Page 19 of The Boss's Revenge

“It’s bad weather for a road trip. Where was it you were going again?” I asked Kira.

She smirked at me. “Very funny, you know I can't tell you that.”

“But you’ll tell Ivanov,” I pointed out, annoyed as ever about that simple face.

She turned her face toward the window, hiding her thoughts from me. “It’s different. He’s just a friend.”

“And what am I,cara mia?” I couldn’t stop myself from reaching out and tugging her face toward me. I wanted to see her eyes.

“You’re a man I wronged, remember? I shouldn’t cause you any more stress,” Kira muttered, her eyes shying from mine.

A chuckle left me. “Kira, I have a feeling you’re going to be causing me more stress until the day we both die.”

She blinked at me, unsure whether to laugh or not at that slightly odd joke. Only then did she feel the cold snap of metal around her wrist.

I’d already gotten the cuff around her wrist while she was distracted and now, took advantage of her shock to close it.

She jerked in shock, ripping her eyes from mine to stare at the metal bracelet connecting our hands. “What the hell??”

I called to Alberto. “We have a change of destination. Take us to the Windsor hotel and call my brother.”

Kira stared at me like I was insane, and to be fair to her, I was sure my behavior seemed it.

“What are you doing?” she threw her hands up, a reflective gesture, and rattled both our wrists. I placed my hand on her knee and placed hers on top with my free hand.

“Be careful, or you’ll cut yourself. And I’m taking you to see your father,”

“But why? I thought you said you’d help me. I thought you said you’d save me?” A note of pure, brilliant hurt ran through her accusing words, sinking deep into my chest.

I reached out and cupped her cheek. “I will save you, Kira, and I am helping you, but not by running away with some man that we don’t know, and leaving behind the people you careabout, like Hana and Konstantin… like me. I don’t want you to have to run anymore. It's no way to live and your father has to understand that. Surely, he’s not completely unreasonable?”

She jerked back, shocked by my words. “Rocco, whatever you think you’re doing, stop. It won’t work, and there’s no point in both of us ruining our lives. My father won’t bend, if you think you can convince him to leave me in peace, and not cart me off to get married, he won’t accept it. He wants a connected son-in-law, and that’s all he wants. He won’t settle for anything else.”

“We’ll see,” I said dismissively, already knowing that wasn’t the play. However, I didn’t want Kira trying to run off, or change my plans. I knew her well enough by now to predict her thoughts when she knew what I really planned.

“We’re here,” I remarked, grateful that Omer’s choice of hotel was relatively close to my apartment.

The car stopped and we got out. I took Kira’s hand in mine, trying to keep the pressure off the cuffs. She looked around wildly, as she strode into the hotel. I knew what she was thinking. She was predicting that my plan would fail and Omer would snatch her up and take her back to Moscow. He could do so over my dead body.

“Stop looking around for someone to help you. There’s no Caelan O’Rourke about to pop out the woodwork here and whisk you away,” I told her sternly. Ok, so maybe the thought of the burly, huge Irish man had bothered me more than I’d like to admit but I was a realist. Who could sneak away with Kira, help her, receive her thanks, spend time with her, and fail to fall for her? It was impossible. I wasn’t about to let another man anywhere near this woman. She was mine.

“Rocco!” Kira exclaimed as I dragged her carefully toward the elevators, Alberto keeping pace with us, watching my back.

“What is it?” I whirled toward her as soon as the elevator doors closed.

“Have you hit your head? Gone crazy?” Her eyes searched my face. “Or have you decided you hate me after all? Please believe me, Omer won’t go for anything less than a marriage,” she pleaded with me, beseeching me to understand her predicament. It broke my heart that this woman didn’t think for a moment that maybe I was the one who had fallen. I was the one who’d be lost without her. It didn’t cross her mind, because she was used to being alone, a prickly cactus, keeping everyone away. But she’d slipped up and let me in, and let me see her… and now, it was too late to go back.

“If Omer needs a marriage, that’s fine. I’m not really a fan of casual dating. If he wants a marriage, he’ll get one.”

She frowned at me, trying to figure out where I was going with it. It still didn’t dawn on her, even after the things we’d shared, that the youngest Luciano, the most eligible made man in the city, wanted to marry her.

“I don’t-,”

“Omer wants us to marry, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do, sooner rather than later,” I told her firmly, taking her hand as the elevator opened, and we started down the hall toward the suite at the bottom end. Men in suits stood outside the doors, and their hands rested on their guns as we approached. Was this rash? Yes, if Omer wanted to hit the Lucianos hard, then this would be an easy shot for him, but I was betting he wanted me to be his son-in-law more.

“Omer isn’t expecting us, but he’ll want to see us,” I told the man at the door, as one spoke into an earpiece. Minutes later, we were inside, sitting in front of the man himself.

Kira was tight with tension, seeming to vibrate. Her eyes kept boring into the side of my face, looking for answers.

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