Page 20 of Forever Fake

“Whatever you say,” he grumbles, getting to work. “But you need to stop calling me for these jobs, I don’t work for you, Baron.”

“I know. But as long as you keep taking my money, I’ll keep calling on you.” I motion to Roman that it’s time for us to leave. “I’ve always been satisfied with your level of service, Dante.”

As Roman and I head toward the mouth of the alley, Kozlov catches up to us. “Thanks for dealing with this, I appreciate it,” he says. “You know how to contact me when you need that favor.”

“Two favors,” I remind him. “One for tonight, and one for what I did for you in Russia.”

“You’re taking credit for that rescue? Arianna led that?—”

“I am. It was my jet that saved your ass.”

He scowls. “Fine. Two favors.” He glances at Roman. “Next time I have an issue, remind me to call someone who’ll just takemy money. None of this favors bullshit. Who knows what he’s going to ask me to do.”

“Might I remind you that you called in a favor of your own just last year.” I lift a brow at him. “You weren’t complaining then.”

“That was different,” he grumbles.

“Hardly. You’re lucky everything turned out happily between you and your wife. Otherwise there would have been hell to pay. You know how Roman’s gone soft for his sisters-in-law since he married into the Pontrelli family. He’ll shred anyone who messes with them.”

“I know. Now thatI’vemarried into that family, I feel the same way.” Kozlov shoves his hands into his pockets. “Too bad Ginevra’s a walking disaster. It makes protecting her a nightmare.”

“Neither of you need to worry about her.” My tone’s harsher than I intended. A strange, ugly sensation twists in my gut. “Just worry about protecting your own wives.”

Roman halts and eyes me. “Why, exactly, shouldn’t we be bothered with Gin’s safety? Has something… occurred?”

When I blackmailed Ginevra into being my fake wife, I hadn’t taken my soon to be brothers-in-law into consideration. I mean, I thought about the potential consequences, but I didn’treallythink about them. When I divorce her, they’re both going to come after me with flaming torches and sharp objects. Which means… she needs to be the one to leave me—except these two will still thinkIdid something wrong, and it’s somehow my fault.

Damn it, this is a lose-lose situation. There goes one of my favors owed. I’m going to have to use it to make sure Kozlov doesn’t kill me for presumably breaking Ginevra’s heart. Roman’s my best friend, surely he’ll dish out a good beating, but stop short of putting a bullet in my head. Right?

Now’s as good a time as any to take this ruse to the next level, so I fully face Roman and Kozlov. “We’re dating.”

They exchange a confused glance.

“Who’s dating who?” Roman asks. “You lost me.”

I grit my teeth. “I’mdating Ginevra Pontrelli.”

Kozlov sputters a laugh. “Nice joke! We’re not falling for it, so you can stop right there.”

“It’s not a fucking joke. Look.” I pull out my phone and show them the photo of Gin and me together at my party. I ended up swapping it out with the picture she took of us because it was much more flattering. She’s right, I suck at taking selfies.Selfies—what a stupid sounding word.

“Holy shit,” Kozlov murmurs. “When? How?”

Roman’s gaze latches onto mine. “I recall warning you to stay away from her,” he growls.

I roll my eyes. “That’s when she was eighteen. She’s twenty now, almost twenty-one. All grown up.”

“She’s still in over her head with a man like you, and you know it.” He glances at the photo again, his lips twist with disgust. “You damn well know she’s too young for you.”

I bristle. Sliding my phone back into my pocket, I point out, “Your wife is ten years younger than you.”

“That’s different. Sophia’s mature beyond her years. Ginevra is not, and you’re almostfifteenyears older than her.”

I start walking again, done being lectured by my best friend. I know our fucking age gap, he doesn’t need to remind me about it. It’s not like I wasplanningon fake marrying a woman who’s barely an adult. That’s just how this situation has turned out. I probably shouldn’t be thinking about fucking her, and if she were a virgin then I wouldn’t even consider it, but she’s not.

Kozlov slips through a door, going back into his club, leaving me and Roman alone in the alley. We probably scared him off with our strained conversation. Either that, or he’s runningstraight to his wife to tell her the news. I’m not sure if Ginevra’s told her sisters about us yet. Everything’s happening so quickly.

“Are you listening to me?” Roman barks out.

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