32. Sasha
Sasha
B oth Brennan and I caught Wynter’s body at the same time, before she hit the floor.
“What’s wrong with her?” Brennan demanded to know.
He was alarmed, his eyes darting between the women and me, demanding to know.
I knew Wyn didn’t tell them anything, not wanting to upset them, but they knew something happened. They weren’t dumb, reckless but not dumb.
Yet, the three of them shook their heads and said nothing and fuck, I was proud of Wyn’s crazy, slightly idiotic friends because they refused to betray her.
So his eyes came back to him. “I know you know, Nikolaev,” he growled.
"God, so much fucking testosterone. How about you worry about my cousin and not this pissing contest you two seem to be in." Of course it would be Juliette to say something like that.
"Juliette." Her father shot her a warning glare.
"My cousin is lying limp in your arms. How about we focus on helping her and you can growl at people later," she reasoned with him.
“So this is what you were talking about when you advised me to look for a highly guarded school,” Nico mused.
And as if the twins knew their father was talking about them, they strolled in at the same time, as I lifted Wynter up into my arms.
“I’m taking her back to my place,” I told Brennan.
“The fuck you are,” he growled. “She’s my niece. My family.”
“And she’ll come back to you when she’s ready,” I told him in a cold voice. “Not a moment sooner.”
“How about if we lay her in one of the guest rooms,” Nico’s wife, Bianca, suggested. She reminded me so much of Isabella, it wasn’t even funny. The woman had no business being among men like us. Much like Wynter.
Juliette, on the other hand, that one might turn into a goddamn killer.
“Give her to me, Nikolaev,” Brennan ordered. I guess the fucker hadn’t heard, I fucking sucked at following orders. Did enough of that shit in the military to last me two lifetimes. “Or I’ll fucking end you, to hell with your brothers.”
My expression darkened. “You can try,” I said coldly. “But it won’t end well for you. Thank the saints, Brennan, that I have your niece in my arms, or I’d crush your throat.”
“Whoa, whoa. Everyone calm down.” Brennan’s wife jumped in and the girl actually put herself between her husband and me. “Let’s leave Wynter with Sasha. She wants it that way and he’s kept her safe so far.”
“Why don’t we let them fight it out?” Nico’s twin girls leaned on each side of the doorway. “Let’s take bets. I want to see who’s better.”
“Hannah,” Bianca scolded her, giving her the most threatening look she could pull off. It resembled a mean kitten. I was sure her twins were shitting their pants. Not.
The little blonde just shrugged her shoulders and folded her arms in front of her chest. “What? I have to earn money somehow.”
“Holy fuck, we should get this one to give us some pointers,” Ivy mumbled. “They should totally attend our school.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Juliette added, then turned to face Nico. “Would you consider sending your kids to our school? It might be ready by the time they are old enough. We just have to find some other mobsters to rob,” Juliette muttered. “You were a bad choice.”
“You think?” Nico mused, entertained.
“No, no more stealing,” Davina hissed, glaring at her friend who batted her eyelashes.
“Can you lay her down and then fight him?” the other twin asked.
“Nobody is fighting,” Bianca said firmly. “But you two might earn yourselves a timeout. Separately,” she warned, giving them a pointed look.
That seemed to have the desired impact because the two of them made themselves scarce right away.
“Let me show you to the guest room,” Bianca offered and I nodded, but before I left the room, Brennan called out.
“When she’s awake, I want to talk to her,” he said, his voice dark. My shoulders tensed, knowing that it was inevitable that Wynter and Brennan talk. Honestly, I was surprised to have succeeded in keeping him at bay for this long.
I followed Bianca through their estate home. She kept chatting softly, probably her way of releasing her tension. Unlike Cassio’s wife or Luciano’s wife, Bianca and Bella had never gotten completely comfortable around men like us. Their husbands were the exception, of course.
Once we were in the guest bedroom, I laid Wynter’s body on the bed. She lost some weight in the last two weeks. From what I heard, she usually had a healthy appetite but not since her run in with the old DiLustro.
“Is she going to be okay?” Bianca whispered.
I nodded. I didn’t give Wynter enough credit. She was strong. I’d seen it over the last three weeks - in her persistence and determination. She just had a very big heart and I feared a romantic one that she hid underneath her ice princess persona.
“I can’t believe I have an Olympic gold medalist in my home,” Bianca murmured. “Maybe the twins will take note and try to aim for something more than just being little devious troublemakers.”
My lip quirked. “Then you might want to keep them away from Wynter and her friends. They are quite accomplished troublemakers. Reckless too.”
She chuckled softly. “I gathered. What were they thinking trying to make money in Nico’s casino by counting cards?”
I suspected it was their way to get attention. Davina shot me a message, telling me of their plan. Of course, she waited until they were elbows deep into it.
