Page 177 of Brutal Vows

“Besides, nobody’s smarter than I am, so why bother dating a smart guy?”

“I’m sure Declan would have something to say about you thinking you’re smarter than he is.”

“Oh, he knows. I tell him so all the time.”

Nat rolls her eyes. “Of course you do.”

Inside her cute little blingy handbag, Sloane’s phone rings. She unzips the bag, takes out the phone, and sighs when she sees the number on the readout. “Oh, Stavi. Give it up already.”

“Stavi?”

Sloane smiles at me. “My ex, Stavros. He wants me to text him a pic of my shoes.”

I lift my brows. “He’s into women’s footwear?”

Her chuckle is dry. “Sis, like you wouldn’t believe.”

I haven’t said a thing to her about the section regarding her ex Stavros in the contract Declan and I negotiated, and I never will. It’s enough that he agreed to take it out. And as long as Stavros stays alive, I’ll keep my promise to Declan that the whole incident will remain between the two of us.

Politics is tricky, but like I once told her, I’m an excellent politician.

Sloane looks up from her phone at me. “Hey, do you know any single Mafia girls? I promised him I’d set him up with someone. He’s super sweet. Cute, too. And very rich.”

“And he has a thing for women’s shoes.”

She scrunches up her nose. “I mean, nobody’s perfect.”

Riley says to me, “I’ve been meaning to ask you how Kieran’s doing.”

“He’s doing great!”

Sloane says, “Madly in love with Aria, from what Declan tells me.”

That makes me laugh. “Yes, our Irishmen fall fast and hard, don’t they?”

Nat says, “Probably not as fast or hard as our Russians do, right, Riley?”

Riley looks pointedly at her sister. “Which isn’t as fast or hard as the Keller sisters do.”

Sloane nods, sipping more champagne. “But Stockholm syndrome runs in the family, so we really couldn’t help ourselves.”

I’ve already gotten the full backstory about how kidnapping was the inciting event that had both Sloane and Riley falling in love with their captors, Declan and Mal. And honestly, after all I’ve been through in my life, it makes as much sense as anything else does.

Except for Nat’s story about how she fell in love with Kage.

I don’t think I’d ever be able to love a man who was sent to kill me, no matter how handsome he was.

I guess that’s the funny thing about love, though.

Its fire can forge soul mates from even the most bitter of enemies.

My own cell phone buzzes in my handbag. When I look to see who it is, I’ve got a text from Mamma.

How do you open the minibar in this place? Thebastardois locked!

I send her the code, hoping she’s not hosting a party in her suite. When I invited her to come with us to Paris, she said she’d only go on the condition she have her own room. With a view of the Eiffel Tower. And a butler. Who was over six feet and under thirty-five.

She was granted all her demands, naturally. I’m not the only Caruso female Quinn can’t say no to.