Dante grabbed some paper towels from the dispenser and carefully cleaned her up. He didn’t speak until he’d helped her off the counter and tugged her dress back into place. “It will be safe. Eventually. It will just take time.”
“I’m not so sure.” She looked up at him, her hazel eyes seeming overlarge in her face. “I don’t know how this ends. There are no guarantees. The last time my family had a conflict like this, my uncle died. And they didn’t even make it to an actual war that time. It was just a skirmish.”
There were no guarantees in their world. The benefits were extreme, but so was the potential price to be paid. “We’ll get through it. There will be peace.” It just would take time… and potentially eliminating an entire branch of the Romanov family.
“Dante…” She trailed off as someone knocked on the door. Except it was more like pounding. Rose sighed. “That’s Anya. I have to go.”
He wasn’t ready to let her go, but Dante knew better than to say as much. She’d shown him vulnerability, and the timing wasn’t right. Not yet. He nodded at the hotel key in her hand. “Come to me tonight.”
She curled her fingers around the card and pressed it to her chest. “I don’t know if I can.”
“Rosa.” She had to come to him. Because otherwise he’d be scaling the walls of the Romanov home, and Dante wasn’t too keen on being shot. Again.
She gave a small little smile. “Okay, d’yavol. I’ll come to you tonight.”
Chapter 20
Rose barely made it out of the restaurant without her sisters rioting, but only because she promised to tell them the truth once they got in the car. Anya drove, and Sasha hovered in the back seat, once again twisting her fingers fiercely enough to make Rose wince.
Anya stopped at a light and looked at her. “Talk fast. If I don’t like what I hear, I’m going straight to Mama.”
She flinched. “Really, Anya. Pulling out our mother as a threat?” It was something she hadn’t done since they were little kids.
“Papa would hunt down that man you were just having bathroom sex with and kill him, so yes, Mama.” The light turned green, and she pressed too hard on the gas, throwing Rose and Sasha back against their seats. “You know what’s at stake. You were just fucking kidnapped, for god’s sake. I realize the security at Red’s is good, but this is reckless, even for you. Especially for you.”
She wasn’t wrong, but Rose couldn’t bring herself to regret it. She didn’t know what it said about her that she’d just had sex with the man who’d kidnapped her literally last week, but there was no denying she’d chosen it.
No denying she would sneak out of her house later tonight and meet him at his hotel room.
She couldn’t tell her sisters the truth. Not yet. They’d tell Mama and Papa, and she’d be under lock and key, heir or no. “It was an ex.”
“Which one.”
“Rick.”
Anya shot her an incredulous look. “You’re shitting me.”
“Not at all,” Rose lied. “You know how I am. I needed to work out some tension, and I saw him, and the opportunity presented itself.” She reached back and covered her sister’s hands with hers “Stop, Sasha. You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“Stop?” Her sister gave a choked laugh that was almost a sob. “Rose, what are you doing? Sneaking off to the bathroom to have sex with your ex? Someone could have snatched you. The Mad Wolf is after you. He wouldn’t even bother to snatch you. He’d just shoot you dead.”
She fought down a shiver at the memory of his hands around her throat, his cold gray eyes staring down at her. “I’m well aware of the risks.”
“Are you? Because you’ve been acting weird ever since you got home.”
Rose twisted in her seat. “Are you serious right now? Two weeks ago, I was supposed to marry Romeo Capparelli, only to be abducted at my own wedding and held hostage for days on end.” Saying it felt weirdly like a betrayal. For all that Dante had kidnapped her, it wasn’t as if he’d hurt her. Or forced her. Or done anything except keep her in the cabin and give her entirely too many orgasms.
He wanted to marry her.
She hadn’t believed him before.
She believed him now.
“We’re worried about you,” Anya said quietly as she turned onto their block, heading for the garage entrance. “And now Lorelei is married to Romeo instead and…”
She still couldn’t believe it. “I need to talk to her.”
“Good luck. He’s whisked her away to the other side of town, and she’s dodging our calls.” Anya glared out the windshield. “Probably because she knows I’m going to kick her ass the first opportunity I get.”
“Probably.” Rose barely waited for Anya to park in the row of SUVs in the garage before she climbed out of the passenger seat and headed for the door. She loved her family, but she needed space from them right now to think. For once, her sisters took a hint and didn’t follow her up to her room. She took a long shower that did nothing to calm her down and started pacing back and forth across her room.