Page 65 of Convenient Mafia Vows

“I think we should get back to the Wraith.” It’s a cop-out, and she knows it, but she doesn’t argue.

“No.” Kyle shakes his head. “I bumped into Olivia in her favorite nightclub yesterday evening, and we hit it off straight away.” He helps himself to a glass of iced water and sits on one of the sofas in my office.

I’ve already instructed Lauren to hold my telephone calls for the rest of the day, and to let the rest of the family in as soon as they arrive.

“It’s too dangerous.” My brandy goes down without the burn. Typical. “We’ll find another way.”

“I thought you already did that and look where that’s got us.” Kyle doesn’t use sarcasm; he’s merely telling it like it is. And it hurts.

I can’t deny that events have escalated since I introduced Victoria to Don Dragonetti and his daughter, but this is no reflection on Victoria. It’s all down to the loose cannon named Olivia Dragonetti. She’s the loaded gun, and now Ivan Petrov is waiting to pull the trigger.

“Ivan Petrov was in the Wraith last night.” I say, and Kyle sits forward, elbows resting on his knees. “He offered me a deal to throw in with his family.”

“Go on.”

“I told him the Murrays were not on the market.”

“Which he obviously doesn’t believe.”

I refill my glass; I sip this one slowly. After recent events, it will hit me later, and I want to be sober when I face Victoria. “Olivia might be crazy, but she isn’t gullible. She’ll know you’re not interested in her.”

“So, I have to make it believable.”

The door opens then, and Terry walks in with Mom. I fix them both a drink, Terry’s on the rocks, Mom’s neat. Cash gets his ability to drink his friends under the table from our mother.

“Guy’s name is Riki Kuznetsov.” Terry tosses a printed sheet of paper onto the coffee table. “Ivan brought him back from his sabbatical in Europe. From what I hear, we got lucky today. This guy will fire a bullet if you mispronounce his name.”

I enlighten them about Ivan Petrov’s offer. “We can’t proceed with the Dragonetti alliance without squaring things with the Petrovs first, and it still all revolves around Olivia. Whatever she promised Ivan, he’s bought into it.”

“Only because there’s nothing better on the table.” Terry swallows a mouthful of brandy and crunches an ice cube with his back teeth.

“Terry’s right,” Mom says. “We didn’t get lucky. What happened today, and outside Cesar was exactly what was supposed to happen. A warning. Ivan is hedging his bets. Going along with Olivia because keeping her happy is his safest option until he figures out his next move.”

“I’m not cutting a deal with the Petrovs.” I address Terry. If he suggests that I reconsider, then I’ll listen, but I already know his feelings on the matter.

Terry shakes his head. “We don’t have to.”

“We proceed as planned,” Mom joins in. “Olivia Dragonetti won’t be able to stop herself. The instant she reveals her true intentions regarding cutting you out completely unless you marry her, Ivan will back off. He’ll have no choice. He’ll do it to save face.”

“Or risk being banished again,” Terry adds.

“Kill two birds with one stone.” Mom drains her drink and slides her glass my way for a refill. “The Petrovs stand down, leaving the way clear for Don Dragonetti to step in. Win-win.”

When the door opens a second time, it catches us all by surprise. Victoria is standing there, a red-faced Lauren trying to skirt around her and speak first. “I’m sorry, Mr. Murray. I tried to stop her, but she?—”

“It’s okay, Lauren.” I avoid Kyle’s eye. He has always claimed that he would rather face a scathing lawsuit than the wrath of Miss Ingram, and it shows in the way he visibly shrinks in his seat.

The older woman reverses out of the room, closing the door behind her, but not without glaring at Victoria’s back.

“Is this about what happened today?” Victoria’s gaze flits around the room and finally settles on me. It must’ve taken a lot for her to come down here and gatecrash a family meeting, and she already looks as if she has lost her momentum.

I stand and gesture to the seat next to me where we sat only days ago with Abigail between us. “Come and sit down.” So much has altered since then that it feels as if it was a lifetime ago, a memory of a meeting that happened to two very different people.

Victoria sits between me and Mom. “If Abigail is in danger, then I have a right to know. Until Mason comes home…”

“She’s under my protection.”

I half-fill a glass with water and hand it to her, but she shakes her head. I add a splash of brandy, and she glugs the first mouthful, wincing as it goes down.

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