Chapter 14

Fourteen

A vra

A week after moving into my house with Eli, I met with my sisters for lunch. It was the perfect opportunity to catch up and converse without worrying about anyone overhearing. There were so many people about when Laya and Cali had visited on move-in day that it had kept the girls from asking the invasive questions they would have bombarded me with if we’d been alone.

Additionally, stepping out of the house enabled Eli to gather with his lieutenants without worrying about a listening device being planted by Ozias in any of the rooms at Ozias’s properties.

I smiled at the security team sitting at various tables in the room. I’d convinced them that blending into the environment made them better protection than standing over my shoulder or against a wall looking scary. Some of them, no matter how hard they tried, couldn’t disguise the fact they were personal security. It was the way they held themselves and the “don’t fuck with me” vibe they gave off, even in their streetwear. At least they weren’t in suits all the time. I counted that as a win—baby steps.

Laya and Cali spotted me the second they entered the restaurant and came directly to me, not caring that the host expected to escort them to my table. The harried look on his face had me smirking.

Nothing stopped my sisters when they were on a mission.

Cali and Laya took their seats and barely lasted a second before one spoke.

“Don’t keep me waiting. I need all the details,” Laya said as she picked up her water, drinking down half of it. “I want to know the truth about married life.”

“From what I saw at the house, you looked like it’s suiting you very well,” Cali hummed with a sparkle in her green eyes. “I’d say the word for it is—satisfied.”

“The correct statement is happily fucked.” Laya laughed. “Our men gossip as much as any group of old women in a sewing circle.”

My cheeks heated. Were they talking about the kitchen incident?

No, the house had been empty. Well, I thought it was, anyway .

“Oooh,” Laya teased. “Look at her face. I believe this is the first time I’ve seen her blush.”

I shot her a narrow-eyed glare. But she was right. Things rarely, if ever, embarrassed me.

“My goodness, she’s human like the rest of us,” Cali joked. “It only took her getting a good fucking for it to happen.”

“Seriously, Cali. Enough with the fucks,” I whispered, glancing around the area near us. “We’re in a restaurant.”

“Oh no, the robot is back.” Laya clutched her hands to her chest.

“If I didn’t love you so much, I’d shoot you.”

“But alas—” She gave a dramatic sigh that made me smile. “I’m your baby sister, and you can’t help but love me.”

“Dumbass,” I muttered, shaking my head.

“Wrong, she is more than that,” Cali countered.

“Meaning?” Laya frowned.

Cali gave her a bright smile before saying, “You’re a dumbass virgin.”

“I’m selective.” Laya glared at Cali. “Unlike the two of you.”

Not taking the bait, Cali said, “A little too much. I cannot believe you rejected that A-lister who asked you out. Wouldn’t it be great to say a Hollywood movie star popped your cherry?”

Cali would never forgive Laya for turning down the current super Hollywood heartthrob. He had been filming in Prague and saw Laya coming out of the city’s main library. He approached her as she entered the nearby park to ask her out, and she declined.

Her logic was that since we lived in hiding, any connection to someone notable was bad. Cali, on the other hand, lost her shit. In her eyes, it was a chance to live on the wild side and have an adventure. Laya disagreed.

“Time to get over it, Cali,” I said.

“I wouldn’t have said no.” Cali scrunched her nose along with her mouth into a pout.

“Yes, we know.” I rolled my eyes.

“At least no one died because they took my virginity.” Her pout turned into a snort.

“No,” Laya corrected. “Vik eliminated him because he was assigned to protect her, not fuck her.”

I covered my face with my hands. “Seriously, you two. Enough with the fucks.”

Under Vik’s care, he clarified that we were a commodity and that our virginities were prizes to use against us. He never cared if we had lovers or went out, but the rule was to wait until we were twenty.

Except I decided to seduce my guard at the age of eighteen. It was around the anniversary of the massacre, and the grief of losing my parents had overwhelmed me.

The guard, more than ten years my senior, needed no seduction. He obliged me after one of my sparring sessions with my trainer.

However, we’d barely finished when another guard walked in on us. The rest was chaos and a world of lectures on making better choices .

Maybe the sparring session and then fucking my guard had set me on the path of what I enjoyed with Eli so much.

“You’re one to talk.” Laya lifted a brow at Cali. “You fell for a pretty face with no skills.”

Cali covered her face with her hands. “Don’t remind me. What a wasted experience. He couldn’t tell the difference between my clit and my bellybutton. His brother made up for it, so I shouldn’t complain.”

“Seriously, Cali.” I couldn’t hide my exasperation. “You slept with his twin brother?”

Confusion crossed her face. “I thought you knew. I told Peter his brother sucked as a lover, and he said he’d correct the situation, so I let him.”