“How’s married life treating you?” I asked her curiously.
“I still remember that Hallmark drama wedding. I think the only thing that beat that event was catching these four reckless criminals,” I tilted my head towards Wynter’s sleeping form, “... pushing an armored vehicle into a river after they stole millions.”
“Jesus!” Bianca sounded slightly appalled. She watched Wynter sleep for a few seconds, then added, “You know, I can’t help but think she had a point.”
I raised an eyebrow. “About?”
“Being kept in the dark,” she clarified.
“It is in y’all’s genes to protect women.
It’s like it has been beaten into you since you were born.
” She wasn’t far off. “My family did it. Nico still does it, with me and the girls. And while I don’t mind it at all, in fact love it, I worry how it will impact our children.
Especially the girls. Like Wynter said, she’s so protected, she wouldn’t know if she was staring into the face of an enemy. ”
I didn’t disagree. Wynter was so oblivious to the cause of the wedge in her and DiLustro’s family that she went and fell in love with one. Yeah, she refused to say she loved him. But it was plain as fucking day.
Wynter stirred on the bed and Bianca was forgotten. I took two strides to the side of the bed and lowered to my haunches.
Her eyes fluttered open and those green eyes that had the world falling at her feet met mine.
“Hey, rebel.”
For a moment she just stared quietly, probably trying to figure out how she got here.
“Panic attacks aren’t good,” she finally whispered.
“No, they aren’t,” I agreed. “But they’re manageable.”
“Always so positive,” she muttered, her lips curving a tiny bit. It was only then that she noticed Bianca was in the room as well.
“How about I bring you some lemonade and cookies?” Bianca offered, always eager to feed everyone.
Wynter shook her head, “No, thank you. But could I talk to my uncle please?”
“Sure, I’ll go get him.”
Once Bianca left us, I locked eyes with Wyn. “You can stay at my place for as long as you need to.”
She shifted on the bed, then sat up, pulling her knees to her chest. “Thank you. I just need a week for the rest of the bruises to fade.”
“You need to think about taking time to recover mentally too, Wyn. Your mother will understand if you explain.” She shook her head vigorously. “There is always the next Olympics.”
“No, no, no,” she protested softly. “I can’t keep hiding. You know it’s exactly what I’ve been doing.”
I didn’t give a fuck. She should hide for as long as she wanted to. It didn’t make her a coward, not after everything that happened.
“Jesus, you gave me a scare.” Brennan’s voice came from behind me and he came around to the other side of the bed to sit. The dude was so large, Wynter almost rolled into him.
“Come home with me,” Brennan demanded softly, but Wynter shook her head. “I’ll talk to your mom and you can stay in New York if you wish. In another two months, we’ll visit your granddad. You can beat him at poker or chess. Davina’s grandpa will come. It will be good.”
Red blotches of agitation traveled up Wynter’s delicate throat.
“No, I’ll go to California. I’ll finish what I started.
I can’t go back to New York. Not for a while.
I’ll meet you in Ireland. But please let Ivy and Juliette come with me.
” Brennan nodded his agreement. “And you come visit with Davina too.”
Fuck, if it didn’t sound like she was saying goodbye. At least to the East Coast.
“I’m sorry, Wyn.” Brennan cupped her chin. “I’ve always just wanted to protect you. Both you and your mother. It seemed I failed with both of you.”
He tucked her curls behind her ear, the move almost father-like. He probably was her father since she never had one.
Wynter took his big hand into her small one and squeezed. “You didn’t. It’s not your job to protect us.”
“Yes, it is,” he disagreed with a grumble.
Wynter shook her head. “I know what happened with the DiLustros,” she whispered her admission so softly, you could barely hear it.
“How?” Honestly, I couldn’t believe he was able to keep such a big secret from her for so long.
“It doesn’t matter. The bottom line is that you should have told me. I shouldn’t be blindsided by someone else about things that concern me. Whose granddaughter I am, my connections to the Russians, about the DiLustros and what they did to my mother.”
A growl vibrated deep in Liam. The history and feedback I got was that Liam lost his shit when Aisling was shot. He was known to be a fair man but during that time, he killed anyone connected to Gio DiLustro.
“That bastard destroyed her,” Liam hissed. “If they knew about you and Jules, you’d have been a target. I wanted both of you to have a normal childhood, away from the underworld. It was what my sister wanted. I had to protect you and Jules to keep history from repeating.”
“Maybe when we were kids. Not anymore. Make us stronger, not blind and dependent on someone else to save us.”
Wynter might have Irish in her, but I could honestly say she didn’t inherit a single feature from them. Maybe recklessness. But then, even that could be the Russian side of her.
“Some habits are hard to break,” he said darkly.
She met his eyes with the stubbornness I have come to know well. “Well break them. Otherwise, you’ll lose us all.”