Roman: Book 2 (The Hunter Brothers Series) (32 page)

I’d almost let go
in the soft embrace of her arms, given in to my grief, but I managed to pull it
back. It wasn’t how I wanted to spend our last moments. I’d choked back the
pain in my chest and lost myself in that beautiful body again, taken her
comfort and affection as she wrapped herself around me, taking me to a place I
would never forget. I walked across to the dresser, pulling out the hotel
stationary, placing the card inside and scribbling a note.

I have to go
away for a while. Please keep this safe. Roman
  

There was only one
person I could entrust it with, and I knew she’d take care of it for me,
writing her address on the envelope. I left it with the receptionist and
checked out, making my way through the rainy Manchester streets and grabbing a
cab to the rendezvous point.

There was just one
more message I had to leave as I pulled out my phone, paying the driver and
racing across the field to the waiting helicopter.

I saw the gig tonight
and you were fucking incredible. Out of the country for a while. I’ll see you
when you’ve hit the big time. Roman

He wouldn’t text
back, he couldn’t. The number and signal were scrambled and untraceable. I’d
call them all soon when I was settled in Moscow. I needed to look out for them.
Lucas couldn’t do this by himself.

“Igor, can you get
someone on the inside of Dimitri Gorav’s operation?” I asked as he pulled a
worried frown, staring at me intently.

“Why, Roman?” he
asked seriously and I understood his concern. This wasn’t an easy request.

“It’s a
precautionary measure, that’s all,” I said as he shook his head. “I’m not going
after him, I just need to know if he has any plans to move on Lucas Hunter, or
anyone connected with Hunter Industries.” I rarely asked for security around my
family from Igor. I didn’t need to reinforce the importance of this and his
slight nod indicated he understood.

“I’ll keep my ear
to the ground, Roman, but it’s nigh on impossible to infiltrate Dimitri’s
circle. They’re tight and he vets everyone thoroughly. There are thirteen
murders listed on file that the police attribute to Dimitri’s gang, but there
isn’t a shred of evidence or proof, no witnesses or corroboration from anyone.
We both know thirteen is just the tip of the iceberg. He’s a sharp operator and
extremely paranoid, which makes life for a man like me incredibly difficult.”

I gazed out of the
window as the helicopter rose, lifting us away from the rendezvous point and
towards the airbase, watching the twinkling lights of the city below us and
wondering if I’d done the right thing. “You’re quiet, Roman, do you want to
tell me about it?” Igor asked as I smiled to myself. This man knew more than
any other about my life and he’d proved a good sounding board in the past.

“I went back,” I
said as he raised his eyebrows slowly. I was adamant I wasn’t going to, but
despite everything that had happened in the last few months I owed the man who
had been my father for the last twenty seven years, and I needed that time
alone by the graveside to reflect.

“I know that much,
I dropped your papers at the estate,” he said as my mind flicked back to that
incredible afternoon with Chas. “What happened to change your mind?” he asked
as I chuckled.

“I met someone at
the graveside. She was on her way to the funeral but she was late,” I said as
he watched me carefully.

“She must have
been someone special to make you decide to face your brothers, Roman. I’ve been
trying for months but you wouldn’t listen,” he said, throwing me a wry smile.

“She was.” I was
trying to give little away, but Igor just knew me too well.

“Is that why you
were so hesitant to take this mission?” he asked as I nodded. Was I that
fucking obvious? “Tell me about it, Roman.”

“It’s
complicated.”

“Everything with
you is fucking complicated,” he laughed, still waiting for an explanation. We’d
sit in silence until he got one which would make for a very long trip.

“I like her, Igor,
really like her. She’s the first person since Anna that I could actually see
myself spending time with aside from just fucking,” I said as he gazed at me
seriously.

“Then that’s
something you can’t take lightly, Roman. You haven’t said that for a long, long
time,” he said and wasn’t that the truth. “You can still back out of the job if
you want to stay and see how things pan out.”

“It’s not that
simple, Igor.”

“Why?”

“I think she has
feelings for Charlie, and I’m certain Charlie has feelings for her. They
maintain they’re just friends, but it’s more than that. I see it when they’re
together.”

“Then that
is
complicated,” he said, watching me
closely. “How does she feel about you?”

“She likes me well
enough. The weekend was fucking incredible. I split like an idiot without
saying goodbye, but I went back. I asked if she wanted more; if her
expectations had changed. I was kind of hoping she’d say yes,” I sighed. “She
knows what I am. I need to step away and give them a chance to work out how
they feel about each other before I make another move. I won’t risk hurting
Charlie and I’m pretty certain he loves her,” I said as Igor frowned.

“Why don’t you
just ask him?” he said and it was the obvious question.

“Because when I
dropped the whole paternity bombshell he went running off to apologise to
Scarlett. Silus told him he’d caught us fucking and he ditched her. He’s
wracked with guilt and she’s snared him back in. So we both want Chas, but he’s
with Scarlett and I’m on my way to fucking Moscow,” I laughed at the absurdity
of the situation. Nothing was ever straightforward.

