Chapter 4
Brielle
“Happy baby shower, sis.” Lorenzo hands Dani a card and kisses her temple.
My sister-in-law Dani is due next month with a precious little girl.
When I suggested planning a shower, wanting to celebrate her pregnancy, she and Matteo insisted they had everything they needed, but that didn’t stop me from renting out Pasquale’s—their favorite Italian restaurant—to throw them a luncheon anyway.
Dani is one of the sweetest women I’ve ever met, and she and my brother deserve to be doted on before the baby comes.
They’ve been through so much this past year, and a little celebrating is good for the soul.
Since they didn’t need anything for the baby, I told everyone to get them something creative.
Dani opens the card from her brother, and it’s for a day at the spa. A card from my mom and her husband—who are out of town on vacation, living their best lives—is for baby-and-me classes.
As my other sister-in-law, Peyton, gushes about how much she loves the classes, I keep a smile on my face even though I feel out of place.
Not only is Peyton a mother to my three nephews—Damien, five, and twins, Justin and Adam, nine months old—but she and my brother Dominick are happily in love.
And now that Dani and Matteo are together with a baby on the way, they’ll have marriage and babies to bond over.
Meanwhile, all I have is a dead boyfriend, a womb that once carried a baby that was ripped out of me, and an ex who couldn’t satisfy me in the bedroom.
My thoughts go back to last night, but I quickly push them to the side, refusing to think about the one man who not only gave me the control I’d craved, but satisfied me in a way that was life-altering.
I force myself into the present when Peyton and Dominick give Dani and Matteo a voucher for a weekend away with babysitting duty included.
“Trust me, after the baby comes, you’re going to need it,” Peyton says with a laugh, and my heart cracks because they have what I want and fear I’ll never have.
When Peyton turns her attention on me, I shake myself out of my thoughts and pull the envelope out of my purse.
“Here’s my gift,” I say to Dani and Matteo. “It’s not as creative.” I side-eye Peyton, who sticks her tongue out at me playfully.
“What is this?” Dani asks once she opens it and is reading it.
“It’s your baby’s first investment. I took out stock, and once she’s born, I’ll transfer it into her name.
I want her to have something of her own so she never feels like she’s dependent on anyone,” I choke out and then clear my throat, trying not to let my emotions get the better of me.
“And every year, for her birthday and holidays, I’m going to add to it. ”
“Bri,” Dani says in awe, “this is so thoughtful. Thank you.”
“Yeah,” Peyton agrees. “You just got the twins a stroller.”
I laugh. “I actually got them each one as well.” I go back to my purse and pull out the other three envelopes I was going to give to Peyton and Dominick later. “One for each of the twins and one for Damien. I know their parents are rich, but …” I shrug.
I want my niece and nephews to always have some sort of independence, unlike I had, growing up. It wasn’t until I moved to Russia and went to work for my dedushka that I experienced any type of real independence.
At his gas company, Gazcom, I started as a junior accountant and worked my way up to becoming the CFO, earning myself a damn good paycheck.
When he decided to sell the company, he offered it to me, but I knew I wouldn’t live in Russia forever and that while I was good with numbers, it wasn’t my passion.
A year later, he passed away, and six months after that, my babushka joined him in heaven.
I was shocked to learn that besides a small sum they’d put aside for my brothers, they’d left everything else to me, including the home I’d lived in with them for over four years.
I considered staying in Russia, but when Dominick came to get me, I agreed to come back to Harbor Point, having missed my family.
When Dani pulls me into a hug and thanks me, my eyes and nose sting with emotion, and I shake my head, needing to move on to something less emotional, like dessert.
“Okay, enough of that,” I tell her. “I think it’s time for some—”
My words are cut off as the last person I expected to see walks through the front door of Pasquale’s. He’s dressed in a gray business suit, looking as sharp as he did last night. His brown hair is messy, and he hasn’t shaved his face.
My heart thumps in my chest as I remember the way his stubble left bumps along the insides of my thighs when he ate me out.
And then his golden-brown eyes lock with mine, and I suck in a harsh breath.
Did he follow me here?
Before I can find out, the guards are on him.
“Sorry, the restaurant is closed,” Ian, one of my brother’s guards, says.
