Page 105 of Ruthless Oath

“I’d rather you answer the question so we both know what we’re dealing with.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you in love with the mafia princess?”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” If I did, I wouldn’t confess it to my brother first. Hell, I hadn’t even admitted it to myself.

“How far would you go?” He got up and went to the shelf with the vodka. “Maybe we should have a drink.”

Or two.

“The good bottle,” I said. “The one from the Ivanovich family.”

“It’s that kind of conversation, huh?” Milo squatted in front of the cabinet and took out the sleek black bottle of expensive alcohol we only drank when we were in crisis mode. If there was ever a time to drink that vodka, now would be it.

“I like her,” I said as he poured two shots into crystal glasses. “I mean, she drives me to the brink of wanting to murder her, but then I look into her eyes, and something changes.”

“You want to fuck her?” He handed me a glass.

“Yeah, well, I want to do that even if I want to kill her, but it’s something else.” I swirled the clear liquid in my glass before clinking it to Milo’s. “There’s something about her that I’ve never had with anyone else.”

“Neither of us have had a serious relationship.” He chugged his shot. “Dad made sure of that.”

I drained my shot glass. “I don’t have anything to base it off, but I’ve had women in my life before.”

Most of those women didn’t mean much. They kept my bed warm when I needed them, some were good for conversation, and others were just arm candy. The family business always came first. My father’s grief might have been enough for me to stay single through my twenties, but to be honest, watching my mother blow up was the deal-breaker.

“Pour me another one.” I handed Milo my glass. “I didn’t want her to be different. I didn’t need her to disrupt my life.”

“What makes her different?” He poured us another round. “Why her? Other than the fact that she’s gorgeous.”

“It’s more than her beauty.” I took the next shot from him. “I like the way she is with me. She challenges me, like she’s begging me to put her in her place because she knows I want to. But that also frustrates the hell out of me.”

Milo slung his head back and spilled the drink into his mouth.

“She doesn’t care who I am—she’s not with me because of my last name. And she doesn’t want my money.” I ran my hand along my jaw. “She wants me.”

“God help her.”

“Right?” I shook my head. “She’s impulsive, and that could be a problem.”

“Aren’t we a little impulsive?” He set his glass on the desk when his phone dinged with a notification. “It sounds like you’ve met your match.”

“The timing is wrong. She’s wrong.” I finished my drink. “But she feels right.”

“I’m a little envious.” He laughed. “I didn’t think relationships were an option for men like us.”

“They shouldn’t be.”

The memory of the black SUV exploding in the driveway flashed before me. I closed my eyes and pushed the image out of my thoughts.

“Look, we both know Dad’s feelings on the subject, but you have to do what’s right for you.”

“I have to do what’s right for her too,” I said. “I can’t expect her to see me as anything more than a monster if I kill her father.”

“Maybe you won’t have to do that.”

“Everything is leading in that direction.” Even Lissia’s nightmare.

Milo scrolled through his phone with a frown.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

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