What’s stopping
you just asking Charlie outright, Roman? If he gives you the green light to
take things forward with Chas then you should do it if that’s what your heart
wants. In the end it’s down to her,” he said and I knew he was talking sense,
but there was more to it than that.

“She deserves
better than me, Igor. You’d understand if you knew her. She’s incredible and
she wants the whole package; the husband, the family, the white picket fucking
fence – the dream.”

“I see,” he smiled
gently, immediately understanding my dilemma. I wasn’t dream material, not for
any woman, and certainly not for a woman as special as Chas. Perhaps long term
I could offer that, but definitely not yet and maybe not ever. Physically I was
what she wanted but there were no guarantees of anything else and I wasn’t in a
position to offer them. She needed the chance to find her dream, to build her
future with the man on her list, and if Charlie had any fucking sense, he’d
soon wake up and realise he was it.

If she needed me
I’d be there, but for now, however hard it was I needed to stand back; bow out
and see how things went. She already had a part of my fucked up, damaged heart,
and if she wanted it, she could have the rest. But she wasn’t mine and I knew
that in the depths of my soul.

“Sometimes, Roman,
it’s best to throw the dice and see how they fall,” he said and I knew what he
meant.

“And sometimes
it’s better to watch and wait,” I smiled as he nodded. “I just got my family
back, Igor.
 
I’ll do anything to protect
them and I won’t risk hurting them again. I should never have left. The fact
that I was fathered by someone else changed nothing, and that surprised me.
Over the last ten years I haven’t been there when they needed me, but I will be
from now on, whether they realise it or not. Family comes first and I need to
back out while I still can. If I get involved any further, I’m not sure I could
step aside and if it’s Charlie she wants, that’s a whole load of heartache. Moscow
will be the distraction I need,” I said as he nodded, passing me a file with my
passport, alias and papers, together with information on Sienna Milanovich. I
pulled out the photograph.

Igor smiled,
casting me a wry glance that suggested he was reading my mind. She was a brat,
she was spoiled and she had a terrible fucking attitude, but there was no
denying that Sienna Milanovich was also incredibly beautiful.

I’d wait a month
or longer if I had to, but I wouldn’t wait forever. Things were complicated but
they’d become clearer in time, and that was one universal truth you could
always rely on. I looked again at the picture and smiled to myself. If it was
distraction I needed, this woman would provide it, and one thing was certain: This
would be one hell of a fucking mission.

***

BOOK #3 THE HUNTER BROTHERS SERIES

CHARLIE

‘Have
you ever faced the excruciating brutality of pure heartbreak; the kind that
takes you and shakes you; rams it’s fist in your gut and its knife through your
chest, relentlessly ripping at your soul with its unforgiving claws?
 
It’s an existence that ends each morning as you
open your eyes, soaking in the light for that swift, fleeting moment before you
realise that he’s gone and all that’s waiting is another bleak and endless day
with nothing but pain and anger to get you through.

I
have lived that once. I could not survive it twice.

I
love him, he broke me, and now he’s back. Back in my bed and the heart that he
shattered and I will do whatever it takes to keep it that way. I am what I’ve
become; harder, stronger and fiercely determined.
 
I am not the woman he knew before, but a
product of the experiences that changed me forever, leaving their dark and
indelible scars on my soul.

Charlie
is mine. God help anyone that tries to get in our way.’

Scarlett Everett
is determined that one day Charlie will return the chest crushing love she
harbours for him. She lives for him, breathes for him, prepared to take down
anyone that stands in the way of their future – including family.

Beautiful and
smart, cunning and manipulative, Scarlett is used to winning battles in
business. But this is personal. This is war.

As Tyler’s star
continues to rise; Roman returns with an unexpected guest and Lucas settles
into life with Jess, everything appears to be going well. But they are
unprepared for the chaos about to be unleashed on every aspect of their lives
and relationships. Trust is thrown into doubt and loyalties tested to their
limits, when the charismatic playboy of the Hunter family is caught between the
women that dominate his life.

The one he wants
but can’t have, and the one he has every night; addicting his body with her
sinful brand of sexuality that suffocates his senses.

Prepare for the
battle of the bitches.

Charlie: Book #3 in The
Hunter Brothers Series

Coming August 2014

Preview Prologue

Seeing him today
had been the most blissful exquisite torture, beautiful yet filled with a pain
I could never have imagined. He hadn’t looked at me, shaken my hand or even
acknowledged me, looking straight through me as though I were as invisible as
the air that he breathed. He was still the air that I breathed and Charlie
Hunter would never be invisible to me.

Six months,
three days and four hours and the pain in my heart was as intense now as on
that very day, even the shock of the whole sorry affair had barely diminished
from my head and my heart. I’d done things I wasn’t proud of in that
relationship to ensure that I kept him, but that was life with a Hunter. Every
man wanted to be them, every woman wanted to be with them and I had to stay one
step ahead for my own sanity. I hadn’t been guilty of the one thing that had
ended it and I certainly hadn’t reckoned on the devastating involvement of his
father.

