But to hear the man speak, he made it seem like he’d singlehandedly created the empire he proudly ran. Left to his own devices, the family would have fallen to one of the rival organizations vying for position in Berlin before I hit twenty.
If my grandfather, Opa Steven, hadn’t made me promise on his deathbed to keep the family going, I would have turned my back on the whole thing before I’d started college in America. Nothing was holding me to the city, family, or country of my birth. My grandfather was dead, my mother was dead, my sister was dead.
All because of the bastard sitting across from me.
My vow to Opa Steven was the only reason I was willing to put up with my father’s bullshit demands. How someone so great as my grandfather could have sired a loudmouth know-it-all for a son, who sat on his ass instead of getting his hands dirty, was beyond me. It would shock me if Jonas Weber even knew how to shoot a gun.
“The last thing I need is a bride. I won’t have some debutante kidnapped as a way to get back at our family.”
“Don’t argue with me, boy. This is done. You will do as I say.”
“I run the business. I call the shots. What makes you think I’m going to fall in line because you ordered it?”
A calculating gleam entered my father’s eyes. “I know you’ll do as I say because you want the glory. Everything you’ve done to date is in my name. And if you ever want full control, you will marry Russo Benz’s daughter.”
“I will not.”
He slammed his fist on the table. “You will, and you will do it with a smile. I don’t care if you marry her and only fuck her one time to get the deal sealed, but you will marry her.”
“Give me one good reason I should comply. I don’t need you.”
“You want me to step down. I’ll do it within a month of you taking your vows.”
This was too easy. There was something else he was up to.
“I don’t buy it. You’d never give up the power. You like it too much.”
A scowl marred his face. I was the only one around who told him like it was and wasn’t afraid of him ordering a hit on me. The men he would order to take me out were loyal to me and would turn a gun on Jonas before even thinking to do anything to me.
“Any man who says he doesn’t like power is a liar.” He paused. “I have a deal for you.”
“I’m listening.”
The smirk on his face said he believed he’d gotten my compliance. “You’ve spent the last ten years trying to find out who murdered your whore of a mother. Well, I’ll give you the name.”
I clenched my jaw, holding in the urge to punch him.
“And you’re the pussy who allowed his wife and daughter to be raped and murdered.” I struck his ego with deliberate coldness.
The best way to get under Jonas’s skin was to deliver a blow with calm calculation. He’d never had the discipline or the skill to counter these kinds of blows.
Opa Steven had taught me the only way to manage the family was to keep emotions locked away, never reveal any weakness, and most of all, never, ever let temper guide decisions.
Jonas’s face grew red. Bringing up my baby sister Hannah always struck a nerve. She was his one love, not his wife, or me. Hannah had been a light in a house full of anger, full of demands, and full of hate. I never begrudged Hannah for escaping the “discipline” Jonas had wielded on me in order to turn me into a man. Hannah had been the one to hide me when Jonas was pissed off about one thing or another. She would find some way to redirect Jonas away from me.
“It was your mother’s fault Hannah was with her that day. She’s to blame.”
“And you did nothing to protect either of them.”
The day my mother and Hannah were taken, their usual security detail was on assignment for Jonas. In their place was a group of new recruits into the family. Sending anyone without experience to protect the wife of a mob boss was beyond stupid, and yet Jonas viewed his wife’s life as expendable. The fact Hannah had decided to go along on their shopping trip wasn’t anyone’s fault. From everything I’d learned after I’d returned home, it was Mama and Hannah’s biweekly outing that Jonas should have known about.
“There was no way to know she wasn’t meeting her lover.”
Jonas would constantly accuse her of cheating. Everyone knew it wasn’t true. Mama was watched day and night because of Jonas’s paranoia.
Mama had been originally promised to my uncle and my father’s older brother, Andrew. The two had been friends since they were teens and fell in love as they grew older. The match had been a perfect way to align neighboring families. When Andrew was killed in a territory war with a rival, Opa Steven rearranged the marriage contract for Jonas. In the beliefs of the families, one son was as good as another when it meant keeping the peace.
It wasn’t until after the marriage that Opa Steven and everyone realized what a fucked-up, sadistic bastard Jonas was. The vibrant woman people would describe my mother as being disappeared, and the only important things in her life became Hannah and me. Even if she were having an affair, I wouldn’t have faulted her for seeking some semblance of comfort in the world of abuse she lived in.
“There was no lover. It was your paranoia for the fact your wife loved your dead brother more than she ever cared for you. You had the chance to get them back, yet you sat in this office and let them be slaughtered.”
“Webers do not negotiate. Arabella
