“That is the best idea.” Sophie jumps from her seat, twirls, then thrusts herself into Scarlett’s arms. “And J.P. can hold the pillow.”
Christ, my heart swells watching this.
“We’ll see how good he’s walking by then,” I say, getting myself together.
“James Patrick has Lachlan’s tree-trunk thighs,” Darragh snorts. “He might be running by then.”
I laugh and consider all the genes that got spread around this family and how they’ll eventually materialize in the next generation.
The O’Rourke Legacy. God help us…
“Soph, go get ready to see Layla. We’re leaving here in a few minutes.” Darragh mentions seeing her new baby cousin.
I hope baby Layla, Lachlan and Katya’s little girl, doesn’t inherit her father’s height and thighs.
Please, God. Just this one favor…
As Sophie dashes from the kitchen, Ana strolls in. I admit, my pulse stops a little seeing her. When I found her in Las Vegas four years ago, she looked like a spoiled Bratva princess would look. Then I turned her into that woman in the horrible photo last night.
My brother brought her back to life. Back to who she really is. And when her father made her underboss of theBratva, she turned into a powerful and dangerous woman.
Her blonde hair is pulled back, and while she looks like she doesn’t have any makeup, a subtle dusting of powder makes her skin look like porcelain, and dark mascara frames her eyes.
Her steel-gray power suit means she’s in underboss mode. Her Bratva tattoo, visible below her right ear, is an insignia all those loyal to her are branded with.
“We need to talk,” is all she says to me, her face stone, until her eyes turn to Scarlett. “Hello.”
I wind a hand around her waist. “Ana, this is Scarlett. Scarlett O’Rourke, my wife.”
Scarlett releases my hand and stands straighter under Ana’s attention. Alert and respectful.
“I heard.” Ana smiles. “And like my daughter, I look forward to celebrating your wedding.”
With a hand stretched to Ana, Scarlett says, “I would love that. And it’s so great to meet you.”
“Darling, we’re sisters now. We hug.” Ana wraps Scarlett in a hug that brings tears to my eyes.
All women who marry into the family are considered sisters. I have a feeling Scarlett, as an only child, might like that.
Darragh steps forward. “Let’s talk in the office.”
We march that way, Ana first, Darragh right behind her.
I close the door, and Ana takes a seat at her desk. Darragh stands behind her, while Scarlett and I sit in chairs facing them.
We give a briefing of what happened at the award ceremony the night before, and Scarlett slides her phone across the desk, showing a video that is circulating online.
“Send me that link,” Darragh says, taking out his phone. “Balor will have it taken down immediately.”
“Balor is my genius tech hacker brother,” I whisper to Scarlett.
Ana sits back, drumming her fingers on the desk until a moment later, she calls out, “Sergei.”
Her enforcer materializes in the doorway. With wide shoulders, a thick skull, and a square jaw, the man radiates violence like heat.
Scarlett grips my hand. Smart girl. Sergei, who served under Ana’s father’s former enforcer for years, is not known to be unhinged. Just deadly.
Ana grips Darragh’s hand as it rests on her shoulder. “What that man did was not humiliation. It was a strike against my house. Any attempt to damage me makes you an enemy of the Koslov Bratva.”