“You think you’re going tokillVitale?” My brother’s harsh voice pulls my attention back. “Sera, he will slaughter you before you get the chance. I love you, so no offence, but he’s a trained mobster. You’re…not.”
“Maybe that’s the problem. You protected me so well from this world, you never counted on it catching up to me.”
Zeno rears back from the camera, rubbing his face. “Are you even listening to yourself? I refuse to let you do this fucking insane, stupid, idiotic, moronic, foolish…every fuckin’ word that indicates how bad of an idea this is. You are no soldier. You’re agirl. The moment you lift a hand towards him, he will strike. He will kill you, and I refuse to lose you to your own stupid bravery.”
“It’s the only way. Besides, I don’t need permission.”
Nero bends, putting himself into the camera’s view. “We can try assassination. There’s no other male Vitale, so they can’t possibly come up with new ways to fulfill the contract.”
“I volunteer,” Anastasia chimes. “It’s my speciality, after all.”
“He’s been watching us all. He’ll know who you are,” I remind her. “Besides, his assassination will still start a war.”
Zeno’s brow lifts. “And when you kill your own husband, what do you think happens?”
I didn’t think about that.My planning only went so far. “I’m on the inside,” I offer as a weak suggestion, lifting off my palms. “It was self-defence.”
“His family is old-fashioned. They won’t view a wife needing self-defence against the man who, by all rights, owns you.”
“Let her.” Vanessa’s clear voice raises above all the others. She’s been silent most of it, letting my brother and me battle it out.
“Vanes—”
“No.” She twists the laptop to put herself in Zeno’s view. “You once believed the Volkov bloodline was evil, right? Because of my papa?”
A moment of silence before Zeno reluctantly replies,“Sì.”
“Am I evil?”
“You’re different.”
“I once told you the Volkov name brings a lot of pain, and while that’s true, it’s not the case for everyone. Myself, Dimitri, we’re the exceptions. And…Serafina is as well. Like it or not, she’s like me. She’s strong, Zeno. If we prepare her right, she can pull this off.”
“You’re all fucking insane! No!”
“It’s not really your choice, Z.” I turn the laptop again. “When he demands we fulfill the contract, I’ll do it. I want him dead and gone, and he wants me. So, we’ll play into his hand.”
We get into that stare down only siblings could perfect before he concedes with a long groan and another rub of his face. And another. His hair, his neck, his eyes. His fingers pinch his nose before he groans again and utters, “I can’t believe the word that’s coming out of my mouth, but…fine.”
Feeling like a winner in a losing situation, I back away from the desk, turning towards the inevitable presence hanging heavy behind me.
“Nyet.”
His single word gains everyone’s attention, but Lev’s gaze is entirely on me as he shoves off the wall, his steps heavy, eyes fixated in a way that has the rest of the room melting away.
He stops a mere breath away, bending until our faces are lined up, and on instinct, I lean slightly backwards. He’s never been like this around me. This…cold. Although I’m certain he won’t harm me, I’m not sure of anything else.
“You will not marry him. Over my dead fuckin’ body. I haven’t been protecting your ass this entire time so you can offer it up as bait at the first chance.”
Then, he stalks out of the room, taking all the oxygen with him.
When the door slams shut, two pairs of eyes shift to me, and my cheeks immediately warm.
Thankfully, Anastasia leaps to her feet and, with a quick brush of my arm on her way by, she murmurs, “I’ll go after him.”
Under Vanessa’s intense gaze, I back away too—slowly at first, trying to come up with a valid excuse, and then turning into a full-blown run.
45
