Leave Me Breathless: The Black Rose Collection

by Dakota Willink

  “Are the two of you going to stand outside all day making moony eyes at each other or are you coming in? There’s a pregnant woman in the house who’s about to come out and drag you inside,” Penny shouted from the open front door.

  Isa

  I couldn’t help but smile at Penny’s snarky tone.

  “We were discussing weapons,” I called back. “You know how I like weapons.”

  Penny snorted and raised her brows toward Sebastian. “I’m sure you like the weapon he’s carrying.”

  The woman was incorrigible.

  “Obviously. I wouldn’t have married him otherwise.”

  Penny rolled her eyes. “And you’re positive it had nothing to do with some archaic European tradition of arranged marriages?”

  “Absolutely not.”

  “Come on, let me introduce you to my baby brother, Adrian. I’m sure you know he and Sebastian go way back. They studied together at UNLV.”

  Adrian came over, and I couldn’t help but take in his sculpted male beauty. The man was built and was almost too good looking, especially with the added effect of the dark shadows of his beard and a slight scar on his chin.

  Damn, Ana had done good.

  “Hello, Isa. I didn’t get a chance to meet you when you came last time. I heard you’re a bit of a card shark. Hopefully I’ll get to see your skills in action.”

  “You never know.”

  As I moved into the house, I paused and watched Adrian fist-bump with Sebastian and then hug him.

  “It’s good to see you again.” Sebastian smacked Adrian’s back.

  “It’s been too long.”

  Sebastian’s tone changed to almost a whisper. “I’d gotten used to seeing your ugly mug almost every week.”

  “It’s better this way. I’ll do what I have to for Ana. She’s still working through what happened.”

  Sebastian knew about what happened to Ana? We were seriously going to have to talk.

  “Did you tell her?” Adrian asked as they stepped back from each other.

  Sebastian shook his head and then I heard Adrian mutter, “Idiot. It’s your grave.”

  What was that about?

  Before I could question the men on the unusual exchange, I was engulfed in a plethora of hugs and welcomes. Hagen, Pierce, Zack, and Henna swarmed me.

  It was like coming home being around them. They were happy to see me and welcomed me in. It had been like this from the first time I’d met them. The brothers especially were reputed to be hard men but with me they were nothing but affectionate. At first, I’d thought it was because I was their half sister Ana’s friend, but then I realized they genuinely liked me.

  Now, anytime one of the Lykaioses made a trip close to Germany, we met up. Of all of them, Hagen was the one who came to visit the most often and had advised me as I’d started my clubs.

  “Where’s Ana?” I tried to look over the shoulders of the men but it was like trying to see over a wall of over-six-foot-tall men. “You guys are great to look at and all but I need to see my girl.”

  “I’m the soon-to-be beached whale over here,” Ana said, and she came into view as her brothers shifted.

  “You’ll never be a beached whale. You’re absolutely gorgeous.” I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her.

  I wasn’t lying. Ana looked as if she could have walked off the pages of a high-end maternity catalog. Her unique golden-hued skin that she’d inherited from her Indian father and Greek mother added to her beauty. She was a real-life fertility goddess.

  I was literally in a house of people who looked like they were created by the Greek gods.

  “You’re good for my ego. I may not let you go home.”

  “Where Isa goes, I go.” Sebastian came up behind me.

  Then he did a silent conversation thing with Ana. Ana’s amber, almost tiger-like eyes grew wide and then flashed with annoyance before she shook her head.

  “What am I missing?” I asked both of them.

  Almost as soon as the question was out, the pieces fell into place.

  Sebastian had told me he’d worked with Bri. I’d assumed it was as an informant or consultant as I was. Which couldn’t be true if he saw Adrian nearly every week until recently. Then there was the fact Sebastian knew about what went down on Ana’s last assignment. The only reason I found out some of the details was because it was in the file for some of the artwork I’d had to evaluate after the case closed. Even then, my information was limited and I could only guess as to what might have happened to Ana.

  Sebastian clearly knew more details than I did.

  This meant one thing—Sebastian was the man who’d helped rescue Ana when her assignment went south and she was kidnapped. The assignment Ana had been on was a joint Solon/Interpol/CIA case. Ana was the Solon contact, and Adrian was the CIA component. Which left Sebastian.

  He was Interpol.

  My husband, a mob boss, was an agent for an intelligence agency. Now the favor he’d done for Bri made sense. He’d helped save one of her agents. Ana.

  I studied Sebastian’s worried face.

  There was still something I was missing. I looked between Ana, Adrian, and Sebastian.

  “I think the three of us need to go into another room and have a conversation.” Ana glared at Sebastian as she tucked her arm in mine and pulled me toward the back of the house and an open door.

  The four of us moved into a room that looked like a library.

  Once we were inside and the door was locked, I blurted out, “You’re Interpol.”

  “Yes,” Sebastian answered.

  “I know Ana is Solon.” I glanced at her.

  “Former. I left.”

  Then I moved my attention to Adrian. “And you’re CIA.”

  “Retired.”

  I walked over to a window overlooking the desert. “And the three of you were on Ana’s last case.”

