“You so much as lay a finger on her, I’ll fucking kill the both of you,” I growl. They turn to Bishop, waiting for him to give them a direction on what to do next. Before he can answer, Kiara butts in.
“How about I take Koby back to the guest house to check on D and leave you all to talk?” She voiced it as a question, but we all know she’s going to do it anyway. As soon as they are out of the room and the door closes, King gets right in my face. Rook takes Koby’s place beside me ready to throw down for me if it comes to that.
“You stupid son of a bitch, now they know about her!” he screams in my face.
“So fucking what?” I yell back.
“They know now that we know about their deal with the fucking Russian’s! We don’t have the men to go against the fucking Bratva. If they tell her father she is here, we’re all fucked!”
Rook shoves King back and stands in front of me. I love my twin but this isn’t his fight, so push him aside ready to take whatever fallout comes next.
“I have just put King in charge of the Ramello family’s territory.” My eyes widen in surprise. “You will now take over the Ramano territory.” Rage thrums through me, he has just chained me to this family and that wasn’t the deal.
“I fucking told you I would get you the information from her for my freedom!” Rook spins on me, the hurt look in his eyes guts me deeper than the bullet that went through me.
“You want to leave?” I meet my twins gaze and hate that I’m hurting him. It’s always been me and him against the others. I want to stay but I can’t take the tension and the way King looks at me because of what I’ve done. I know I deserve it but it still fucking sucks.
“I have to, you know that.” He shakes his head and slams his hands against my chest shoving me back a step.
“You fucking pussy-ass bitch! You are not fucking leaving. Do you hear me? We are a fucking family and I will not lose another fucking sibling because of this shit!” He spins back to face Bishop who is staring at me with a calculating look. “I’ll take his place––”
I cut him off. “No, Rook.”
“Shut up, traitor! I’ll take his place. He can help us take down the other two families and then deal with Russians, but you know he can’t lead. It’s too much for him.” I glare at the back of my twin’s head—he swore he would never tell anyone.
“Why?” That one word from Bishop holds so much weight.
“Because he is still plagued by nightmares and flashbacks from what Christine did to him.” Just like that, all the wind inside me rushes out and I drop into the chair cradling my face between my hands. My twin just sold me the fuck out.
Koby
Three days…
I haven’t seen or heard from Knight for three days. I don’t know what happened after I left him with his brother and the other two. I haven’t gone back to the gym, hoping that I would be able to catch him at the house. No such luck yet.
“I want to go home.” I turn toward Dimitri. We’re sitting on the couch in the guest house watching a movie but I couldn’t tell you what it’s called as my mind has been focused elsewhere. I run my fingers through his hair and try to smile reassuringly. Dimitri is just a kid and wasn’t meant for this life. I wish things had been different. I wish he could have had a better father. I wish we both could have had better parents, but life is fucked up like that. In order to save him fromthatlife, I had no choice but to leave them behind.
“I know you do.” He turns to look at me and the sorrow in his gaze guts me to my core.
“I miss them.” My breath rushes out of me.
“I miss them too. We have to be strong and stay on course. We are holding up our end of the deal and soon enough we will be able to return home.” The thought of leaving this place has a pang of sadness shooting through me. “How about we go for a swim?” He smiles wide and jumps up to race into his room and change. Dimitri loves to swim and I need the cardio of doing laps. I need to stay in shape to be ready. When the Murdoch’s realize the truth I have been hiding, they are going to come for me. I just hope that Allison and Kiara protect Dimitri. I know Ally loves him and won’t let anything happen to him. Me on the other hand, I know they will hurt me to get the answers they need to take down my family. The thing is, they think I’m her when I’m not. They think I’m the trump card but they are so very wrong.
* * *
We’ve been swimming most of the day and it warms my heart to hear Dimitri’s laughter. Kiara, Ally and Mela joined us for a swim. Kiara, Mela and D are playing in the pool whilst Ally and I sit on the loungers watching them with smiles on our faces. It’s hard to believe that I actually feel comfortable around these girls, given who they share a bed with. Their fiancés may be mafia lords but they don’t parade around like most of the other wives I have encountered.
“What are you, Koby?” I turn to Allison, surprised to see her smile replaced by a look of accusation.
“What do you mean?”
“What are doing with Knight?” Her question startles me. I spy Kiara out of the corner of my eye swimming over to the ledge. The girl is fucking beautiful and has no idea. Her pale as fuck blue eyes and black hair make her any man’s wet dream. “Koby?” I shake my head and focus back on Ally, she is just as beautiful as Kiara with her blue eyes and blonde hair. These guys sure know how to pick ‘em.
“I’m not doing anything with Knight,” I defend, not needing to explain to these two what Knight and I do. Her question actually pisses me off.
“Look.” I turn to Kiara as she rests her arms on the edge of the pool and stares up at us. “Knight isn’t like the others, he… went through some things.”
“Some fucked-up things,” Allison tacks on. They think I’m stupid, I know exactly what he went through. He may not have told me himself, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t do some digging and listened to conversations around me.