Chapter 4
Aurora~
“Have you lost your goddamn mind?”
I looked over at Stefano, resisting the urge to stick my tongue out at him like when we’d been children. “No, I’m not out of my mind.”
“That’s debatable,” Santino snorted.
“Then why in the fuck would you invite a Korolev into Marchetti territory?” Stefano went on, ignoring Santino. “I mean, what the fuck? Couldn’t you have waited until you felt better to meet him on neutral ground?”
When Viktor had texted me that Aleksei wanted my father’s word that his son and heir wouldn’t be killed in a revenge plot, I hadn’t been surprised.
If I were in Aleksei Korolev’s shoes, I’d be demanding the same thing or forbidding my son to go at all.
So, even though I didn’t owe the Korolevs anything, I could understand the dynamics of such a demand.
Plus, I had my own reasons for agreeing to such a thing.
“As far as I’m concerned, there is no neutral ground between us and the Korolevs anymore,” I told him honestly. “Until it’s proven that Viktor had nothing to do with this, I’m not taking any chances.”
“Then why allow him here?” Stefano asked, sounding like he might pop a vein from just the thought. “I don’t fucking get it.”
“He’s got a point,” Santino added. “It makes no sense to let him come here.”
Now, while I wasn’t in the habit of lying to my family, I also couldn’t tell them the full truth without appearing weak, something that I despised more than anything.
All my life, I’d been the exception to the rule, my family trusting me the way that they did because I wasn’t a typical female.
I didn’t get emotional or sentimental often.
I didn’t let my feelings dictate my actions.
Once I’d gotten old enough to understand this life, they hadn’t ever caught me crying over anything.
Hell, I’d fought my way up the ladder to such a degree that I hadn’t even let PMS turn me into a ‘girl’.
I had spent all my life proving that I was just as capable of leading as my brothers were, and so I could hardly tell my family the truth now.
The truth.
The truth was that the woman in me was partly in charge of this clusterfuck, and I honestly never thought I’d ever feel this way.
I wanted revenge, but for more than just the attack.
I wanted Viktor to see that his people had failed, and I also wanted him to see how beaten I looked.
I wanted him to see the beating in person, and I wanted him to see how I’d won.
I wanted him to see that, out of the five of us, I was the only one still standing, relatively speaking.
My body was still a mess, but that was the point.
I also hadn’t forgotten about the blonde, and the validation that women needed was always going to be an unnecessary curse.
Up until that moment at the club, I had believed in Viktor’s kisses and touch.
I had even convinced myself that fidelity could be a genuine possibility in our marriage with the way that he had acted like he couldn’t get enough of me.
However, now I knew the truth. He hadn’t watched me sleep because he’d been scared that I might disappear on him; he had watched me sleep because I’d been and always would be the enemy.
So, because women were inherently flawed to always feel less than in the company of jealousy, I wanted Viktor to see that I wasn’t like all of his other women.
I wanted him to see that I could take a beating that most women couldn’t.
I wanted him to finally see and understand that I was a fucking Marchetti, and my next and real husband was going to appreciate the gift that I was in his life.
“Because I’ll need the same access to Korolev territory once I’m better,” I told them all. “If Viktor is behind this, then I’m going to kill him, and it would make things a lot easier if I can walk into his house without any static to do it.”
“Do you honestly believe that you can kill the Korolev heir and get out of there alive?” Santino asked. “There’s no way, Aurora.”
“Viktor gave me a tour of his house and the grounds the day after we got married, and so I know every inch of the place,” I informed him.
“I know where every camera is, where every guard is stationed, and every weakness in the fences. So, yes, I do believe that I can kill him and still get out of there alive.”
All three men looked at each other before Santino said, “I’ve wanted to ask you something since I first picked you up at the pier.”
“What’s that?”
“That necklace that you had me take off with the bolt cutters,” he said. “What was that all about, and do not tell me nothing.”
I let out a sigh before telling them all the truth. “The choker had a tracker in it.”
“I’m sorry, a what?” Stefano squawked.
“A tracker,” I repeated. “The night that I’d taken care of Timothy Cotton, Viktor had accused me of lying to him about my whereabouts-”
“You were,” Stefano pointed out.
“-and so he snapped the choker on me before I could stop him,” I went on while flipping my brother off. “I hadn’t bothered with taking it off before the attack, but I definitely would have gotten rid of it before my next job.”
“That sonofabitch really put a tracker on you?” Santino asked, and I could tell that he was doing his best not to go apeshit about it.
“What would you have done?” I countered. “Remember, our marriage wasn’t ever a love match, Santino.”
“Now you’re defending the bastard?” Stefano asked incredulously.
I let out another sigh. “No, I’m not. However, it’s quite clear that you guys are thinking with your emotions right now, and that won’t do anyone in this room any good.”
“Did you just call us pussies?” Stefano gasped in true damsel-in-distress fashion.
“No,” I semi-lied. “What I’m saying is that I understand that you guys are pissed, and I love you for it. I really do. I’m not ignorant of just how much you guys have my back, but this is business.”
“She’s right,” my father said, finally jumping in. “We need to plan strategic moves, not emotional ones.”
“So, we’re just supposed to let someone who might have put a hit on our sister walk through the front doors just as sweet as he pleases?” Stefano balked. “Are we supposed to offer him a tea and scones, too?”
“That’s enough,” my father shot back. “You’re being flippant, Stefano.”
“He’ll be completely unarmed,” I reminded him.
“C’mon, Aurora,” Santino drawled out. “The Russians are crazy. Even without a gun or knife on their person, they’re still dangerous.”
“Even so, he’ll also be alone, and I refuse to believe that one Korolev is that much of a threat on our own territory,” I told him. “If he is, then we have bigger problems than him trying to kill me.”
“We’re not here to debate this,” my father said. “We agreed to let Aurora lead this, and if she feels that this is necessary, then that’s what we’ll do. I can make the call to Aleksei, ensuring that his son will return in one piece.”
“I thought we only needed to return him alive,” Stefano remarked. “Why can’t we fuck him up?”
“Stefano, that’s enough,” my father repeated. “We are doing this Aurora’s way. Since she survived the attack, it’s her right for revenge, not ours.”
“Well, I’m still going on the record that I don’t like this,” he said, pouting a bit.
“I’m not in favor of this either,” Santino said. “However, I won’t fight you on this.”
I looked over at my father. “With that settled, I’d appreciate it if you made the phone call.”
He gave me a terse nod before saying, “I need to ask you something first.”
“Okay.”
“Santino, Stefano, I need a moment with your sister,” he said, making my spine snap.
“Ooh, you’re in trouble,” Stefano said before happily leaving the room, Santino right behind him, shaking his head.
As soon as the door was shut, I asked, “What do you want to know?”
With those dark eyes of his looking at me pointedly, he asked. “Why are you still wearing his rings, Alba?”
That was easy.
“Because I’m still Viktor’s wife,” I answered.
“And if he really had nothing to do with the attack, then I want him walking in this house tomorrow, knowing that he failed his wife, not a Marchetti. Even if he’s innocent of all this, that still doesn’t absolve him of not having his organization under control. ”
That must have been the answer that my father had been looking for as he smirked down at me. “I’ll make the phone call now.”
“Thank you,” I said sincerely.
“Don’t thank me yet,” he replied. “This could all still blow up in your face, child.”
He was so wrong that he didn’t even know how wrong he was.