“What if he doesn’t?”
He shrugged. “When I marry you, I get excommunicated from the family on all official channels.”
Rose jolted. “What? Dante, they’re your family. You can’t do that. Not for me.”
“I’m more than capable of making those decisions and weighing the cost on my own, amata.” He grabbed her hand and stepped into the shower, tugging her after him. “My relationship with my cousin is separate from family business.”
“I don’t understand that,” she said faintly. “How can you separate family and Family?” She loved her various aunts and uncles and cousins. But she never stopped being aware that while they were connected by blood and marriage, there was a marked difference between Romanov and O’Malley and Sheridan. A part of her always watched what she said around extended family.
And her parents? Her sisters? No matter the bonds that held them, it was understood that their first responsibility was to their power base and territory. Toward the greater good, as it related to their goals. It was why her parents had laid out exactly one option once they discovered her boyfriend was actually Dante Verducci. It was why she hadn’t flinched at marrying a man who was basically an enemy. It was why Lorelei hadn’t hesitated to do whatever it took to prevent their peace talks from being derailed—even marrying the man Rose was supposed to.
If the choice came down to her family or literally anything else, she would choose family.
“No one’s asking you to make that choice.” He pressed a quick kiss to her lips and stepped away to start soaping himself up. “The Verducci family kicked my mother out when she needed them the most because they didn’t want their reputation tarnished. I have exactly as much loyalty as my history with them requires.”
“But—”
“You don’t have to understand it. Matteo and I do. It’s enough.”
She wanted to press, but the truth was that he was right. She didn’t have to understand it, not if she trusted Dante. And she did. Her mind could think of hundreds of reasons trusting him was a terrible idea, but her gut, her heart? They believed this man entirely. “What if Romeo kills you?”
“He won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
He gave a brief smile and ducked under the spray, rinsing quickly. “Si, amata, I do. Romeo is too smart to throw away a potential tool. It’s simply a matter of convincing him I’m useful.”
“How—”
He gave her another quick kiss. “Trust me.”
She wanted a full explanation on what he planned, but the fact was she didn’t have time. Rose washed off quickly and followed him out of the shower to dry off. They dressed in silence, which was just as well because her mind whirled into dead end after dead end of how she was going to pull this off. Her parents wanted Dante dead. Anya wanted Dante dead, which was even more worrisome. Pitching this to them had to be done carefully, or they’d just override her and rush off to put a bullet between his beautiful eyes.
After braiding her wet hair away from her face, she turned to Dante. “Don’t die, d’yavol. I’m not done with you yet.”
He gave her a wolfish grin. “Not even hell could keep me from you, amata.” Dante kissed her, hard and brief. “Now go. Before I change my mind and drag you into bed.”
As tempting as that was, she needed to go home. They had to play this right if they wanted even the smallest chance of succeeding, and that meant being in her own bed when the rest of the Romanov house woke up. “Be safe.”
“You, too.”
Rose left the hotel room with her heart in her throat. Vasily waited out in the hallway, their hands clasped behind their back. They raised their eyebrows at her. “Getting late.”
“I know. Let’s hurry.”
They made it back home just as dawn had begun to break up the darkness of the sky. Late, but also far too early. She was in for a rough day after not sleeping, but she didn’t care. It was worth it. Now all she needed to do was figure out how to present to her parents that Dante could be an asset. He was on an individual level, of course. No one could argue that. But his connections and family made it complicated and mostly outweighed the good.
They’d find a way through.
What a novel thought. She wasn’t sure exactly when she started thinking of them as a team, and the very idea felt a little strange in her head, but she couldn’t deny how right it felt.
The first indication that something was wrong was the light on in the kitchen. She barely had time to brace herself when her father stepped out from the doorway. Rose glanced at Vasily, and they nodded and headed back into the garage. This was a family affair.