  I tried to remember everything I’d heard and read in the case analysis. They’d been on an assignment to stop a sex-trafficking ring. Ana was supposed to pose as one of the victims when she’d been kidnapped. Two agents had gone in pretending to be buyers.

  “You slept with Ana. Didn’t you?”

  A wave of jealousy hit me, making me want to throw up. Ana was someone I respected, who I looked up to. She was literally a badass spy.

  “Yes.” Sebastian took a step toward me but I shook my head.

  He couldn’t touch me right now.

  “How many times?”

  “Once.”

  I caught Ana rubbing her belly with worry etched all over her face and Adrian’s hand on her shoulder.

  She’d gotten pregnant during that time, there was no doubt in my mind.

  “Is there any chance the baby is yours?”

  Surprise flashed on Sebastian’s features. “No. Without a doubt.”

  “Absolutely not,” Adrian added but I ignored him, my focus on Sebastian.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I didn’t know how to tell you I slept with one of your close friends as part of my work without revealing who I worked for or hurting you.”

  “I would have rather heard it from you than learned it like this.” A tear slipped down my cheek. “Haven’t you learned that keeping something from me is just as hurtful as lying?”

  “Baby, there are always things I’m not going to be able to tell you.”

  I clenched my jaw. “I don’t want to hear it. There’s a fucking difference between having slept with my girlfriend and running the business.”

  He had to believe I was an idiot. I knew the rules, I knew when it came to the family some things I’d never know.

  I looked at Ana again. “You stalled my investigation into Sebastian. You knew I was going to marry him.”

  She nodded. “I didn’t have a choice. But I promise, I gave you everything that was available on him that wasn’t classified.”

  “And telling me you fucked my soon-to-be husband was classified.” I c
ouldn’t hide the hurt or anger in my tone.

  “Isa, you know the way it works.” Ana sighed. “Some cases require us to do things we wouldn’t think of doing in the real world. We were undercover. We had no choice in what happened. We had an audience and had to make it look real.”

  I cringed thinking of what she’d had to experience.

  Logically I knew some agents went so deep they lived out what they’d been sent to do. Ana had been kidnapped and sold. Adrian and Sebastian had done whatever it took to get her back.

  “I’m just so tired of the secrets.”

  “Isa, our lives are all about secrets.” Sebastian came to stand in front of me. “Can we talk alone?”

  I nodded. And in my peripheral vision, I saw Ana and Adrian get up.

  Was I being too dramatic?

  Maybe I was.

  Maybe it was jealousy fueling the hurt.

  No, I’d been lied to. Again.

  It pissed me off that someone I knew had seen Sebastian naked, had felt his touch, knew what it was like to have him deep inside her. But it was more that Sebastian had kept it from me. Another check in the “I have no idea if the man I love is real or a figment of my imagination” column.

  “Isa?”

  I looked at Ana.

  “If it makes you feel better, I’ll let you sleep with Adrian.”

  “The hell she will.” Sebastian’s roar was almost comical, and I would have laughed if I wasn’t so pissed.

  “Ana, babe,” Adrian said with a slight amused tone. “I don’t think that’s a solution. Besides, if my dick goes anywhere near another woman, you’ll cut it off.”

  “I suppose you’re right. The thought does make me stabby.”

  They walked out of the library, still talking.

  Sebastian went to lock the door and then came back to me.

  “We need to get something straight.” He towered over me. “There’s only one woman I plan to fuck, as you put it, for the rest of my life. And that’s you.”

  I opened my mouth to argue that point, but shut it. He was right. Being jealous of something that happened before we knew each other was ridiculous. I’d had relationships and lovers before him. Though I wasn’t sure I’d ever want Sebastian to meet any of them.

  “Nothing to say?”

  “So, do we just pretend nothing ever happened with you and Ana?”

  “It’s the way it works. Once a case is over, we debrief and walk away.” He cupped my jaw, tilting it up.

  I stared into his dark irises. The pain of another lie made me question whether it was possible to have any sort of real relationship with him.

  “Isa, when Jonas forced my hand to accept our marriage, I was angry and determined to live my life as I always had. Which meant all my focus was on my job and completing my assignments by any means necessary.

  “I wasn’t expecting to feel this way about you. But now that you’re mine, my priorities have changed. I’m never letting you go. You’re it for me.”

  This wasn’t a declaration of love, but it was something.

  I was so tired of being in the dark. I needed things to be transparent between us. It wasn’t as if leaving him was an option.

  “I need one promise from you.”

  “What?” A slight crease formed between his brows.

  “No more lying to me.”

  “I haven’t lied to you.”

  “Lies by omission are still lies.”

  He nodded. “Then I guess I’d better tell you one more thing.”

  “You mean why you so readily agreed to leave Germany? Or how you had a plane, destination, and itinerary ready in less than an hour without worrying about the operations of your organization?”

  Sebastian winced. “Noticed that, did you?”

  “I’m not stupid, and your actions would have been obvious to a blind man. What’s going on, Baz?”

  “The last thing I’d believe about you is that you’re stupid. Let’s sit down for this.” He led me to a set of chairs near us.

