Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Times like when he let Olivia seduce him. It had been a mistake—looking for love in all the wrong places—and she’d known Dmitri didn’t approve, but this was the first he’d ever verbally acknowledged it. “I thought he could give me what I needed.” Why the hell am I trying to talk sense with this man? He doesn’t care.
“And you think this O’Malley will do the same?” He shook his head. “He won’t. They’re selfish beasts, every single one of them.”
“As much as I’ve enjoyed this sibling bonding time, the day I start taking dating advice from you is the day hell freezes over.”
“Then it’s a good thing I’m here about business and not love, isn’t it?”
Damn it, she knew he had a reason for showing up. “Then I’ll ask again. What is it you want?”
“You might resist coming back to New York, but you’re now in a unique position to be useful.” The for once went unsaid. He touched her faded and worn secondhand couch and made a sound of distaste. “The O’Malley family and I have a complicated history.”
Oh no. No, no, no. She held herself straight and still, the sound of her daughter playing in the next room a surreal counterpoint to what was going on in this one. “I don’t want any part of it.”
“That’s unfortunate, Olivia, because this man of yours, Cillian, does the books for the family—”
“Stop. Just stop.” She wanted to cover her ears and curl into a ball to escape his words. She didn’t want her borderline-evil half brother turning his attention on Cillian. She might have thought they were alike initially, but time had more than proved her wrong. Cillian wasn’t a monster. He wasn’t even close. “If you hurt him—”
“Darling sister, as much as I enjoy your willingness to think the absolute worst of me, I have no intention of laying a hand on the boy.”
Which wasn’t the same thing as saying he wasn’t planning on hurting Cillian—or worse. She forced her expression to as close to neutral as she was capable of. If Dmitri had a plan, she needed to know what it was. “Then what do you want with him?”
“The information he has access to.” He spread his arms, the very picture of innocence. She knew better. “They owe me a debt. I can collect it without harming anyone in any way—except financially, of course.”
Just because he could didn’t mean he would. The Romanov family might not have an official motto, but if they did, it would be something like “Never leave an enemy alive at your back.” They were big fans of burning the ground and salting it behind them when they took out competitors. There was no reason to think that the O’Malleys would be any different. She shook her head. “Even if I wanted to help—and I very much don’t—it’s not like he’s inviting me back to his office and leaving me unattended to dig through his records. What you’re asking is impossible.”
“Nothing’s impossible with the right motivation.” He turned back to the photograph and picked it up. This time, there was no mistaking the threat of his attention. “You have a very beautiful daughter—a daughter with Romanov blood in her veins no matter how much you wish to deny it.”
“Stop it,” she whispered through suddenly numb lips.
He ignored her. “I’ve been lax with you up until this point, but the truth is that she’s the next generation. Our father had specific ideas of what that involved. If you insist on fighting those plans…You know how these things work.”
Yeah, she did, but she still found herself verbalizing it. “You’re threatening to take my daughter from me.”
“Olivia, please stop with the dramatics.” He set the photograph down, every move perfectly controlled. “I’m not the monster you like to pretend.”
No, he was worse. He’s threatening to take my baby if I don’t do what he wants. Oh God, what am I going to do? She forced her panic down and tried to think. “Then what, exactly, are you being very careful not to threaten me with?”
“A child should know her family. That’s all I’m implying. I would think you and I agreed on this.” He paused, his dark eyes so cold it was a wonder there wasn’t a layer of ice around his body. “Sergei deserves access to her.”
“Over my goddamn dead body.” This wasn’t about Sergei and it wasn’t about bringing a twice-bastard descendant of Andrei Romanov into the fold. It was about punishing her for not doing what he wanted. Fuck that.
“No need for that kind of talk.” He smiled, the expression making her go cold. “Think about what I said, Olivia. I’m a patient man, but the time is rapidly approaching when you’ll be required to make a decision—to declare your alliance, if you will.”