GINEVRA
Liam refused to let me sleep at my parents’, claiming he couldn’t guarantee my safety anymore as he flicked those gorgeous green eyes in Alexi’s direction.
Out of energy for fighting, I packed my overnight bag under his watchful gaze.
“I have to work tonight,” I murmured.
His eyebrows shot up. “Do you think we’re going to get in the way of that?”
I didn’t bother to hold back my bark of caustic laughter. “One hundred percent.”
Liam tilted his head to the side and looked at me, as if he were trying to stare into my soul. I stared back. Of all three men, I found Liam the hardest to read. He was so affably charming, until he wasn’t. I wasn’t sure which persona was him and which was the mask.
“What’s it worth to you, for a couple of hours to yourself?” he asked, picking up my bag from the bed.
My lips twisted to the side, frustrated I had to bargain for time to fucking work. “I don’t think I should have to trade anything for that.”
He frowned. “You’re upsetting everyone’s routines and we haven’t signed the contracts yet.”
“Oh,yourroutine’s fucked up?” I didn’t bother to hide my fury as I gestured to my side. “I was fucking shot at this morning!”
Sofia interrupted what was about to become a heated tirade. I hadn’t had a moment to talk to her after the events of the morning, and here I was about to leave again. Not that I’d been present for the last decade anyway, but I owed her my attention while I was here, at least. She enveloped me in a hug.
“Stay safe, okay? Call me before you go to bed?” she asked.
I kissed her on the cheek. “I promise.”
The car ride to Rian’s house was silent. I was stuck in my thoughts, replaying the scene in the bedroom earlier, upset with myself for giving Rian the blowjob and angry with all of them for their refusal to accept me as an equal partner.
When we arrived, Cormac disappeared upstairs with my bag.
Liam circled me, his eyes thoughtful rather than predatory. “What’ll it be, lass? How much are a few quiet hours worth to you?”
I was completely out of fucks to give. “I’m done with this bullshit.” Pulling up a ride sharing app on my phone, I ignored them, calling a car to take me back to my parents’.
Rian laid a finger on my wrist to capture my attention, but didn’t stop me. “Why don’t we have dinner first? We need to talk about a few things, anyway.” He cut his eyes to Cormac, who watched the scene with amused interest from the stairs. “Fully clothed, just a regular dinner.”
My distrust must have shown on my face, because Rian stepped back, giving me some space.
“Peace, Ginevra. Have dinner with us.”
Deep breaths, Ginevra. In and out. In and out.I calmed the frantic beat of my heart as I debated whether his offer was genuine. “Dinner and time to work.”
“Dinner and time to work,” he agreed, too easily. What was his game? I slid my phone back into my pocket and followed him to the dining room, flushing as I remembered how thoroughly they’d fucked me over the table the last time I spent the night.
With surprise, I noted the table was set for four. Cormac pulled out a seat for me, and I watched with fascination as the three of them served each other, and me, the family style meal.
Once we all had food on our plates, Rian asked, “Ginevra, the Russian said the Bratva is interested in you for something you did ten years ago, before you left. What happened?”
Damn.When Liam mentioned that they were targeting me earlier that day, I knew this moment would come. Ten years of therapy helped, but I still shivered when I remembered those terrifying nights in the cold stone basement, followed by the first and only kill I’d ever made for my family.
“I was a junior in high school, sixteen. I used to walk over to the middle school to pick up Luca before walking home. The schools were in the middle of Italian territory, right on the border between the Espisotos and Russos, and we all thought we were as safe as safe could be.”
Until we weren’t.
I had been floating on air that day. The boy I’d been crushing on forever had finally asked me out. I thought he’d been scared of my name—I’d been so young and so stupid, I was ready to blame everything on my father. I had been so, so wrong.
On the way to Luca’s school, he wanted to show me a shortcut. Ignorant fool that I was, I followed him, right into an ambush by the Bratva. They knocked me out and kidnapped me. I didn’t realize he was the bastard son of a minor Russian gangster because he carried his mother’s Italian name.