Page 84 of The Disputed Legacy

“Besides, it’s probably for the best that you bring her to your place for better protection,” Hugo said. “That cop you killed? The Romano imposter?”

I nodded, curious about what he could’ve learned.

“We had a look into him and it seems that the Romanos were tagging along after you ever since we took out two of those three shooters. Leo got the third yesterday. He caught him following me. So, yeah, it’s fair to assume that he’d tracked you to that diner. And then followed you to her building.”

That was what I’d been assuming.

“But you were right about the shooting at the diner. That wasn’t a Romano hit. We looked into it and it’s just like you heard those cops saying. Those men they arrested for it were too easy to track. And they fessed it all, that they were trying to get into one of the Cartel’s gangs and that was their test to be considered.”

I thanked Hugo for wrapping those things up. It felt good to have answers, but I only wished I could have some where Willow was concerned. I had yet to know why she feared the cops and what she meant by being owned.

“What are you going to do about her?” he asked, ready to follow my lead and make it happen.

I sighed, hating that it’d come to this. “I’ll need to bring her in.”

“How?” Maxim asked.

“I’ll need to make her come home with me.” They didn’t realize that I would be bringing a two-for-one deal, getting both Willow and Oscar under my protection on my grounds.

“What are you thinking?” Hugo asked.

I smirked at Maxim. “I guess I’ll have to borrow a page from your book.”

He rolled his eyes.

“You’ll kidnap her?” Damon guessed.

I nodded and shoved my hands into my pockets. I hated to force her hand, but if we were waging an attack on the Romanos, I couldn’t risk her being on her own and as a target. That Romano who pretended to be the cop could’ve talked. Another Romano could still target her.

“I feel like she’ll be pissed that I’m taking charge like this. She’s… guarded, proud of providing for herself like she has.”

Damon laughed once. “You mean she’ll be offended that you’re offering her protection in a way someone would hate to accept charity?”

I supposed that would fit. “She’s very independent.”

They all laughed.

“Then she’ll fit right in,” Maxim said. “I bet Sloane would welcome another strong-minded woman in a heartbeat.”

I wanted her to fit in. With me. With my family. But I still had to figure out how to erase her worries about being owned.

Little did she know, she was owned by me the second she showed me compassion and stole my heart. She was an Ivanov just for that. We’d make it official.

Yet, I had to brace myself for her anger at being taken. I wanted to wait for her to learn more about me and just chooseto come stay with me, but we were out of time with the Romanos needing to be dealt with.

Maybe she could forgive me later for taking charge.

I wanted to be confident that she’d always forgive me, because I wanted so badly to believe she could love me as much as I did her.

33

WILLOW

Unlike the week when Saul vanished and didn’t come around, I had his promise that he’d be back tonight. I’d slept so deeply that I almost missed my alarm clock to get Oscar up for school. That had become Saul’s job. He was an early riser.

And that was when I knew I had to try to work with him about being together.

He already had ajobwith us. He had a role. He fit in and made us work as a group in a home.