Chapter Seven
Rome had been receiving reports on Sasha and Andrei from Nik and Matvey all day. Both were safe, and both were followed and looked after without their knowledge by Rome’s people. Andrei had several bodyguards with him as he and Sasha went to the cemetery to visit Olya Poriskova’s grave. He remembered that today was the ten-year anniversary of her death. Andrei went back to his penthouse after that, while Sasha spent time with her grandmother.
“Where is she now?” Rome asked Nik over the phone.
“She’s sitting on the boardwalk past Brighton 7th.”
“Is she alone?”
Nik chuckled. “She’s got some stealth, that one. Ditched her bodyguards a few hours ago after she left her grandmother’s house. Too bad no one can out-stealth me.”
“I owe you, brother. I’ll take it from here,” he told Nik before ending the call.
As glad as he was to have the opportunity to finally get Sasha alone again, he didn’t like the idea of her ditching her bodyguards. Vitaly could have easily gotten to her.
He wasn’t far from her. He saw Nik’s car pull away just as he bounded up the boardwalk steps a few minutes later.
Sasha turned her head slightly in Rome’s direction as he approached her, but didn’t look at him, not even when he sat down beside her. “So, which one of your men has been following me all day?”
Rome let out a booming laugh. He couldn’t wait to tell Nikita. That would pummel his cousin’s ego a notch or two. Right now, though, Sasha was his focus. She squeaked when he scooped her up and put her on his lap.
Finally, their eyes met. “How much do you know, or rather want to know?”
Rome smiled at her when she wrapped one of her arms around him. Sasha’s face remained stoic, though. “I prefer to stay out of it, but considering what today is, I’m going to go out on a limb and say this has something to do with my mother’s death, so I want to know everything.”
Rome could not deny her the truth then. He told her about Vitaly coming out of hiding with the intention of taking what he deemed was his rightful place by Rome’s father’s side. He also confirmed her suspicions of the double-sided hit. “I had my cousin Nikita follow you today, and my best friend Matthew was looking out for your father.”
Sasha eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You were protecting my father?”
“I will do anything for you, Sasha,” he told her sincerely. “Haven’t you figured that part out yet?”
Sadness filled her eyes. “Our families have so much of each other’s blood on their hands, Rome. How can we ever make this work between us?”
He threaded his hand in her hair and brought her closer to kiss her lips. “You chose to live away from this life. I can, too.”
Sasha furrowed her brows. “I’ve been living abroad since I was sixteen years old, and even I’ve heard of the great Valentin assassin. You’re willing to give all of that up?”
The answer was easy. “In a heartbeat. This life has been slowly sucking my soul out of me, but even if that were not the case, I’d still walk away from it for you.”
“I remember you telling me how unhappy you were in your job.”
There was something he thought of now, something he had apparently been too selfish to consider, and he needed to, even if it did mean cutting his heart out and letting her go. “Are you afraid, Sasha, that being with me will get you hurt? I swear I can protect you, but I don’t want you to have to live in fear. You’ve been through too much already.”
She brought their foreheads together. “I’m as much of a target as you are given who my father is. And I have no doubt you can protect us both. Still, the better question is will your father let you leave, and will mine allow you to live when he finds out about us?”
“There may be someone who could help with that.” He told her about going to see Lenny earlier today.
Lenny had been about to slam the door in his face, but Rome pushed against it. “Please just hear me out. I love her,” he had pleaded.
“Who?”
“Aleksandra.”
Lenny’s grin had been wider than a Cheshire cat’s, and he opened the door, stepping aside to let Rome in.
“Kto preshol?” Lenny’s wife, Klara, had asked from the kitchen. Who is here?
“Roma Valentin,” he had answered. “Awn Vlyubeelcya.” He’s in love.
Rome heard her clap her hands together, and the next thing he knew, he was being ushered into the kitchen and fed until he was stuffed to the point of barely being able to move.
Bringing himself back to the present, he said, “Lenny is going to arrange a meeting for tomorrow between our fathers while he plays mediator.” Rome had expected Sasha to be as hopeful at hearing the news as he had been when Lenny agreed to try to usher in peace, but, instead, she continued to look somber.
“What is it, sweetness?”
“Vitaly killed my mother,” she said. Rome was about to speak, but Sasha placed a hand on his chest and quickly added, “I know your father didn’t order it, didn’t retaliate for your cousin Arthur and your uncle’s deaths, but it was Vitaly’s bullet in my mother’s chest. My father isn’t going to let that go.”
Rome had to accept that she was right, and he also knew his father wouldn’t just hand Vitaly over to Andrei. In a normal world, his cousin would be rotting away in a prison cell for the rest of his life, but they didn’t live in a normal world. If he had to offer up Vitaly’s head as a peace offering, then that would be his last job.
He didn’t tell Sasha, that however. “It’ll work out, baby. I promise you.” Rome hugged her close and nuzzled her neck.
Tomorrow, there would either finally be peace between their families, or everything would go to shit. Tonight, however, he could shut the world out and pretend that nothing and no one else existed besides him and Sasha. “Come home with me tonight?”
“Yes,” she answered against his lips, right before she kissed him.