Page 37 of Thorns of Love
My step faltered and my eyes widened. A ten by ten size painting of a family portrait. I recognized the twin brothers, both resembling their father. But it was the beautiful woman who captured my interest. Blonde hair. Sad green eyes. I’d seen her before. With a different family.
It was the same woman from Adrian’s picture that I dug out of that parking lot. What-the-fuck! Maybe I should be asking myself how the fuck that was even possible? I dug through my memory, trying to remember what I knew of the late Pakhan’s wife.
The answer was nothing. I came up empty.
I stared at the woman, the unexpected connection. I’d have to believe that woman was Illias’ mother. Otherwise, why the family portrait? Shit, maybe that other photo that Adrian left me wasn’t his family. But that man with her was the spitting image of Adrian with the exception of the eyes.
A gasp left my lips and I leaned closer to the painting. Adrian’s eyes were green, the same shade as this woman’s. My brows creased and my temples throbbed.C-could it be… I shook my head. No way. No fucking way.
Pushing the thoughts away, I headed for the grand staircase. But the painting never left my mind.
The smell of baked pastries entered my lungs as I started my descent with my hand on the rail and my mind on the strange revelation.
My stomach growled. I was starving and prayed Illias had enough sense not to have his cook make traditional Russian dishes. Those usually involved meat and it was something I still couldn’t stomach.
The sound of voices traveled through the air, distracting me from food. Straying to the left, the voices got stronger and louder.
“Are you fucking blind?” Illias’ voice boomed. “The Yakuza must want to take over. Amon could be the solution to it all. You allowing Dante to marry that girl will push him away from the Thorns of Omertà. We’ll lose his support, Marchetti.”
My brows furrowed. Why would Enrico Marchetti care about Yakuza? Or anything Omertà related?
“My approval has been given.” Marchetti had to be on the phone. “The wedding has been set.”
No fucking way. Marchetti was involved in the underworld? Well, that was… unexpected.
“Fuck that shit, Enrico.” Illias was majorly pissed from the sound of it. “Have his other daughter take her spot.”
“He wants Reina. You should have told me earlier Amon had eyes for her. How in the fuck was I supposed to know?”
“Goddamn it, Marchetti. Then end it,” Illias growled. “The Yakuza have tried to take us down way too many times. With that chip, they’d succeed.” Illias’ tone was low and dark. Deadly. “With Amon, they’ll succeed.”
Amon Leone? Did he work for Illias? I really needed the structure of Illias’ organization. It was way too confusing.
“What’s done is done,” was Marchetti’s response. “No more of that.” It was clear by the equally dark tone of his voice the conversation was over. “Speaking of weddings, it was good thinking on your part to wed Tatiana Nikolaev. I bet you planned to get her pregnant. Tatiana knocked up gives you leverage with this latest discovery and over her psychotic brothers.”
My chest cracked and an unbearable ache slashed through me. A burn ignited somewhere deep in my heart and spread wide, until it had nowhere else to go. Until it seared those fragile, invisible threads that had started weaving between us and left nothing but thorns.
Leverage. Planned to knock me up.
The words echoed in my brain on a broken loop. He used me.Leverage.My ears rang, drowning out my heartbeat. My skin flushed hot, then cold. My soul ached but tears didn’t come. I refused to mourn a deceitful, lying, son of a bitch.
I’m going to murder that motherfucker. Just wait and see.
All I had to do was call Sasha and he’d help me take Illias down. Pakhan or no. Yet, the idea of Illias dead didn’t sit well with me. The thought of seeing the life leave his eyes sent a cold chill through my veins.
Fuck!
Maybe some torture. I’d have to think of something good. Maybe I’d bite his dick when I sucked him off. I snickered. Now, that would be funny.
A loud thud vibrated through the air, waking me out of my stupor.
“Hey, Tatiana.” A cheerful voice came from behind me at the same time and I whirled around to find Isla coming down the stairs. “You looking for the dining room?”
No, I’m looking for a way to kill your traitorous brother.Thankfully, the words remained unspoken.
“Actually, I was thinking about taking a drive,” I managed to answer, hiding all my emotions. “Maybe pick up something from the nearby bakery. Want to come along?”
The look she gave me told me she thought it was crazy to want to go out driving in the snow when there was perfectly good pastry in the castle.
