Page 29 of Cruel Longing

“No one. He wouldn’t.”

I huffed. “You really don’t think Amara knows her right-hand man is sleeping with you? Come on. She’s smarter than that.How do you know he’s not working for her? This could be an orchestrated plan. How much information do you think he’s been able to take back to her? What access have you given him?”

I’d never seen that kind of pain on my sister’s face before.

“What happened to you?” she whispered.

I ran my hands through my hair. “You know how the organizations work. Nothing happens by accident. You expect me to believe that Enzo showed up in your life out of pure coincidence? As if it was fate? The person closest to Amara? The new queen of New Orleans. No way. I don’t buy it. Not for a fucking second.”

“I didn’t ask you to buy it,” she snarled. “I asked you to do what you’re supposed to do as the head of this family and get me out of this horrible marriage. You are the Pakhan.”

“Of all the things to ask me. This is the first favor you want?”

She didn’t recognize me, but I didn’t know who she was either. She wanted to upend every tradition we had been raised to follow. Breaking a contract between two families wasn’t something I’d seen.

“It’s a favor you would have asked for five years ago if you could have.”

The pain was mine now. I pressed my lips together. “The circumstances were different between Amara and me. We weren’t married.” I didn’t need to relive the history to know it was nothing like this situation.

“You still aren’t.”

“That’s irrelevant.”

“Is it?” Katya posed. “If you were with her everything would be different.”

“I’m not with her.” I closed my eyes.

This wasn’t about my relationship with Amara. This was about my sister going off the deep end. “You haven’t thought about the consequences. We can’t afford to start a war with the Petrovs. There’s no other way this could play out if you try to leave Andrey. They aren’t going to let you leave.”

“I have thought about the consequences,” she argued. “I’ve thought what it would be like to raise this baby with the wrong man. To give it Andrey’s name. To have to lie to my child every day of its life about whose DNA runs through its veins. There are more consequences than what happens in the organizations. There used to be a time when you knew that. A time when you would have left the organization to be with Amara. You know what this feels like. You know what I’m feeling right now. Can’t you try to remember that feeling? You would have walked through fire for her. I know you would have.”

I raised my finger to stop Katya from continuing. I heard the crunch of straw under boots. There was someone outside the apartment. The footsteps stopped.

“Shh,” I warned her.

“It’s okay.” She smiled. “I’m expecting someone.” She stepped around me, unlocked the latch, and opened the door. “Hi.”

A man a few years younger than me stood in the doorway. He grinned at my sister before he nodded over her shoulder in my direction. He looked like someone who had just come from a work meeting. His suit was expensive, but not custom. He wasn’t from an organization family. He certainly wasn’t Russian.

“God, you look awful,” she fussed.

“Late night at the office.”

“I know it was really hard, but come here.” She reached on her tiptoes to hug him. As soon as they separated, Katya spun around. “Luka, this is Enzo.”

Shit.

“Katya talks about you all the time. It’s nice to finally put the man with the stories.” He stepped into the apartment, reaching to shake my hand. “How is it being back from France?” he asked with a casual attitude. Maybe this was what happened when a man graduated from Amara Amato’s mafia queen school. He became as fearless as she was.

I watched at how quickly they were drawn back together after I shook his hand. She fit against his arm. He wrapped it around her protectively. She seemed happy as if she was warm for the first time in a long time.

“I hear you want to take my sister out of New Orleans.” I waited for Enzo’s response. There was no reason to be subtle or pretend that my pregnant sister wasn’t standing between us. The vineyards were out of the question, only neither of them knew why.

He nodded. “Anywhere we have your blessing. I’ll take any assignment.”

I looked at Katya. “Why don’t you see if the horses are getting the training they need? I think I heard other voices. One of the trainers is probably around.”

“Luka,” she began to argue, but I quickly warned her with a glance. “All right. I’ll be back in a few minutes,” she relented. Her fingers fell away from Enzo’s hand.

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