Bloodlines: A Bad Boy Secret Baby Romance (The Snake Eyes Series Book 4) (12 page)

“Okay,” I tell him. “I’ll get you home.”

Yuri grabs my arm. “Luka…” He pulls me away, forcing me to turn my back on Fox. “What are you doing? Pops would
never
—”

“We can find out who killed our grandfather, Yuri,” I argue. “I’m sure our father would think twice before wasting that.”

He leans in closer so only I can hear him. “We should just kill him and take it.”

I lay a hand on his shoulder and pat him twice. “I love you, brother, but I know our limits.”

“What’s that mean?”

“I mean…” I glance over at Fox. He’s still on full alert — eyes wide and ears open. “We should already be dead.”

Yuri furrows his brow at me, not believing a word of it but he says nothing more to argue with me. I’m sure he’s disappointed in my weakness but it’s quite the opposite. Looking out for him is my job and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep my big brother alive. Hearing what this Fox Fitzpatrick has to say is the easiest way to survive at the moment.

I turn around to Fox and extend my hand again. “We can work together,” I say, “but I would prefer to be armed. You understand.”

Fox keeps his grip on his sniper rifle but he tosses my ammo clip back to me. “I do.”

I catch it and slide it back into my pistol, listening to that metallic sound echo throughout the empty warehouse as it clicks into place.

“You say Snake Eyes will come looking for you?” I ask.

“Yes,” he nods.

“Then we better leave them something to find.”

Blood leaves a trail.

Fox stares at me, barely blinking as he follows my meaning.

I slide a bullet into the chamber of my gun. “Hold still,” I tell him.

I aim at his left bicep and pull the trigger, firing a round through the outer flesh of his arm. He cringes and stumbles back as he reaches for the crimson wound.

“Let it bleed,” I say, knocking his hand away.

His blood drips down his pale skin and taps against the floor beneath us. He watches it for several moments and the pain leaves his eyes quickly.

“You’ve been shot before,” I note.

“I have,” he confirms.

“You take a bullet well.”

He narrows his eyes.
“Thanks.”

I flick the safety on as I slide my gun into my belt and glance up at Yuri’s shocked face. I’ll explain it to him later. “How long before this extraction team comes looking?” I ask Fox.

“A few hours, at most,” he answers. “If it’s not too much trouble, I’d rather be out of Italy by then.”

I nod. “You say someone hired Snake Eyes to kill me?”

“Yeah.”

“Who?”

He looks up from his wound. “Giovani Zappia.”

Chapter 13

Sofia

The house is quiet. Too quiet.

Granted, this house isn’t usually surging with activity but there’s something different in the air today… and it’s not just because of what happened with Luka.

I won’t lie and say his offer didn’t tempt me but it isn’t possible. I made a promise that no one would ever know who Lucian’s real father is and I intend to keep it. Leaving with Luka would only prove his guilt.

No, if I ever flee from this place, it will be alone — with Lucian, of course. I’d rather die than leave him here to be brainwashed by the Zappia cult.

I enter the kitchen, expecting to find the staff inside, chatting amongst themselves and preparing dinner, but the entire place is empty and spotless — as if they all vanished from thin air.

A cold dread seeps even further inside of me. I step out into the hall and make eye contact with a guard standing near the front entrance. He says nothing and merely gives me a respectful nod as I pass by but his gaze lingers on me for far longer than usual before he opens the front door and walks outside. I slink away, feeling even worse than before.

I pick up my speed and rush back towards our bedrooms across the house. I don’t know what’s going on but I’m not too keen to track down answers at the moment. There’s little else I’d rather do right now than take my son in my arms and hold him as tight as possible.

I twist the doorknob and throw it open, eager to see his perfect, little face staring up at me from his crib.

“Lucian?”

My eyes jerk back and forth in my skull while the rest of me stays frozen. He’s not here. He’s supposed to be here.

“Lucian!”

My voice echoes down the hall but no one answers me.

“Rosalie?” I call.

Still nothing.

I make my way towards Gio’s study, taking deep, slow breaths that don’t quite satisfy my lungs.

Gio’s face fills my vision and I gasp through my clenched throat.

“
Oh, god…
I’m sorry…” I say, forcing a laugh as my heart settles again in my chest.

“Did I scare you?” he asks, smiling softly. “My apologies.”

“It’s all right.”

“Is something wrong?”

“No, I…” I glance down the hall in both directions. “This house is awfully quiet...”

“I gave the staff the day off.”

I blink. “Oh. I suppose that would explain it, then…”

He stares at me without blinking, studying my face harder than he ever has before and that little smile of his never wavers.

I take a step back. “Is there a special occasion?”

“You could say that.”

I wait for him to explain more but he says nothing. The silence rings even louder in my ears; louder than the fiercest of alarms and I tremble inside. “Do you know where Lucian is?” I ask.

“He’s fine.”

Never in my life have I ever described Gio as
taciturn
. His vague, punchy answers do little to calm my nerves. Even his posture terrifies me; thick and erect like a damn wall but structurally unsound. I feel as if I could pull out just one brick and the entire thing would crumble to the floor.

“May I see him?”

“No.”

