Page 77 of Of Desire And Deception

“I had my guys monitoring her, given the circumstances,” he explained. “We thought she’d gone to visit her mother in New York, but she never arrived.”

“Oh?” I asked dismissively.

“Do you happen to know anything about it?” Dante’s eyes bore into mine, but I held steady, refusing to look away.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

He grunted, gripping the glass. “Do you know where Remington Black is?”

“I don’t know where Remington Black is,” I said carefully. Fuck it. I couldn’t lie to my brother. He was family, and as much as I loved Remi, I couldn’t betray my brother. “I do know where Remington Neretti is.”

Dante stilled, like his brain had glitched. “Neretti?”

“And she goes by Remi,” I added.

His face twisted with rage, and the glass flew from his hand, shattering in the fireplace across the room. “You fucking married her?!”

“I did.”

Dante was almost as angry as he had been when Olesya’s brothers broke into the house and kidnapped her. He’d nearly burned the city down in his quest to retrieve her. Only now, the rage was directed at me. It made me uncomfortable.

“Fuck, Cosimo!” He ran his fingers through his hair, gripping the strands before flinging his arms out. “I thought you would tell me she was dead and buried somewhere! That would have been bad enough. But married?! Fuck!”

I was concerned about my brother’s health. His face had turned an odd shade of reddish purple, and his booming voice vibrated against the walls.

“I wouldn’t kill a woman,” I reminded him.

“When did this happen?” he dug his fingertips into his temples, rubbing in a circle.

“Christmas.”

“You were in this house on Christmas!” Dante sank down in his chair. “When the fuck did you have the ceremony?”

“There wasn’t exactly a ceremony,” I hedged. This whole thing was turning into a clusterfuck. Maybe I should have thought it through better, but all I’d considered was keeping Remi as mine.

“Explain,” he ordered.

“I had a priest sign the marriage license.” My fingers glided over the knife in my pocket. “I signed for her. She didn’t know until after.”

Dante jumped up from his chair, his fists slamming down on his desk. “You forced her into a marriage without her consent?!”

“She’s mine,” I tried to explain. “It’s not so different from you and Olesya.”

Dante’s face darkened thunderously, and I adjusted my stance, ready for him to jump me.

Footsteps pounded down the hall, and the rest of the family shoved their way into the office, Romeo and Colin standing in front of their wives while Olesya joined Dante, running her nails down his back. His chest rose and fell heavily, but he finally looked down at her, wrapping an arm around her waist.

“What’s going on?” Romeo asked, directing the question at Dante.

“Ask your brother,” he growled, refusing to acknowledge me.

Romeo’s eyes widened as his head turned in my direction. “What did you do?”

Fuck. Having everybody staring at me like that was a nightmare. I’d almost prefer the cellar to a family inquisition.

I decided to minimize the severity of the situation. “Got married.”

“That’s not funny,” Bianca snapped, bouncing Ilaria on her hip.

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