Raw Bloody Power

Chapter 47

47

HUMBLE

Rio

“Petal?” I call out from the front door of her apartment, clicking the locks in place behind me.

“In the bedroom!”

Dropping my keys onto the faux marble counter, I tread the short distance to her room and fill the doorframe with my presence. She’s snuggled up in bed, watching TV, head swiveling my way when she feels the heat of my stare.

“Hi.” She smiles softly, patting the empty space beside her.

I’m there in a breath, crawling onto the mattress. I’ve barely settled into my spot, tucking two pillows behind my head, when she immediately curls up on my chest and drapes a leg over mine. Not an out of the ordinary thing, but the fact she was with Koshka just half an hour ago pitches a red flag. “Everything go okay tonight? ”

“Let’s just say it’s a good thing I’m not actually looking to get married to him,” she scoffs.

Okay, now I’m more intrigued than anything else, threading a hand in her hair to tug her head back. “What happened?”

Those pretty molten pools of gold cast back and forth between my browns, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was actually a little distraught over whatever took place. “His mother despises me,” she explains. “Like right out the gate. The woman took one look at me and instantly decided I wasn’t good enough.”

“You’re right. You’re not good enough,” I affirm, smoothing out her eyebrows as they huddle in the middle of her face. “Because you’re better than Benedikt. You’re too fucking good for Benedikt. In any case, I highly doubt she hates you, baby girl.”

“Trust me, I know what it feels like when someone hates me,” she deadpans, though I don’t miss the smirk hiking up one corner of her mouth.

“And look how that worked out.” Waggling my eyebrows, I ghost a kiss to her lips, running my thumb along the span of her cheek. “She would’ve loved you in no time, I’m sure of it. Just like my mom will here soon. You think I’m obsessed with you? Wait until that woman sets her sights on you.”

Whether it be in response to Benedikt’s mother or mine, Ivory doesn’t seem too convinced, shrugging a defeated shoulder. “His sister was kind of nice, but I got the vibes she wasn’t too fond of me, either. Not sure if that had anything to do with Mommy Dearest.”

Sister ?

“Koshka has a sister?” I back track to everything Zeb ever pulled up on Benedikt and I’m pretty damn sure he never mentioned anything about siblings. In fact, I’m almost positive we discussed the fact he was an only child.

It’s times like these I wish I could call him. Sometimes I do, then get hit with his voicemail and the violent reminder he’s gone— because of Benedikt—assaults me like a freight train. I miss him, his camaraderie, his help, his expertise.

“Mhmm. Nadia. I’m guessing she and Benedikt have a close relationship because she knew who I?—”

WHAT?

“Rewind,” I blurt out, shooting to an upright position so fast, she tumbles off of me. There’s no way… “ What’s her name?”

Ivory curves a dark brow and sits up in confusion, tentatively drawling a, “Nadia. Why?”

“You’ve gotta be shitting me.” Regardless of the fact Nadia wasn’t important, I don’t want to regale Ivory with any of the women from my past.

This one is inevitable, apparently.

Sure, Nadia is a fairly common name, but what are the odds that the man who’s trying to rob me of the love of my life, the same one who went out of his way to make an enemy out of me, just so happens to have a sister named Nadia?

None, that’s what.

This is no coincidence.

Fishing my phone out of my pocket with a quick hand, I tap into Instagram and type Nadia’s name—or at least, the name she gave me—in the search bar: Nadia Romanova. When her profile fills my screen, I pass my girl the phone. “Is this her?”

Ivory’s eyes instantly round out, wider and wider the more she scrolls through her page. “Yeah, that’s her.”

I let this information sink in for a beat, realizing that everything I thought I knew about Koshka was so off, it’s actually embarrassing. Eye-opening. Humbling even. “I can’t believe this,” I scoff in disbelief, shifting to the edge of the bed. “He threw us all for a loop…”

“Crow, what are you talking about?” Ivory asks behind me. “Do you know her?”

“Nadia is Benedikt’s sister. I used to fuck Nadia.” Even I want to cringe as the words leave my mouth. “She was the last girl I was with before you and I got back together.”

“Oh…” Ivory sets the phone down beside me… But then she’s there, too, garnering my attention when she grabs my arm and gasps. “OH. Do you think he…”

“Planted her?” I surmise, and she bobs her head. “Sure as fuck looks like it, which makes him and I a lot more similar than I thought.”

Disgustingly similar.

“Stop it. You’re not like Benedikt,” she insists. “You’re not like him at all.”

“Aren’t I, though?” I’m staring right at her as I ask this. “He planted Nadia. I planted you. He went after my brother, I went after yours. He hurt you… So have I.”

“That doesn’t make you the same. Like-minded, yes, but that comes with the nature of our upbringing. My brother probably would’ve done the same. Isn’t that why you asked me for help in the first place? Because we were like-minded and only I would understand what needed to be done?”

“Yeah, but?—”

“But nothing, Rio. You’re not the same.” She actually sounds offended that I’d consider this, irritation and abhorrence painted on her beautiful features.

“No, you’re right, ” I sigh, “he’s better.”

Ivory’s head nearly rams into her tufted headboard. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“He had everyone fooled, Petal. Everyone! Me, my dad. Your dad.” I’m on my feet, pacing the length of her bed as the gravity of it all hits me upside the head like a wrecking ball. “Everyone thinks he’s green, that he has no clue what he’s doing and his father did a shit job at preparing him for the throne. Meanwhile, he was over there planning, making moves. He had has his sister prancing around my life for months before he magically just knew when and how to intercept one of my shipments. Who knows what she heard, what she saw, what intel she passed onto him…”

Did Benedikt know his sister was sleeping with the enemy? Were Nadia’s I want more tantrums even real or were they done out of need to fulfill a role? Or is she, perhaps, as diabolical as her brother and simply killing two birds with one stone?

“That night in the pit, after you and I hooked up for the first time…” I continue, pushing all questions of Nadia aside. Ivory’s lips quiver at the not-so-distant memory, but she doesn’t comment. “He told me he wanted what I had. ”

“Which would be?” she questions.

“Control of the city. I didn’t bother telling him that wasn’t remotely true, that your family also had their hand in the pot, but he must’ve already known that.”

“Definitely tracks. He knew about my family when I introduced myself to him, remember?”

I do. The night Ivory met Benedikt plays back in my mind. He knew exactly who the Beluccis were. Had zero qualms about asking her up front. “He must’ve thought he hit the jackpot. That he could make you fall in love with him, thus doubling his army with the very family rivaling against his newfound enemy while also acquiring half of the territory he wants. I literally hand-delivered you to him, perfectly feeding into his plan to remove the Guerras off the board. He’s not impulsive at all. He’s calculated, smart even. What the fuck!”

“Stop it.” She’s on me before my temper can flare another notch, forcing me down onto the bed. “You couldn’t have known any of that.”

“I should’ve, though! He made a move. I should’ve kept quiet and explored every avenue of what that meant rather than worrying about firing back. I literally handed you over to him on a silver-fucking-platter.”

“And the platter is yours, baby. All yours, all day, every day. This ends in days time. If you wanna nail him to the wall then, I’m not going to stop you.”

“I’m gonna do more than nail that motherfucker to the goddamn wall, trust me.”