Page 85 of Deceptive Desires

After dinner, as usual, the brothers meet in the office.

His parents, Margot, and I convene in the sitting room and talk weddings.

It’s amazing being a part of such a beautiful family. I already feel at home here.

Chapter 59

Roman

All three of my brothers stare at me incredulously in Dad’s office.

“What is wrong with you?” Bash exclaims, throwing his arms up in exasperation.

“What do you mean?” I feign ignorance.

“You can’t marry her without telling her who you are and what you do! You’re lying to her! She deserves to know the truth!” my little brother lectures me.

“No, she doesn’t. What she doesn’t know, won’t hurt her,” I correct him in a sharp voice.

“Not yet, but when she finds out, the betrayal will crush her,” Matthias chips in.

“You said you supported keeping her out of our world!” My frustration seeps into my voice.

“I said you should keep it away from your girlfriend. Not hide your identity from your wife,” he corrects.

“What’s the difference? I mean really, what’s the problem with it? I love her, and she loves me.”

“She loves the mask you’ve carefully cultivated for her. Not the real you,” Dom cuts in.

I start doing the box breathing Cecilia taught me to calm down.

In, one… two… three… four.

Hold, one… two… three… four.

Out, one… two-

“For fucks sake, look at you! What the fuck are you doing?” Dom grumbles.

“I’m doing box breathing because you guys are pissing me off, and Cecilia will have questions if some of us leave the room with black eyes and broken noses,” I glare at them conveying it won’t be me leaving injured. I’m even more pissed now that he’s interrupted my meditation exercise.

“This isn’t you! You’re not just lying to her, you’re lying to yourself too. You can’t keep this up forever. Something’s going to break you, and you’ll terrify her,” Bash, ever the voice of fucking reason, chimes in.

“How would I even tell her? ‘Hey, sunshine. Remember how I told you I work for Syndicate Enterprise doing security? Well actually, I lied. I torture and kill people for the crime family the Montclair brothers run. Hope this doesn’t change your mind, seeing as you love peace and would never harm a fly,’” I say sarcastically.

“Maybe that’s not the best approach, but you’ll think of something,” Matthias unhelpfully butts in.

“Figure it out.” Dom orders. “Now, let’s talk about the Bratva. Roman, what’ve you been seeing on the streets? What I’ve seen in official capacities is they’re abiding by the laws. They haven’t been an issue since the Margot situation,” Dom says, and Matthias attitude darkens when his wife’s misfortune is mentioned.

“Everything’s been fine. There haven’t even been many in our territory. It’s been quiet. Too quiet. They’ve been too good. It isn’t like them. I know they’re up to something.” I grumble, knowing what their response will be.

“Roman, we’ve been over this. Until we have something concrete, we need to continue on as normal.” Dom sighs, then faces me. “They may not even be doing anything wrong. Or at least not anything worse than what we already know about. You may be trying to find something that isn’t there.”

“You know damn well that’s not true! They’re fucking scum, and they’re doing something terrible. That’s why they’re hiding it so well. I fucking know it!” I spit out, pissed that they don’t believe me.

They all look down, clearly not wanting to piss me off further. Since being with Cecilia, the anger outbursts have been less frequent, but they’re testing me right now.

“I’m fucking leaving. Stay out of my relationship. And if any of you tell Cecilia anything, I’ll make you suffer in unimaginable ways. I won’t lose her,” I threaten then storm out.