  Instead of letting me take my own seat, he sat, and then pulled me onto his lap. He set a hand across my thighs and the other on my back, pulling me against him.

  He was quiet as if waiting for some sign.

  “Spill it,” I ordered.

  He inhaled deep. “Jonas arranged for my mother’s murder.”

  That wasn’t what I expected to hear. “What? How did you find out?”

  “We discovered it after I threw Jonas out of his house.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? You seemed fine this whole time.”

  “I’ve spent the last ten years mourning my mother and sister. My gut told me Jonas was involved, but I tried to ignore it. Knowing the truth doesn’t change the fact they’re gone. In a sense it was closure.”

  His words seemed so calm, but there was no way he wasn’t affected by the news that his father was responsible for his mother and sister’s deaths.

  Sometimes it surprised me how much Sebastian was like Papa. Papa hadn’t shed a tear when Opa passed away. It was business as usual. The only indication Papa missed Opa was the way he’d touch Opa’s picture every morning as he passed it in the hallway.

  “Closure doesn’t mean you don’t feel. The news had to have been devastating.”

  “I won’t lie, my heart aches from the loss of them, but letting the pain overwhelm me won’t bring them back. It’s the threat to you that has me wanting to kill Jonas with my bare hands.”

  “Threat?”

  “Jonas followed us from the beginning. He had pictures of us at Emma’s and at my club. He knew we were together before our wedding. And with you, he found the perfect leverage against me. You’re the one person I’d tear the world down to protect.”

  From the intensity of his words and the way he held my gaze, I knew he was telling the truth.

  Breaking eye contact, I said, “And?”

  “And he negotiated to sell you to Malkovich, the head of a Russian organization trying to gain a larger territory in Germany, in exchange for a favor of support when Jonas tried to take back the family from me.” He clenched his jaw. “As of right now, there are orders to take you by any means necessary and deliver you to Malkovich’s family home outside Moscow.”

  “I don’t understand. Why would he want me? As far as I know, I haven’t had any dealings with any Russian in my work.”

  “According to the transcripts we found of conversations Jonas recorded, Malkovich wants you to breed the next generation of his line. You come from one of the most powerful families in Europe. He’s trying to establish a stronghold in Germany, and you seemed to be his key.”

  What the fuck?

  “Not happening. There is no way in hell I would ever let him touch me.”

  Sebastian’s arms tightened around me. “If the bastard got his hands on you, he’d use any means necessary to make sure it happened.”

  A chill went down my spine. Whoever this bastard was would resort to raping me to achieve whatever demented vision he had.

  “And so, when I insisted we leave the country, you agreed, seeing it as a win-win without telling me the whole of it.”

  “I didn’t want to scare you.”

  “I was already scared. I did have a crazy conversation with Bri where she told me there was a hit out on you.”

  He shook his head. “I wish she’d kept that shit to herself. There’s been some hit or another out on me since I was in grade school. It’s part of the life we lead.”

  “I have a question. How does being a Weber play into your work for Interpol?”

  “My connections get them into places where they’d never have access, and they leave me the hell alone to run my business. It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement.”

  “But you’re an agent and the…” I wasn’t sure how to put it.

  “…head of an organized syndicate.” He finished my sentence. “There are lines most of the organizations in Europe won’t cross. I just happen to go after the ones who
do.”

  He was talking about sex trafficking. That was the one piece of information Ana had provided me. Sebastian Weber had a no-tolerance view of anyone involved in that world. So it made sense for him to have been involved in Ana’s assignment.

  It still didn’t sit well with me that my husband had slept with one of my friends, but I’d have to get over it. From the way Adrian acted toward Sebastian, he had no issues with the past. All indications showed they were still friends, even if they couldn’t run in the same circles anymore.

  “Have you left anything out? Anything that will make me all stabby, as Ana put it?”

  “No.”

  I wanted to believe there couldn’t be any more, but then again, his job was to keep secrets.

  “I mean it. There’s only so much I can take.”

  He leaned in. “You asked for a promise. Here it is. I promise never to lie to you with omission or otherwise. If I can’t tell you something, I’ll say it point blank.”

  I wasn’t sure how I felt about the latter part, but it was the best I was going to get. At least now I knew what he meant by wearing many faces. Organized crime boss, Interpol agent, and Baz. As long as my Baz was there under it all, I’d handle it.

  The trust would have to come in time.

  “Okay.”

  He smiled, and it reached his eyes for the first time since we entered the library.

  My heart skipped a beat.

  I grabbed his face in my hands and pulled him toward me for a kiss.

  This marriage thing was way more complicated than I could ever have imagined.

  18

  Isa

  We arrived back at Ida a little before eight in the evening. What had originally been planned as a brunch turned into a surprisingly relaxing and fun day of food, poker, and laughter.

  It was enlightening to see Sebastian interact with everyone. He shared a history with the Lykaios-Kipos family that went back over a decade. Plus seeing the easy way Adrian and Sebastian interacted eased any lingering jealousy I’d had about the whole Ana and Sebastian thing.

  What surprised me most was that no one seemed fazed by how abruptly we’d gone into the library and then returned an hour later. It was as if it was a regular occurrence in the house. Then again, this was a very animated and intense family.