I gaped at her.

“Stop looking at me like that. It was my first semester of university. You said it yourself. College is the time for experimentation. If guys can have fantasies about twins, why can’t I?”

“Except you lived it,” Laya interjected. “Okay, enough talk about Cali. You’re the one I want to know about.”

“I want details,” Cali added with too much excitement burning in her not-so-innocent eyes.

I lifted my teacup to my lips. “The two of you are nosy.”

“You knew this about us from the time we were little.” Laya set her arms on the table, watching me intently.

I cleared my throat, grinning with this easy banter. We’d never shied from talking about sex, but this silly side brought peace to my heart .

“Married life is suiting me well,” I summarized almost primly and with a matter-of-fact tone.

Laya snorted. “I’ll say.”

“There are rumors about him.” Cali grew serious. “Gossip from past lovers. He’s not too…rough?”

A surge of jealousy prickled through my blood. The last thing I wanted to think about were the women Eli had entertained before me, especially knowing his tastes.

What we had was mine—the mere thought of anyone touching him brought visions of murder to the forefront of my mind.

“His tastes are…umm…particular,” I said, unsure how to say it. “Let’s say we’re a well-suited pair in that department.”

Laya leaned in. “In other words, he fucks her hard and she likes it.”

“Oh, for the love of all that is holy, will you stop with that word? People will hear you.” I glanced to the side and noticed a group of men watching us.

“If someone is eavesdropping, they deserve to be scandalized,” Cali stated. “This is a sisters’ lunch with no filters.”

“I suppose you’re right,” I assented.

“We promise to keep it to a respectable tone so it doesn’t affect your married-lady status.” The grin on Laya’s lips had me smiling too.

I rolled my eyes. “Eli doesn’t care about things like that as long as I don’t threaten to kill anyone.”

“So that scene at your wedding didn’t go over well?” Laya smirked .

Before I could answer, Cali exclaimed, “ Eli? A nickname already. Don’t tell me you’re getting soft for him.”

I’m a puddle of pathetic need where he’s concerned.

I cleared my throat, suddenly eager to change the topic.

“How is life in the house without me?” I asked. “Is Vik driving you crazy yet?”

“That wasn’t subtle in the least, Avra,” Laya stated.

I kept my tone bland. “Neither of you can take a hint.”

“You need to be careful. Don’t forget who he is,” Laya reminded me as her mood grew serious.

“Remember the plan,” Cali added.

“As if I can forget. Eli knows I’m using him.” The shock on their faces was almost comical. “He isn’t stupid. He knew since before the wedding.”

“And he still married you?”

“It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement.”

“Is that all it is?” Cali cocked her head to the side, studying me. “I saw how he watches you. He’s extremely protective of you, which also means us.”

“I’m not following.”

“It annoys Vik to hell and back, but Eli sent a team to our property as additional protection.”

I blinked. Why would Eli do that?

Of course, I knew why. My sisters meant everything to me, and I would put my life on the line for them. So, if they were safe, I remained safe.

“At first, the night of your wedding, I was nervous about our return to the house, especially since Vik had to remain behind on the estate,” Laya said. “Our family pushed many buttons that day. Cali and I were easy targets for everyone who wanted answers on why we appeared suddenly.

“When Cali and I readied to leave, one of Elias’s chief lieutenants informed us his team would join the Vitalis forces to escort us home, and they would remain as additional protection from then on.”

Cali shook her head. “Vik was not happy at all, but what could he say to a gesture of protection for Elias’s new wife’s sisters?”

“Eli steamrolled Vik. That’s what he did.” I smirked, and then I sobered. “I upset the big players that night and put you in danger.”

“Even if you remained quiet, many of them would have questions, and with us alive, it now challenges the legitimacy of the territory division.” Laya blew out a deep breath.

“Everything belongs to us. That is a fact.” I sat up straighter.

Plus, with the aid of our relatives in America, we’d discovered piles of paperwork filled with forgeries and deception.

It was too bad for all of them. Papa had planned for the succession of property long before their treachery, and no amount of legal maneuvering would work in their favor.

“You do realize, by marrying Elias and the land moving under you legally, you are officially the godmother of the Vitalis Family,” Laya said.

Cali added, “Outside of what he gave us upon our births, everything transferred to you the moment Papa died. ”

My sisters’ words sent a shiver down my spine.

“Eli doesn’t know the details. And it doesn’t matter. It’s not about me but about our children. They will have what belongs to them and everything the bastard Ozias possessed.”

“When it becomes public knowledge, the target on you will grow larger. You’ll become like Papa, a figure to envy and attack.” The fear in Cali’s voice had me covering her fingers with my own.