I’m about to tell them that Kane is here for me—because why else would he be here?—when he says, “Actually, I’m here for the baby shower.”
He holds up a small wrapped package and smirks, and I stumble back in confusion because how the hell does he know about the baby shower? I definitely didn’t mention it last night.
“And you are?” Dominick asks, taking the lead, like he always does.
“Kane Morgan.” He attempts to step around the guards, but they stop him.
He sighs as if they’re nothing more than a nuisance, and then he shocks the hell out of me when he adds, “I believe you all are responsible for killing the majority of my family.”
“Fuck,” Lorenzo hisses. “I knew I recognized the name.” He steps toward Kane. “You’re Kane Morgan, owner of Morgan Enterprises.”
“The one and only.” Kane grins, but it’s not the same grin he gave me last night. It’s cold and calculated.
“And what the fuck do you think you’re doing here?” Matteo asks, joining the conversation. “You thought you’d come in here and what? Take us out in the middle of a restaurant that’s under our protection with our guards standing right here?”
Kane laughs, and my heart plummets because this man—the one I thought was different, the one I opened up to last night—is clearly a threat to my family.
“That’s not the kind of revenge I’m interested in,” Kane says to Matteo.
“The best kind of revenge is success.” He unbuttons and opens his suit jacket.
“Feel free to check me. I’m not armed.” He tosses the gift to Matteo, who catches it and drops it onto the table behind him.
“For my niece or nephew.” He glances at Dani.
“Congrats, by the way. It’s a shame my brother isn’t here to watch his child grow up. ”
His words cause a shiver to race down my spine because only family knows that their baby isn’t biologically Matteo’s.
She was conceived when Dani’s husband kidnapped and raped her, but the moment Matteo found out she was pregnant, he accepted the baby as his own.
They told us the truth, not wanting there to be secrets in our family, but nobody else knows.
Except Kane. He knows, which means he’s been stalking my family.
“Don’t fucking talk to my wife,” Matteo sneers. “That baby is ours. End of story.”
Kane raises his arms in a silent I’m not a threat sort of way, and the guards pat him down. Once they’ve confirmed he’s not carrying any kind of weapon, they nod toward my brothers to let them know he’s clean.
“So many deaths over women.” Kane shakes his head. “All I want is to save my father’s legacy.”
“Your father?” Dominick steps toward him. “You mean the man who kept you hidden?”
“You mean the man who kept his cards close to his chest,” Kane replies. “Who left me his entire empire.”
As I try to connect the dots, Lorenzo says, “The third party who bought Rothschild International,” but I have no idea what he’s talking about since my brothers don’t keep me in the loop regarding their business dealings.
When I returned home, my relationship with my brothers was a bit shaky because I had spent years thinking they knew Anthony had raped me and Andrey had forced me to have an abortion, only to learn that they had been kept in the dark.
I was pissed at Dominick for forcing me to come home, but I also understood that I had been hiding from Harbor Point, not wanting to face my past.
I thought Dominick would ask me to join the family business, especially since Peyton did, but he never broached the subject.
And since I let my pride get the better of me, I never brought it up to him, in fear of him turning me away.
Which is honestly for the best because I don’t have the desire to work for Antonov Enterprises—I think, deep down, I just wanted the option to do so.
“Joseph was grooming me to work alongside him. Only he died before I could officially do so,” Kane says, forcing me to snap out of my thoughts … because what in the Jerry Springer? Joseph, Anthony’s father, who was also Enrique’s father, is Kane’s father as well?
“He knew Anthony was a loose cannon,” Kane continues.
“His only hope was the marriage he arranged with your family …” His eyes go to mine, and bile rises in my throat as I realize, last night, he knew who I was.
“And Enrique was too emotional,” he adds.
“He never would’ve cut it in the business world. ”
“You don’t seem too torn up about your brother’s death,” Dominick notes.
“He chose to make it personal,” Kane says, his gaze bouncing from me to Dani. “I loved my brother, but I warned him to keep it strictly business. He chose to avenge our father’s death his way, and he got what was coming to him. He was a grown man who knew the risks.”
Business.
That’s all I was to Kane last night.
Business.
That’s why he’d sought me out.
Let me take control.
It was part of his revenge.
“And what makes you think we won’t kill you the same way we killed the rest of your family?” Matteo says.