Page 27 of Devil's Vows

“Cara, you know what to do if you need to get out, okay,” he says in Italian. “Just do it, and we’ll come.”

I bite my bottom lip and nod. It’s not as if we didn’t prepare for every eventuality. I’m not bracing for a shootout yet, even though Team Scalera came ready for one, all weapons concealed.

“My things—” I can’t be separated from my satchel.

“We’ll go get them,” Dominic says with a comforting squeeze to my arm. “Come along.”

14

IVAN

We’re in the car, heading home. There were no tears when Gabi separated from her brothers—thank fuck because I wouldn’t know what to do with them. This isn’t exactly an abduction, but somehow, it feels like one. The way I rattled both Dominic and Matteo by throwing them a few salient facts they thought were secrets, forcing them in a way to let her go with me. Idiots.

Just goes to show—we might be physically weak, but mentally, we can still mess with them. We have presence still, if not actual clout. I had the smallest window to get the hell out of there, their sister in tow, but a fine line has always been my favorite to walk, and I walk it well.

Now she’s sitting in the passenger seat next to me, hands clenched together, thumbnails eating into her palms where she thinks I won’t notice. She’s tense, and I don’t blame her. It won’t take anything to overpower her, and being the petite thing she is, she probably weighs half of what I do.

Fuck, she’s young. Her skin as smooth and pure as the day she was born. Her lashes thick, and that mouth, those lips…fuck. HearingYes, sirslipping from her tongue made mycock twitch, and it was a short stretch to visualizing her lips closing over my cock and taking me deep.

With an inward groan, I force my focus away from the woman next to me and glance at Irisha in the rear-view mirror. Strapped in her car seat, she seems happy enough, holding onto the pink balloon dog and staring out of the window. Katya will fall asleep in minutes. She always does in the car. That’s going to mess with the rest of the day’s schedule and my attempt at a routine for them. At least I now have a nanny who will help, if a bit under duress.

“I want nuggets, Papa,” Irisha says as we drive by the same McDonald’s we passed earlier.

This morning, I sidestepped the automatic question, but now, it isn’t going to be so easy.

“Let’s cross the bridge,malyshka, and we’ll get some drive thru. It’s easier.” With the convoy we’re driving in, I can’t just pull in anywhere. My SUV is sandwiched between two of our other SUVs, and we have civilian-looking vehicles closing up the sides. This is me, trying to live life as normally for my daughters for as long as I can.

“I want, too,” Katya says, going over into a yawn.

“Are you hungry?” I ask, glancing at Gabriella.

“No…thank you.”

The answer is small, somewhat forced, as she stares straight ahead. It could mean anything. Maybe she’s shy and wonders who’s going to pay. Maybe she had a fry-up for breakfast and is really not hungry. Maybe she dislikes fast food, which wouldn’t be surprising, given the junk it is. She might have grown up in a convent, but I bet every tastebud in her mouth is an Italian connoisseur.

“I’ve got you covered,” I say. “From now on, I provide and care for everything you need, understand? Everything and anything, okay?”

She shifts in her seat, rubbing her palms over her thighs. “I—I… We don’t have a contract?”

Because I backed your brothers into a deal. Forced their hand. You had no say.“Do you need one?”

“No.”

Barely even a chirp.

“What’s the problem, then?” I ask, glancing at her.

“It’s just… I’m not sure how long I will stay because…because of the situation…” She trails off, unsure.

Fuck me, her brothers haven’t told her anything. She’s coming here with totally different expectations—that this is only temporary—not a trial run for an arranged marriage.

Don’t fuck this up, Petrov.

Clearly, she has no clue about my end goal, and Milana would joke that I’m dragging a poor little lamb to slaughter.

With a sigh, I flex my hands and squeeze the steering wheel, then flex again as I turn at the traffic light using only one hand. I feel her gaze on me, and as I glance at her, her eyes slide along my arm, homing in on my hand, then follow the veins on the back as they slope down my arm. She shoots me a supposedly surreptitious glance, but I catch her in the act, and a rosy blush blooms on her cheeks.

Her inspection was borderline sexual, but for all I know, she’s imagining how easily I could strangle her with my bare hands.