Page 38 of Mischief Mayhem
“We’d be willing to make a show of allegiance,” Bear cut in. “A member exchange or?—”
“A marriage,” Leo cut in. “I will not accept anything less.”
“Marriage?” Julia and Bear said at the same time, causing them to look at each other before returning their attention to Leo.
Leo hummed a laugh. “Indeed.”
“There’s no need for that,” Bear said. “We stand by our promises. If you send one of your brothers here, we’ll send one of ours to you. The Caputis and the Roses will be allies.”
“No, no, no.” Leo shook a finger at Bear and tsked through his teeth. “Haven’t you been listening to my beautiful sister? The only way this ends is if we are family. Spilling our own blood is a sin. Unforgivable.” He held up his hands like there was no other option. “If I am to trust the Roses will not come for me and mine again, I need to know that to do so would be against their own self-interests.”
I ignored the stirring in my gut and the rising bile in the back of my throat. Deep down, I knew I’d volunteer for this. I would throw myself to the wolves for the sake of everyone else in the club. If this would end things, if this would make it right between us, I could swallow down a marriage to one of my mortal enemies and make the very fucking best of it.
What about V?
My heart twisted and my stomach churned at the thought of never being strapped to her cross again, of never feeling her whip come down on my back or her teeth sink into my skin.
That fucking figures. It’s just my luck.
Of course I would find the girl of my dreams right in front of me and never be able to have her, not the way I wanted, not even in the future.
“Okay, fine,” Bear said, rubbing a hand over his forehead. “I have to talk to my father, but we’ll find a suitable match.”
“Who is your heir?” Leo asked, raising his eyebrows. “Who will replace the old Crow when he steps down?”
Both Saint and I looked at Bear, who shifted uncomfortably on his feet and crossed his arms.
“That would be me,” Bear said, looking at Julia for a moment before glancing back at Leo and tilting his head up, holding his chin high.
“Then, it will be you.” Leo steepled his fingers over his mouth, giving Bear a nod. “You will marry Julia.”
“What?” Julia balked, pushed to her feet, and shouted at him in her other language, waving her arms around like a child throwing a tantrum. “I won’t agree to this.”
At that, Leo stood, towering over his little sister, giving her a glare that silenced her. “Do you want to lose more of our family? Do you want to watch our home overflow with Caputi blood?”
Julia closed her mouth and dropped her gaze to the floor between them.
“When Crow steps down, Bear will be in charge and his wife, his old lady, will be a Caputi. For as long as he lives, he won’t come after us because his family is our family and our family is his. This is how it’s been done for thousands of years, mia sorella.” He stepped closer to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, bringing her in for a hug. “If we left it up to Gabriella, you would marry an underboss’s son.” He whispered something else in Italian, something hushed that made Julia wince, seemingly with regret.
She bit her bottom lip and looked at Bear, who ran his hands through his hair and blew out an exhausted sigh.
“What else?” Bear said. “What else will need to be done?”
“Who do we have on our side?” Leo said, taking a step back. “Who can we convince to turn on our dear zia?”
Leo and Julia talked about members of their family I didn’t know and how they might be able to convince them that a decades old territory war needed to end, but I could only focus on Bear. He’d widened his eyes and stared at the two Caputis while they hashed out the future of our families, but I saw the signs of his quiet panic: the sweat beading on his forehead, the bite of fear at the corner of his eyes, his tensed muscles waiting to pounce. Whatever he’d hoped to do with the rest of his life had just gone right out the door. The only way for us to end this was for him to marry into the enemy’s family and accept a stranger as his wife.
“You must come home, brother,” Julia said, grabbing his hand. “No one will believe you are strong if you are not visible.”
“No,” he said, leaning forward to emphasize his point. “We play this one in the shadows. Tell only the people you trust. You will speak for me until my return.”
“Leo.” She shook her head, apparently struggling to form words. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
“Yes, you can,” he whispered, cupping her jaw so she had to look up at him. “You are the strongest of us. You always have been.”
She stood, taking a deep breath before turning to face me and Bear. She raked her gaze down to his boots and back up again before shrugging and giving one final nod.
“I’m ready to go home now.” Then she grabbed her purse and headed to the back door. Saint smirked, clapped Bear on the shoulder, and followed her out, leaving the three of us to finalize the discussions.