Page 95 of Scorned Beauty

“For an arranged marriage.”

Saliva snagged in my throat at Sloane’s outrageous question. “Lucy?” I choked her name. “Who would she marry? Kolya? Kirill?”

“Well, Kolya is in jail, but Kirill is single.”

“Lucy has an aversion to overbearing men and the methods of the mafia. And she doesn’t consider herself part of the crime family. I love my sister, and you’ve seen Kirill. They would kill each other before the wedding. And let’s not forget, even if it was Grigori's crew who killed the lawyer, Lucy still blames the bratva.” That was why we needed the truce brokered by Margo, but with Kolya in jail, Kirill must have gone to her to call off the agreement. “Didn’t you get that idea with all your video calls yet?”

“She’s like me…”

“Has a problem with authority?”

Sloane laughed lightly. I missed that breathy laugh.

“She said she couldn’t wait for this shit to be over so she could return to DC.”

Yeah, my sister was going stir-crazy. She’d been griping to me that Ma had been dropping by constantly. Whenever they had to leave my penthouse to go to a restaurant, their security could rival the security for a head of state. Pop grumbled he had to close an entire restaurant just so the two could have mother-daughter time. I was sure that was Ma’s way of trying to reach Lucy. And Pop would move heaven and earth just so his two favorite girls would reconcile after all these years.

As for me, I was relieved Lucy came to me with her problems instead of relying on her “I know this guy…” mentality.

“I’m not sure if staying at your penthouse is a good idea,” Sloane said. “What would that do to all my progress? It’s like I’m back to square one.”

“Would it make you feel better if I moved out?”

She emitted an incredulous laugh. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’m dead fucking serious.”

“What would your mother say?”

“I don’t give a shit what she says.”

She exhaled a frustrated breath. “You still don’t get it!”

“What don’t I get? I’m putting you first.”

“And have your mother resent me?”

I gripped the steering wheel. An ache started throbbing in my right temple. Maybe I’d been clenching my teeth too hard since the time Kirill showed up in front of the coffee shop.

“I’m not giving you up.”

“See, I’m not yours to give up, Dom.”

“But I’m yours,” I seethed. “I’m not letting you go. I’ll find a way so you can trust me.” I stared ahead. “We leave sex off the table until you do.” Fuck, that was hard to get out, but I was desperate. The temptation to bend her to my will was a constant inner battle. “We can start small. Like the coffee dates. We don’t have to be anything. I can just be your friend for now.”

“Friend. So it’s okay if I go out on a date?”

Her unexpected question punched me in the gut. I glowered at the white line that separated the lanes of the asphalted highway.

At my silence, she scoffed, “Just what I thought. Sera told me about the fine print in her divorce papers, with Matteo saying she couldn’t date for six months. Is this the same thing?”

“You really want to date someone else?” I gritted out.

“You expect me to answer that with that thundercloud on your face?”

My jaw tightened. The throbbing in my head intensified. Sloane Scott’s middle name wasfrustration, but an inner voice taunted me that I deserved it. “Just the idea makes me want to break this steering wheel in half.”

“What’s with the double standard?” she scoffed. “I endured your dates with other women.”