Page 96 of Wicked Union

“You don’t know Grace the way I do. She’s not like her father.”

Until she met Rhys, she was quiet and sweet. I doubted she could harm anyone. What she did to Andrey was years of her training with the Colonel. He showed her to defend herself and would have been proud of how she handled Andrey.

“Could have fooled me,” Sloan fired back. “She slit her uncle’s throat.”

“Killing runs in the Romanov DNA,” Knox added. “If it were up to me, I’d get rid of her. Mom would still be here if it weren’t for her.”

Sloan shook his head at me, disgust scrolling across his face. “What the fuck is wrong with you? How can you stand up for her? She’s just like her piece of shit dad.”

“No, she’s not,” I said in her defense. “You don’t know her. So shut your stupid fucking mouth.”

“Why do you think Fitzy let Rhys have her?” Sloan snickered. “She’s damaged goods, just like her loser fiancé.”

“Enough,” Dad cut in, hand raised to end the conversation. “I will not have the three of you fighting on the day we buried your mother.”

Sloan folded his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes. Knox stared out the window, tapping his fingers on his knee, breathing through his nose like he was ready to explode.

I glanced at my dad before my gaze swept over my younger brothers. “Mom wouldn’t have wanted this. So for her, how about we all try to get along?”

The twins didn’t respond.

Dad nodded.

ChapterForty-Eight

GRACE

After a week at the safe house, I was sick of watching TV and playing board games with Bastian and Damian, who usually ignored me and let Bastian take his turns. My cousin was funny and made Monopoly interesting, but I wanted to return to reality.

I wanted to see my dad.

Except that wasn’t possible.

Until the Colonel returned from his mission, I had to live under the protection of The Devil’s Knights.

Bastian poured me a cup of coffee and set it on the table. “The Marshalls are picking you up within the hour.”

I drank from the mug and nodded.

Bastian chewed on his bottom lip, his eyes on Damian, who stood in the kitchen’s entryway. “When we captured Alex’s mom, she gave us the name of her accomplice.”

My cousin gave me the scoop about Alex’s kidnapping and the family drama I missed. I finally felt like I was part of something. Like I had a real family. It had been so long since I had more than my dad that I didn’t know what I was missing until the past week.

I added sugar to my coffee and stirred in creamer. “Who helped Alex’s mom?”

“She didn’t know his real name, only that he called himself Mr. Fitz. I had a gut feeling it was Fitzy. So I showed her a picture of him.”

My eyes widened at his confession, although I shouldn’t have been surprised. “She identified him?”

Bastian bobbed his head. “He’s working with the Sicilian Mafia and arranged for Alex to marry Lorenzo Basile.”

“The Mafia boss?”

Another nod. “Carl Wellington has a black book that our grandfather wants.”

I took another sip of coffee and licked my lips. “What’s in the black book?”

“Secrets,” he said with genuine concern in his gray eyes. “Fitzy made a deal with Lorenzo to marry Alex in exchange for the black book that he would have gotten if he had succeeded in marrying Alex off.”

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