A surge of motherly instinct fills my gut. “Where is he?”

Gio takes a quick step backward into the study and I flinch. “Come in,” he says.

I don’t move. “Where is my son?”

“Sofia, come inside.”

A lump swells in my throat. “Where is my son?” I ask again.

His eyes twitch with impatience. “Do not make me tell you again.”

I shiver in my skin but I do as he says.

The lights are down low and the fireplace is lit as I step inside. For a moment, I think Gio has planned a bit of half-assed romanticism but then I spot my sister sitting on an armchair near his desk.

“Rosalie?”

Another flinch travels my spine as the door latches closed behind me. I stare at her tear-stained face and my entire body grows cold.

“I’m sorry, Sofia,”
she whispers.

“Oh, I don’t want to hear another apology off your lips, Rosalie,” Gio says. He passes around me and lays a comforting hand on her trembling shoulder. “Not another word…”

I shake my head, refusing to let the worst case scenario take me over. There must be another reason for all of this, something other than the obvious alternative. Rosalie would never betray me.
It’s not possible...

“What’s going on?” I ask, clearing the void from my throat.

Gio looks over at me, his lips once again curling as he slides his hand off of her shoulder and back into his pocket. “This morning, I noticed that Rosalie was acting…
strange
. Not her typical, jubilant self. I thought that maybe one of our guests did something to upset her. So, I waited until after they left before confronting her about it and when I did…” He pauses and tilts his head. “Her answer was quite
unexpected
.”

She looks up at me. Her bright eyes sit obscured behind long lashes but I still read them clearly.

Gio knows. He knows everything.

“Rosalie,” he says, staring at me, “would you like to tell Sofia what you told me?”

She stays silent, barely able to hold herself together let alone speak.

He turns and looks down at her.
“Rosalie.”

“Leave her alone,” I say, the words spilling out before I can stop them.

“What did you just say?” His voice grates across his vocal cords, giving it a hard, impatient edge.

“I said,
leave her alone
.”

Gio smirks, genuinely surprised that I had the nerve to repeat it. “Okay, then,” he says. “I’ll tell you myself.” He steps closer, drifting towards me like a ghost. My instincts scream at me to bolt but my knees stay frozen. “She told me that she saw Luka Lutrova
assaulting
you in the laundry room. Is that true?”

I pause, blissfully feeling his Russian hands on me again but I force the sensation away. “He…”

“She thought to tell me immediately,” he continues, his face dropping, “but then…
you
told her not to. Now,
why
would you want to protect him like that?”

My voice falls, refusing to leave my throat, but I don’t know what I’d say even if I could. “It…”

“
Say it.
I want to hear it from you.”

I close my eyes as the darkness settles in.

“Sofia…”
He leans in to whisper in my ear. “Did you
really
think I wouldn’t notice that
my son
has
his eyes
?”

Chapter 14

Luka

Giovani Zappia ordered a hit on me.

I blink at Yuri, meeting his stunned face once more. “Are you sure?” I ask Fox.

He nods and flexes his bicep to coax a little more blood to fall to the warehouse floor. “Positive.”

I furrow my brow, feeling a cold headache forming deep within my brain. One minute Gio’s calling us family and passing booze around and the next he’s sending an assassin to kill me? It doesn’t make any fucking sense.

Unless…

“When were you sent here?” I ask.

“Giovani made contact yesterday afternoon,” Fox answers. “Shortly after, I was assigned to the job. I flew in this morning.”

“Yesterday?”

“Yeah.”

If Gio planned this in advance, he would have gotten in touch with Snake Eyes long before then. This was last minute; a sudden, gut reaction to something big.

“This job…” I choose my words carefully, “was it
just
me?”

Fox nods. “He wanted it to look like an outside job so no one would suspect the Zappias of being involved. They sent me with evidence that would lead to the Petrovin family; make it look like retaliation for you killing Hans.”

“But Luka didn’t kill Hans,” Yuri points out, still barely following what’s going on but I’m not too far behind him.

“No, one of our agents did,” Fox confirms. “A hit
also
ordered by Giovani Zappia.”

Yuri throws up his hands.

“So, Gio wants to start a war in Russia,” I say. “Why?”

“It’s not just Gio,” he says. “Snake Eyes and the Lutrova family have a long history of butting heads. It started with Viktor. He stood up to the organization and when he tried to push them out, they silenced him. That scared your father pretty good and there’s been peaceful co-existence ever since… until recently when you started digging a little too deep.”

Yuri fires an accusing look in my direction but I can’t tear my eyes away from Fox.

“You’re saying our father knows about all of this?” I ask.

“Yes.”

“You’re lying.”

“Ask him yourself,” he challenges.

I pause. I can try and deny it all day but the truth sinks in quickly. No wonder my father always ordered us to ignore them. Let
the kobra
do what it wants. He didn’t want answers because he already had them but he was too much of a coward to do anything about them.

“The conflict in Russia has been in motion for a while now,” Fox begins. “The truce was legitimate; Antony and your father really did bring peace between the families but Snake Eyes deals in war. Once Antony exported the family to America to run the Chicago branch and left Giovani in-charge of Italy, Snake Eyes approached him with a new status quo.”