets stuck with him,” Alek mumbled under his breath.
I sighed. “Good luck to us all.”
3
NOVA
Back downstairs, I made a beeline for my brother. This evening was ostensibly about us, and I knew our parents would be expecting us to act accordingly. “Did you see our gifts?”
He rolled his eyes. “What? The towering pile over by the north window from people we barely know? Yeah. They were a bit hard to miss.” Something caught his eye over my shoulder, and his expression turned vicious instantly. There was only one person who could put that look on his face.
“Ry, don’t. Leave him alone.”
It took me snapping my fingers in front of his face for him to return his attention to me, and when he did, he sighed. “Sorry. I don’t know why you stick up for that waste of space, though.”
I gritted my teeth.Because he’s my best friend, I screamed internally, but of course, I couldn’t say it. Our friendship had to remain a secret. “Because you can be a complete asshole sometimes,” I bit out. “What has he ever done to you? Don’t you dare start anything with him tonight. I mean it.”
Ryker stared at me, surprise flickering in his gaze for amoment before he masked it. “I’ll leave him alone tonight. For you. But he better watch his fucking back.”
When I didn’t respond, he heaved another sigh. “I’ll stay away from him if he stays away from me. Okay?”
I nodded slowly. At least I had constant assurances from both Ryker and Aleksi that they’d never taken their animosity to the point of physical altercations, so I could trust my brother’s words.
“Thank you,” I murmured. Swallowing around the sudden lump in my throat, I added, “Anyway, Alek will be gone at the end of the school year, so you won’t have to see him anymore.”
Ryker’s jaw clenched, his gaze sliding away from mine, but he nodded sharply. A polite, completely fake smile curved over his mouth, and I found out who it was directed at a moment later when a large hand landed on the small of my back. I stiffened as Anton Volkov pressed a kiss to my cheek, but managed to paste on my own smile as Ryker greeted him.
