“Seraphina,” I growled.
“Fine. It’s Crew West.”
I stared at my sister. “Kennedy’s assistant?”
She nodded. “Yes.” She grabbed my arm. “You’re in charge now. You can fix this for me. You can get us to France. I’ll run the vineyard. He’s amazing with numbers. Really, really good. Kennedy has been training him, so you know he’s had the best—”
“It’s his baby?” I interrupted her.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“And Brandon has no idea.”
She shook her head slowly. “None. He didn’t even realize the dates didn’t match up. He’s clueless. An idiot. He doesn’t pay any attention to me. Except now.” She looked down at her bump. “Except it’s only to tell me all the things I cannot do. I have to get out of here. I’m suffocating in that house.”
“Who has Crew told?” I asked.
“No one. He wouldn’t.”
I huffed. “You really don’t think Kennedy knows her right-hand man is sleeping with you? Come on. She’s smarter than that. How do you know he’s not working for her? This could be an orchestrated plan. How much information do you think he’s been able to take back to her? What access have you given him?”
I’d never seen that kind of pain on my sister’s face before.
“What happened to you?” she whispered.
I ran my hands through my hair. “You know how the organizations work. Nothing happens by accident. You expect me to believe that Crew showed up in your life out of pure coincidence? As if it was fate? The person closest to Kennedy? The new queen of New Orleans. No way. I don’t buy it. Not for a fucking second.”
“I didn’t ask you to buy it,” she snarled. “I asked you to do what you’re supposed to do as the head of this family and get me out of this horrible marriage.”
“Of all the things to ask me. This is the first favor you want?” She didn’t recognize me, but I didn’t know who she was either. She wanted to upend every tradition we had been raised to follow. Breaking a contract between two families wasn’t something I’d seen.
“It’s a favor you would have asked for five years ago if you could have.”
The pain was mine now. I pressed my lips together. “The circumstances were different between Kennedy and me. We weren’t married.” I didn’t need to relive the history to know it was nothing like this situation.
“You still aren’t.”
“That’s irrelevant.”
“Is it?” Seraphina posed. “If you were with her everything would be different.”
“I’m not with her.” I closed my eyes. This wasn’t about my relationship with Kennedy. This was about my sister going off the deep end. “You haven’t thought about the consequences. We can’t afford to start a war with the Castilles. There’s no other way this could play out.”
“I have thought about the consequences,” she argued. “I’ve thought what it would be like to raise this baby with the wrong man. To give it Brandon’s name. To have to lie to my child every day of its life about whose DNA runs through its veins. There are more consequences than what happens in the organizations. There used to be a time when you knew that. A time when you would have left the organization to be with Kennedy. You know what this feels like. You know what I’m feeling right now. Can’t you try to remember that feeling? You would have walked through fire for her. I know you would have.”
I raised my finger to stop Seraphina from continuing. I heard the crunch of straw under boots. There was someone outside the apartment. The footsteps stopped.
“Shh,” I warned her.
“It’s okay.” She smiled. “I’m expecting someone.” She stepped around me, unlocked the latch, and opened the door. “Hi.”
A man a few years younger than me stood in the doorway. He grinned at my sister before he nodded over her shoulder in my direction. He looked like someone who had just come from a work meeting. His suit was expensive, but not custom. He wasn’t from an organization family.
“God, you look awful,” she fussed.
“Late night at the office.”
“I know it was really hard, but come here.” She reached on her tip toes to hug him. As soon as they separated, Seraphina spun around. “Knight, this is Crew.”
Shit.
“Seraphina talks about you all the time. It’s nice to finally put the man with the stories.” He stepped into the apartment, reaching to shake my hand. “How is it being back from France?” he asked with a casual attitude. Maybe this was what happened when a man graduated from Kennedy Martin’s mafia queen school. He became as fearless as she was.
I watched at how quickly they were drawn back together after I shook his hand. She fit against his arm. He wrapped it around her protectively. She seemed happy as if she was warm for the first time in a long time.
“I hear you want to go to France and take over the vineyards.” I waited for Crew’s response. There was no reason to be subtle or pretend that my pregnant sister wasn’t standing between us.
He nodded. “Anywhere we have your blessing. I’ll take any assignment.”
I looked at Seraphina. “Why don’t you see if the horses are getting the training they need? I think I heard other voices. One of the trainers is probably around.”
“Knight,” she began to argue, but I quickly warned her with a glance. “All right. I’ll be back in a few minutes,” she relented. Her fingers fell away from Crew’s hand.
Once she was gone, I knew I didn’t have much time with him. It was barely noon, but it felt like a good time for a drink. I searched the apartment for bourbon. There wasn’t anything in the bar cart other than vodka and gin. Both bottles were unopened. I cracked the vodka.
“Want one?” I offered Crew.
“Sure. I have some time.”
I poured the drinks and handed one to him. “Looks like we have a problem to solve.”
“That’s what I
