Page 11 of Fallen Roses

Part of me is angry and the other part impressed and she shrugs. “Because I’ve always been impulsive, I suppose, and was curious. I won’t apologize for my character, James.”

I smile because I love how she offers no apology and dismisses it as curiosity.

“Are you going to tell me why you were in that alley?”

She cocks her head to one side and I sigh heavily.

“I owe you that, at least.”

I take a sip of coffee and relish the shot of caffeine as I say with a deep sigh. “My brother. Dylan. He owed some men money, and they were coming for him. He begged me to pay them off to the tune of twenty thousand dollars.”

A hint of sympathy lights her eye and she says softly, “I’m sorry.”

I shrug. “It’s not the first time. You may wonder why I bail him out, but he’s all I’ve got left.”

“You don’t need to explain the importance of family to me.”

An awkward silence nudges its way between us as I sip my coffee and attempt to figure out what the hell is going on.

She stares at me for a second and something shifts in her eyes as she sighs.

“Your brother–”

“Dylan.”

“He messed with the wrong man.”

“How do you know?”

My head is pounding, but I shrug the pain away because something in her expression tells me that Ana Starling is no ordinary accountant.

“He was heavily involved with Victor Cordoza, a petty criminal not known for his patience.”

“You seem to know a lot about this man.”

I lean forward, my eyes piercing her soul as I try to gain access. She disguises it well and shakes her head slightly.

“He owed his cousin Michael Cordoza one hundred thousand dollars. The twenty was a mere down payment on a debt that would never be paid, no matter how much you sold, begged, or stole.”

“I never steal.”

My voice is aggressive, my nerves frayed at the seriousness of Dylan’s problem and the accusation that hangs heavy in the air.

“You seem to know a lot about my brother and my situation. Forgive me for asking but what the hell is going on?”

She shrugs, setting her mug on the table, and glances at the door that opens behind me and I note the resignation in her eyes as she sighs and stares at the person who enters.

CHAPTER 7

ANA

Mikhail is angry. The storm in his eyes has never been more prominent, and that’s saying something for a man who wears irritability as a favorite shirt.

He’s angry. He’salwaysangry, but this time he’s incandescent with rage—because of me.

Our eyes meet and I issue a warning in mine. I will not be undermined by my brother—any of them.

The battle I fought when we arrived here after the alleyway incident is nothing to the war we are currently fighting as a family. It took all of my skills of persuasion to prevent him from driving straight to the family jet and sending me back to Russia. He gave me little time to prepare my case against that, but I know how to handle my brothers and this time knowledge was my most powerful weapon.

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