Page 24 of Thorns of Love

“You kidnapped her?” Her voice pitched high and her face twisted with panic. “Oh my gosh, we’re going to go to jail.” She glared at her brother, then threw me an apologetic look. “I’m so sorry. W-we can still fix this. Illias didn’t mean it. It’s probably because you’re so… s-so beautiful.”

I waved my hand, feeling sorry for her. “Don’t worry about it. My brother kidnapped Branka last summer. In the middle of her walking down the aisle to marry someone else. Happens more than you think.”

Awkward silence followed. Her gaze darted to her brother, the look in her eyes clearly stating something was wrong either with me or her brother. Okay, maybe my answer wasn’t the best. Illias' stiff posture alerted me that there was no‘maybe’about it.

“It’s nice to meet you though,” I added, trying to at least end our conversation amicably. “I hope you won’t leave because I’m here. I hate being stuck in Russia in the winter.”

She blinked again, and it would have been comical if a suspicion didn’t form in my chest. Konstantin kept his sister in the dark about his status. How was that even possible?

Illias pecked his sister on the cheek as he headed for the grand staircase. “We’ll talk to you tomorrow, Sestra.” She opened her mouth but he immediately added, “Tomorrow.”

Her eyes flicked my way, back to her brother, then back to me. I offered her a comforting smile and nodded. “Tomorrow,” I mouthed.

“Uh-oh… okay.”

She remained glued to her spot as Illias took long strides up the stairs. Once we were out of her earshot, I hissed under my breath.

“She doesn’t know you’re the Pakhan,” I whispered angrily. His shoulders tensed. His jaw ticked and his eyes turned murderous. “Please don’t tell me you left your sister in the dark about the underworld.” He remained silent. A muscle in his jaw tightened. “I know you are smarter than that. You left her vulnerable and clueless.”

His eyes darkened. “She’s not clueless.” I gave him a pointed look. “She knows I don’t want her around my business. She has a normal life and normal friends.” My eyebrow shot up to my hairline. Did he really just say that?

“Pray tell how anything about being born into a family that belongs to the underworld is normal?” He kept striding forward, down the elaborate hallways. Left. Right. Left.

So I tried a different approach. “Does that mean my…ourchild will have a normal life too?”

It was the first time I referred to my little bundle of joy as ours. But I wanted to drive the point home.

His step faltered and he took my chin between his fingers. “Our child will be raised to take over all my businesses.”

My eyes flashed victoriously. “Then why are you keeping your sister in the dark?”

He gritted his teeth so hard, I could hear his teeth grinding. “She’s my half-sister. Illegitimate. It puts her in a completely different category.”

I couldn’t exactly argue that point. Alexei and Isabella were illegitimate children. Alexei wasn’t hidden from the underworld, and it cost him his childhood. Almost his entire life. Isabella didn’t know for her first twenty-five years that she was the illegitimate daughter of Lombardo Santos. The old Santos didn’t know he had a daughter for the longest time. It saved her from the underworld. So maybe Illias had a point.

“You know very well that illegitimate daughters are often kidnapped,” he said coldly.

“Sometimes legitimate daughters are kidnapped too,” I retorted dryly.

“And they’re dragged into whorehouses to be used for flesh selling and trading.”

I nodded. Unfortunately, he was right. “I promise I won’t tell anyone about her,” I vowed, surprising even myself. He had forced me into this marriage, but it’d be cruel to use her to get back at him. Islawasinnocent. “Not even my brothers.”

His eyes found mine, something soft in them, sending my heart into an overdrive. He trapped me into his depths and I held his gaze.

“Thank you.”

Two simple words. One simple promise.

TEN

KONSTANTIN

I’d burn the world and anyone who’d try to get near my wife and our child.

Her vow meant more than she would ever know. I didn’t need her vow to know she’d protect Isla like she was her own and she’d only met her. That was who Tatiana was down to her core. She was as protective of the people she cared about.

“Our bedroom,” I told her. “Welcome home.”