A frigid voice sounded from behind me. It cut through the air like a blistering cold wind and I now knew it as my grandfather’s. “I think she’ll do what it takes. This is a bratva and Armanelli Family matter at this point.”
Rome never took orders well. He never took advice or direction of any sort from any leader in the family ever. I didn’t expect that this would be any different. He basically growled at Ivan when my grandfather extended his wrinkled hand. “I think Katalina does what she wants, not what it takes. I’ve witnessed that more often than anyone here.”
I crossed my arms over the sweetheart line of my black dress as Bastian, Dante, and Cade ambled over. They moved with precision, each of them appearing so put together in their suits that both men and women watched in awe as they moved. Even if they didn’t want to, they would always cause a scene when they moved in sync like this. Their dark, thick hair, their athletic builds, and their confidence magnetized people’s attention. They didn’t care nor even acknowledge another’s gaze. They were focused on me, on Ivan, on the heartbeat of the city shifting as we all stared one another down here at the cemetery.
“Is it time for a meeting?” Bastian asked, glancing at Ivan’s extended hand and then Rome’s disgusted scowl.
My grandfather dropped his hand as I stepped in front of him. I’d grown attached to him quickly in the last week. He’d showered me with pain, not gifts. He’d been brutally honest to the point of cruel most days too. Yet I found that success wasn’t built on love or kindness. It was built on respect and equality. That was the basis of a relationship really. For one to truly believe in another, they had to respect that person, have confidence in them, and treat them as equal.
Ivan wasn’t a kind man. He wasn’t even an okay one. I saw how he watched his son die. I saw that under any love he tried to show, there was emptiness. The bratva had created a callous, hard-hearted leader just like the Italian families had. I stood amongst men without souls and hoped to make it out of this life with one.
“If we need a meeting, now’s the time.” I shrugged and peered up at Bastian. “We know what makes the most sense.”
“Our families from LA and New York are here.”
“Let’s meet somewhere more private.” I eyed the chief of police who watched us with his body tensed.
“New Reign’s will suffice,” Rome offered as he glanced around, waving over a few men. “The work on it is almost done.”
“New Reign’s?” I tilted my head, not knowing what place he was talking about.
“The Stonewoods and I are putting the finishing touches on a new club.”
“Not one you ever mentioned to me.” I cocked a brow, caught off guard by how little he’d told me about his side businesses. I knew most of the businesses managed by and for the Armanellis and I was used to the few bars Rome had on the side but this was new. With the Stonewoods involved, it would be epic too.
“When would I have mentioned it, Katalina?” He sounded exasperated.
“Oh, I don’t know. When we were in the car together, when you kidnapped me? I could name a lot of times.”
“It just happened. I needed to preoccupy my mind with something other than losing your smartass.” He shot back.
I opened my mouth to argue, but stuttered on my words. His voice was laced with a pain I knew very well, because I was feeling it too. My heart was yearning for him, begging for him, beating for him with him in front of me. I’d missed his dark stare, the rumble of his honest words, and the way he touched me like he wanted to cause me pain and pleasure at the same time.
“I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. It’s a business venture for all of us,” he replied. “The Stonewoods asked me to invest and I took the opportunity with most of the legwork already done.”
“Not exactly neutral territory, Rome,” said Ivan. “You’ve taken out men of mine in your bars and clubs before. You’ve let them bleed out on your floor.”
“Don’t send your bratva in as spies, Ivan. Or I’ll do worse next time.” Rome cracked his knuckles and I tried my best not to clench my thighs at how good he looked, talking back to the head of the bratva. The man had a death wish or maybe death was what he wished upon everyone else.
Ivan mumbled Russian under his breath and then announced, “We’ll meet there in two hours. We’ll bring the bratva leaders who are in town for Mario’s funeral too. If this goes as planned today, I’ll disappear from all of your lives. Katalina understands my wishes.”
I understood more than ever now. His mind would fail him. He saw it in tiny little pieces throughout his day but had most of his marbles at this point. He knew Dimitri had left the bratva a mess and was handing it off to me. I could sink or swim for all he cared. The other bratvas throughout the country would absorb us one way or the other. This was the only way I made it out alive and the only way he felt his family would get some recognition.
“She rides with me.” Rome gripped my arm right above my elbow. I glared at him, but the electricity in his touch made me hold back my initial retort.
Ivan beat me to the response because of it. “It might serve you both well considering it may be the last time either of you get to sift through whatever disgrace of a relationship you have here. It will most likely be done after the meeting. So Katalina, cut ties now.”
I glared at them all. “Rome and I already cut ties.”
“Not according to him,” Cade grumbled.
“Just go.” Dante sighed and gave me a look. “Put us all out of our misery.”
I threw my hands up at the ridiculousness of the situation. Bastian even waved us away as Rome started dragging me to one of the black limos. “This is fucking fantastic.”
“It is, isn’t it?” Rome said with a high-pitched tone that let me know he was being condescending.
“I don’t want to ride with you!” I pouted like a petulant child as we continued across the freshly cut blades of grass.