Page 60 of Ruthless Vow

“We’re having a family dinner. Here.” Leo gestures toward the far side of the patio where several housekeepers have started to set up the table in the curtained cabana.

“Family dinner,” I repeat, nodding. “So, sure. I’ll stay out of your hair. Upstairs, wherever. I understand that you want privacy when it comes to your—”

“You will join us,” he says. As casually as if he were commenting on the weather.

I blink. “I will?”

“Yes.”

I wait for him to elaborate. He doesn’t.

“Are they all okay with that?” I ask, hoping he says no so that I have an excuse to refuse. Sitting down for dinner with all the Russos after I tried to kill their brother is not really appealing.

“It’s been long enough. I won’t keep you a secret from my family. I won’t have you hiding yourself away. It’s bad enough that you’re stuck here for security reasons. I don’t want you isolated.” He stares down at me. “It will be a good dinner.”

Of course it will because Leo has decreed it so.

“I have no doubt it will be,” I mutter, frowning hard. “You didn’t answer my question, though. Are they okay with me joining you for a family dinner?”

“They will be.”

My heart skips a beat. “You mean, they don’t know?”

“My brothers do. My sister…hasn’t replied to my text quite yet. It doesn’t matter. Dinner is in one hour.”

One hour. A mere sixty minutes.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!

“Oh. Okay.” My mouth is dry, so I take a quick gulp from my glass of ice water. My fingers find their way into the bird’s nest of hair currently residing on my scalp. When I chopped off my long hair, esthetics weren’t on my radar. My only goal was to look different enough that Leo’s people wouldn’t recognize me. My hair looks like I trimmed it with a blender. “I wish you’d given me a little more warning so I could pull myself together.”

“Your hair,” he notes.

“Among other things.”

The suggestion of a smile tugs at the corner of his lips. “I’ve made arrangements.”

“Meaning?”

“A stylist that Sabina uses has arrived. She’s waiting for you upstairs to help you get ready.”

My brows go up. “You’ve planned ahead.”

“I like to foresee any potential problems whenever I can.”

That’s Leo. Very practical. Very forthright. Very controlling.

I’ll allow it.

“Thank you,” I say. “But I still wish you’d given me more time.”

“More time for you to worry about the inevitable?” He draws me to my feet and pulls me close, brushing his lips against mine. “Tonight, I will let them know that you’re mine. That’s all. If they have a problem with that, then it’s their problem.”

I really do wish it was that simple.

I wish that Leo didn’t just see me as belonging to him. I wish he still trusted me. I wish—

Well, it doesn’t matter what I wish. If wishes were wings, we’d all fly.

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