“Hmm,” he mutters, running his thumb over the edge of his glass. “My sister will be pleased. I haven’t been the best brother to her, so it’s not as if she will miss me much. But Rosa has always had a soft spot for our brother, Francesco, and him towards her. If they both know that they will see each other soon, then maybe I can spare them a bit of their heartache.”
This is the second time tonight that he has shown concern for his siblings, and I’m not sure what I should do with this information. By doing so, he’s put himself in more of a vulnerable spot than when he decided to come to Boston without his men. He must know that if we were still at war, then I’d use this information to hurt him. I’d go after his brothers and sister, torture them on camera, and send him their burnt, cut-up flesh in small packages accompanied by the videotape so he could see my handiwork in HD.
His unexpected transparency is clawing at my insides, making me wonder what his endgame is.
“He’s testing me,” were Tiernan’s words earlier tonight, and something tells me Alejandro is doing the same to me.
Alejandro continues to stare at his tumbler in deep thought, raising my hackles.
“Is that all?” I ask after a frustratingly long bout of silence.
“Just one more question,” he utters. “Will you watch out for my sister as fervently as you protect Tiernan?”
My knee-jerk reaction is to blurt out no, but by the look in his dark eyes, that is exactly the answer he expects. I take a beat and think about how Tiernan would respond.
“Rosa is to be a Kelly, and we protect our own.”
“Hmm,” he mumbles, unsatisfied with my reply. “A Kelly she might become, but she’ll always be a Hernandez here. Much like my future bride will always be a Moretti. Some scars never heal, Colin. No matter how much we want them to.”
I straighten my spine and stare him in the eye.
“Unlike you, we don’t take pleasure in hurting innocent people.”
“Don’t you?” He cocks a brow. “Can you honestly stand there and say that no innocent lives were lost when your family sought out to avenge your parents and siblings’ deaths back in Ireland? That you didn’t cheer for your enemies’ demise with the full knowledge that they weren’t the only ones to perish? How many bear the same scars on their frail and broken bodies that you now wield so proudly on your face as the reminder of how you were able to escape death’s cold grip? Do not talk to me of innocence since there is no room for such a useless word in our world.”
I swallow down my rage at him bringing back those gruesome memories that I’ve tried my best to lay to rest over the years. When he sees the burning fury in me, Alejandro places his glass of whiskey onto a side table and stands up. He then proceeds to eat up the distance between us, staring me dead in the eye.
“This treaty we all have sworn to uphold is to ensure that no more lives will be lost, innocent or not. But I’m not na?ve in thinking that everyone will yield to it. So, I’ll ask you again, Colin. Will you protect my sister from any harm? Will you ensure that she is to be given the respect and protection that is fit for her role as Tiernan’s wife? Think long and hard before you answer me. I’ll know if you’re lying.”
I do as he says and think about the implications of my answer.
If I say no, then I run the risk of him sneaking Rosa off to Mexico tonight on his private jet before she has a chance of officially becoming a Kelly. Although, by doing so, the other mob families will deem him enemy number one and won’t bat an eye at waging war on the cartel. Even with all the unlimited financial resources at his disposal, Alejandro will be no match for the combined forces against him, certifying his death notice before the month’s end.
But would he risk it, though?
For one woman?
For his sister?
My thoughts go back to Tiernan and how he was unable to stop thinking about Iris all night. How my cousin will always be worried about his sister and that if he had the means to do so, he would have spat on this treaty if it meant he could keep Iris safe and as far away from the Bratva as possible. If Tiernan had gone to Vegas with her, wouldn’t he have tried to find someone there who he could count on to safeguard his sister’s wellbeing?
Suddenly I realize that the answer to Alejandro’s question can only be one.
“On my life, no one will ever hurt a hair on her head. You have my word.”
“Then that is all I can ask for.”
Chapter 5
Rosa
“Stop fidgeting,” Alejandro reprimands with a scowl.
“I’m not,” I murmur in annoyance, mostly because he’s right.
I am fidgeting.
But what does my brother expect?
He’s about to lead me into a church where I’ll have to vow, before God and half of the city of Boston, to love and obey a man I have never laid eyes on.
As much as I didn’t want it to upset me, my fiancé not even bothering to come pick me up from the airport yesterday was a slap in the face. Tiernan made time to see my brother and go over business last night but didn’t see the point of meeting his bride. If this was his not-so-subtle way of sending me the message that he didn’t care about me in any way, shape, or form, I heard it loud and clear.
I’m not sure if I should be disappointed, angry, or relieved that Tiernan has so little interest in who he is about to marry. But then again, he’s a man. The boss of a crime family at that. Why should I expect him to act any differently in regards to who he is about to start a life with when my own father never cared about me or my brothers? I just pray I’m not about to walk down the aisle and say I do to a man that bears any likeness to my father whatsoever. I don’t care if Tiernan’s life revolves around the bloodshed of mob business—it’s the cruelty in his own home that I’m not thrilled to experience again.
“How do I look?” I ask, putting on a brave face, hoping the classic Vera Wang wedding dress is to my brother’s liking. “Not too flashy, is it?”
“It will do. Are you ready?” Alejandro asks, his cool, stern mask perfectly in place.