“How is it any different than the lives we’ve lived up until now?” I asked her.

“The three of us survived with the pressure of being Juno Vitalis’s daughters daily,” Laya stated. “Plus, we hold the legacy of the old-world syndicate in our blood. Not just from Papa’s side but more so from Mama.”

How could I have overlooked this? She was not only the daughter of a fifth-generation syndicate boss, but she also carried royal blood from her great-grandmother, who was the daughter of an Italian prince.

“There is no denying our value.” I turned my focus on the girls. “I’m not the one we need to worry about. It’s the two of you. Marrying Eli gives me protection you don’t have.”

“And taking one of us is a way to grab power.” Laya’s words came with a tinge of resignation. “I know I’m up next. Give me the details.”

A pang of guilt hit me. “Laya, you d?—”

“No. You don’t get to make all the sacrifices,” Laya said, cutting me off. “Tell me about them. I know there are three. I overheard Vik discussing something, but that’s all I know. ”

I nodded. “Three offers came in from prominent families. Vik vetted them.”

“Are any of them good enough for Laya?” Cali asked.

I smiled at her choice of words. “Vik wouldn’t put anyone on a list of potentials who wasn’t worthy of our Laya.”

Laya gave a dramatic sigh. “Keep going.”

“There is one I find the most promising. He has ties to our cousin, Milla, who married into another large family, and he wields a considerable amount of power here and in Italy.”

Laya drew in a long breath, gazing off to the side. “All right.”

“Is he old? Eli works for you but not for Laya. She needs someone younger. Seriously, Avra, give her someone younger.”

I narrowed my gaze. “Eli is ten years older than I am. How is that old?”

“To me, that’s old.”

“Are you done? So we can return to my life,” Laya said in a bland tone.

I lifted a finger at Cali, daring her to talk. “He is thirty-three, not old.”

“Okay, then it’s settled. Accept the offer, and we can plan the wedding.” Laya’s businesslike reaction to this life-changing decision left a lump in my stomach.

The hopeless romantic of our trio deserved to find love and have a life she chose.

“Are we safer now?” Cali asked, moving on from Laya’s future .

“We are safer than before,” I replied honestly. “There was never a safe life in store for us, even when Papa was alive. We were born as the daughters of a syndicate boss, a powerful one many feared and envied.”

“Then…could I look into going back to university now?”

Laya and I exchanged a glance. We were similar: fighters, strong-willed, ready to do business and rule. Cali was the lighthearted one, more open to alternative futures.

“I want to have a ‘normal’ life now. If that’s even possible.” She lowered her hands back to the table after using them for air quotes, considering normal was relative in our world.

“Yes,” I said.

My quick response caused Laya to lift a brow.

If I could give Cali even a tiny semblance of the youth denied to Laya and myself, I would do it. At nearly twenty, she deserved to go to clubs, make friends, and explore various subjects. By leaving Prague, she’d given up her studies and the youthful adventure she sought so deeply.

Papa would have wanted it for her and all of us. Papa wasn’t the traditional type. Whether we chose marriage or university, he would have accepted our choices. Now, I had the opportunity to give at least Cali this.

She deserved it.

I wanted her to spread her wings and enjoy a bit of freedom she had never experienced before.

“Besides,” I added with a devious smile, “it’s finally time for us to start using that trust.”

“Are you serious?” The excitement on Cali’s face was worth it. “I can study architecture or something that isn’t business and useful to the family?”

“Do what you want.”

“Wait.” Cali scrunched her face. “You want to use the trust to fund it? Are you sure? We’ve only ever pulled money out of it to survive.”

“It’s time to spend the money to live our lives. We don’t need to hide it anymore.”

Papa understood the nuances of keeping secrets and hiding assets as a syndicate boss. This included creating trusts for his daughters in Swiss banks. He funneled millions during his time into those accounts, and they had continued to accrue interest over the last fifteen years.

Vik and the American relatives had kept the funds hidden. Now, the accounts held nearly two hundred million Euros. We rarely touched the money, knowing it would trigger suspicion. But now that others knew of our existence, we could do what we wanted.

“Mama and Papa would be proud to see one of us do something with our lives,” Laya said, smiling at Cali fondly.

I deadpanned at her. “What, strategizing to take down our enemies and seeking revenge is just some small minor endeavor for you?”

Exasperated, she said, “No. You know it’s not. But I want to think that Mama and Papa would have wanted at least one of us to pursue our dreams. Something not related to business, politics, and the family.”

“I was kidding. I want this for Cali. ”

Cali’s smile lit up the room, making me realize how different she was from Laya and me. At that moment, I made a vow to find her someone who saw her softer side, someone who could protect her but understood she needed gentleness and understanding.

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