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I wasn’t one to turn down a party, but this? My sister’s engagement? I came to drink, celebrate, and keep a close eye on the man who might one day be my brother-in-law. If I ever think of him that way. Until then, I’d be breathing down his neck.

Andrei stayed home with his wife, paying his respects by attending the earlier festivities. Date night, they said. Whatever that meant. Just an excuse to sin on all the furniture in the house…

Since when did I become the one left in charge? First it was the operations, now this? Age wasn’t a reflection of maturity, and I was living proof of that.

I spotted the Italian in his usual spot. Bored out of my mind, I headed his way, ready for more forced pleasantries.

“Lorenzo. ”

The man couldn’t be happier to see me again.

“Maxim,” he growled my name, sounding just as irritated.

“What are you doing?” I asked, taking in his jaded expression.

He glanced around the room, as if he, too, was wondering the same thing.

“Growing Ilya’s tab,” he retorted, taking a sip.

“You and me both.”

We clinked our shots, then turned to scan the crowd below.

The dance floor was packed, way over the club’s capacity, but no one cared.

I almost convinced myself I was scanning the space to keep an eye on my sister. Almost.

While still true, she sure wasn’t the one I kept stealing glances at.

Was it wise to seek her? Nope. Did it stop me? Hell no.

A short midnight blue dress hugged her body tightly. It fit even better than the previous one. Her hair was still loose in blonde curls, swinging wildly as she danced next to Alisa. She threw her hands up, sporting a wild smile, mouthing the lyrics to the song.

Fiery things with attitude, my weakness.

Remembering earlier events, I turned to Lorenzo and probed further. “So, her and Malek?”

“Are you here to get more gossip out of me?”

The grin on my face was impossible to disguise. My intention exactly. “Depends on what you got.”

“As shocking as it sounds, we don’t braid each other’s hair and spill our darkest secrets regularly.”

“No? How else do you explain the haircut?” I reached for the ends of his long hair, but he swatted my advances away.

“I get plenty. Don’t you worry about that,” he confidently assured me.

“Oh I don’t doubt that. Chicks love the dark, tall, and handsome combo,” I said, grinning. “Hell, I’d tap it if I swung that way. ”

Taken aback, Lorenzo tried to process my words. “Christ. You are quite a character.”

I locked eyes with him, pressing for answers. “Be straight with me. Her and Ilya? It’s my sister I worry about.”

He shook his head, his gaze moving toward Taya, the midnight sky blurred below us. Somehow, she blended in and stood out at the same time. “As far as I know, only Malek ever got to her. But it was never anything outside of sex,” he revealed, still focused on the dance floor. “It never is.”

“For many of us, I guess,” I seconded his words.

“Only a fool would imagine a future in this life. You’re lucky to make it through the day,” he muttered, turning to me. “What do you want with her, anyway?”

His eyes studied me, eager to catch anything I was willing to reveal.

“Don’t tell me you’re one of those idiots who want exactly what they can’t have,” he said, shaking his head.

I ignored the obvious answer to his question. I had that in mind. Instead, I gave him a glimpse of the mess in my head. “If only I knew.”

“Just don’t end up like Malek. He’s the kind of moron who thinks that because he got to her first, he’s got some kind of claim. It doesn’t work like that,” he frowned, offering advice I didn’t ask for.

There was no need to tell me twice. Possessive declarations, public acts, whatever Malek was trying to achieve, it was a poor man’s attempt at staking his claim.

“I might obsess temporarily, but I don’t possess permanently.”

Parents sure had tried to get me to settle, tie me down to someone from somewhere.

With Andrei now married, the spotlight was on me, the next in line.

Mother claimed she was losing sleep over me.

Father summed me up in two words: “Lost cause.” He worried I was too complicated for anyone to choose.

Too fucked up, inside and out. The level of crazy no sane person picks for themselves.

Whatever they worried about, I had little care for .

Alone was what I was best at. Work kept me occupied, women kept me satisfied, and family kept me fulfilled. What more was there in life?

I turned back to Lorenzo, far too eager to shift the focus.

“There’s no one out there for you?” I asked, watching closely, testing the line between friendship and more. But that line, while thin, seemed set.

Despite the alliance, he wasn’t present in the meeting, so either Taya had confided in him or he’d seen this coming. They were close. It’s the “why” I didn’t understand.

With a sigh, he muttered, “There are too many.”

A laugh, far too loud, escaped me, but the sound was swallowed by the chaos around us. “Yet here you are.”

“Here we are.”

“Well, it’s not the worst place to be.”

Lorenzo refocused on the group of women, scanning the downstairs as if he, too, struggled to keep his gaze away.

“What’s the story with your sister?”

Unsure about the ground we stood on, I revealed very little. “We sent her to university to get her out, but she’s too stubborn.” I shook my head. “Came back with a degree and an intent to marry.”

Something we never saw coming.

“Why Ilya?” Boss’s first name slipped from the Italian’s mouth, the lack of respect for the man clear.

“Fuck if I know. But it’s her decision, and I’ll support her.”

Lorenzo studied me before answering. “Very not-Bratva of you.”

“When it comes to my siblings, Bratva is secondary.” I held his gaze.

“Something you can try to use against me if you wish.”

I waited for his reaction, a savage grin tugging at my lips.

To my dissatisfaction, he shut me down. “Stop riling me up.”

I slapped him on the back. “But it’s so fun.”

“Speak for yourself. You realize that mouth will get you killed, right?”

“I’m counting on it.”