Page 30 of Owned By the Mafia

Ronan’s voice from the door of the boardroom attracts my attention. I stare at him for a moment, his arms outstretched, before I realize what I’m looking at.

“Your cast is off,” I say, watching him walk in with a slight limp.

“They want me to do physical therapy, but I don’t see the point of that.” Ronan looks at our lists. ‘You boys getting on then?”

Callum sits up from behind the screen he’s using to watch footage. “Yeah, we are getting on alright, except some things pissed Robbie off.”

I glare at him, then take a deep breath. “I’m just on edge, is all.”

Ronan waves at Aiden and Callum. “Go get lunch at the pub, boys. I need to speak to Robbie alone.”

I groan as they exit the room. I don’t need a damn lecture from Ronan about my temper. I’m fucking busy.

Ronan goes to sit in my chair. “Sit down then, lad.”

I sit opposite him, where Aiden was seated, and lean back. “I’m not in a bad mood. I’m frustrated we can’t find the fucker who is betraying us.”

“That’s not what I’m here to talk about.” My brother traces a finger on the table and then looks into my eyes seriously. “What’s going on with you and Dinara?”

I snort. “Nothing. I haven’t seen her in a week.”

“I know. Did you two fight? Did you do something to her?” Ronan leans forward on his arms, lacing his fingers together. “I can’t have you fucking this alliance up, Robbie. I know how you stalked her, and I didn’t intervene then, and that won’t happen again.”

I frown and stand up, staring down at my brother. There is no fear in his eyes, but I’m sure he can tell I’m pissed. “I haven’t done anything to her she didn’t want, Ronan.”

“Well, she’s not happy about something if you’re avoiding each other.” Ronan inclines his head to the side.

“We’re pursuing different leads, is all.” I throw my hands up in the air. “You trust me to run your security but question my every move.”

Ronan snorts. “Robbie, sit down now.”

I sit in the chair opposite him and look at him, clenching my teeth.

“You can’t avoid her forever. Learn to work together because you need to sort security for the family lunch.”

“I chose to keep away from her because peace is better than war,” I say through my clenched teeth.

Ronan stands up. “This isn’t a request.”

He walks out, and I sigh. I take out my phone and stare at it for the longest time before finally deciding a text would be best.

We need to discuss security for the lunch.

My place. Dinner. Strictly work.

Rob

I sit there and stare at the wall until my phone pings with her reply.

See you at eight.

Dina.

Chapter 16 - Dinara

I’ve ached for him the whole week, not just his touch but his company. It’s a dangerous dependency for someone in my line of work. You can’t have these kinds of distractions. This is how the infighting began—because heads of families followed their hearts and nether regions instead of their heads. It doesn’t matter how sexy or passionate Robbie is. His men will riot if they find out that not only is he sleeping with someone outside their nationality, but also much lower in rank…as families go.

You can’t change bias overnight, and I doubt it will ever change. Each family has their reasons to hate the others, and the Irish hate and are hated the most.

---