He’d always
loathed me because of my name. We the Capulet’s to his Montague and that he did
surprised no one, least of all Charlie. Yet until that day he had always
defended me, blinded by lust and his belief I was the victim, his loyalty
unwavering. Then he had simply walked away, shattering my heart and everything
I held dear. He hadn’t answered my calls, my texts or my letters. He’d shunned
all communication and I felt as dead as that body that was lowered into the
ground today. I’d had to stop myself from smiling as I watched Silus disappear
into that hole. The man had lied to his son, disowned another and cut me off
from the love of my life in the process. His plan had worked and I could only
wonder whether his own relationship with my father had turned him into someone
so twisted and cruel.

Charlie hadn’t
even asked for my version of events, not that there were any to tell. He
accepted that his father had found me in bed with Roman and cut me off. It was
almost laughable. Lucas, maybe I could have understood. But Roman, Jesus
Christ, he was as dark and secretive as any man I’d met and I knew that it had
to be Roman. Charlie would never have believed it of anyone else.

Silus Hunter was
a master manipulator and he had won his hand. I kicked off my shoes and raised
my glass, sitting back and sinking into the plush soft leather of the chair,
gazing out at the glittering view of central London and made a toast. ‘Silus
Roman Hunter – may you rot in hell’.

It wouldn’t
matter he was gone. If anything it made things worse. While he was still alive
I held onto the small glimmer of hope that he’d admit he was lying. When I’d
heard he was ill, I conned myself into thinking that on his deathbed perhaps
he’d confess, try a last minute reprieve to find himself in front of those
pearly gates, but as soon as I’d seen Charlie from behind the dark lenses of my
huge designer sunglasses I’d known that he hadn’t.

A curt nod to my
father and then he’d looked away. I’d kept my glasses on throughout the
service, my heart yearning for him, longing to touch him, taste him and soothe
away his pain. I’d imagined Roman would be there, that we could bring the truth
into the open. I couldn’t understand why he’d never denied it, apparently he’d
just taken off without a word, an act that had done nothing but reinforce the
illusion of guilt and I hated him for it.

He’d never come
back, and if he hadn’t today, he probably never would. My heart was as bleak as
the grey clouds that hovered above the isolated quiet churchyard as we’d left
for the city. We wouldn’t be welcome at the house, we knew that, but my father
had insisted on paying his respects to the man who had been his partner for
twenty years, before that relationship was also irrevocably shattered.

 
I was surprised because he never went to hers.
Penelope Hunter, the woman who in my father’s eyes was akin to a saint and
responsible for much of their success. Perhaps Silus hadn’t wanted him there.
Today he couldn’t stop him. Maybe he went so silently he could have the last
laugh, the final gloat that he was alive and Silus was dead. I would have, but
then my father was nothing like me. I pulled out my phone. It had been a hard
day and I would check on him. He was strong, but he was also affectionate,
tender and nostalgic and today may have taken as hard a toll on him as it did
on me. Aside from Charlie, he was the only other person in this world that I
truly loved.

“Hey Dad, I was
just ringing to see if you were okay after today,” I said, taking a sip of my
wine and trying not to betray how hard it had hit me seeing Charlie again.

“It was
difficult, love. Me and Silus have spent that last twenty seven years hating
each other, but thirty years before that we were like brothers, from the first
day at school, all those years setting up the business, building it to be the
success it was. That was what I was thinking about today.”

“He was a
bastard, Dad, you know that, right. He was selfish, manipulative and trusted no
one. How can you even be sorry that he’s gone?” I asked, sighing down the line
and not wanting my father to waste his pain and sympathy on a man who didn’t
deserve it.
 
I had never told my father
that I’d found out why Charlie left me; only that I suspected Silus was behind
it. “It was his fault me and Charlie split,” I said sadly, withholding the
details. It made no difference now.

“I think I know
why that happened, Red,” he said as I sat up in stunned shock almost spilling
my wine. What? My father always denied he had any idea why Silus Hunter held
such a grudge about me. What the fuck was he saying?

“WHY?” I
screeched down the line, suddenly oblivious to his pain and feeling only my
own. I had racked my brain, searched for answers through the bleak interminable
months. I had barely survived that loss, crawling through each day on
autopilot, and all along he had the answers. I was raging.

“You need to
calm down, sweetheart. I swore to Penelope...” he started as I cut him off.

“What are you saying?
That you put a promise to a dead woman over the welfare of your own daughter?
You know what I’ve been through; you know how much I’ve been hurting.” I was
screaming as his voice changed to the controlling tone I was used to, the one I
listened to and took notice of.

“I had an affair
with Penelope, Scarlett. We were in love, but she couldn’t leave Silus or the
children. She begged me to stay away, never to mention it to anyone. She knew
it would destroy both of our families. When she confessed, he ended our
partnership and that’s when it started,” he said, referring to the way Silus
Hunter had belittled my father socially and professionally, dragged his name
through the mud and the courts and left his climb back up to the business he’d
built a hugely painful and difficult road. My brain was swirling in a million
different directions, but it kept going back to one. It was almost impossible
to comprehend, but it was the only reason I could think of why Silus Hunter
would engineer such a life destroying lie.

“When did he
find out?” I asked, knowing the answer, but needing to be sure.

“Twenty seven
years ago,” he said, sighing down the line. I knew that the memory was
incredibly painful for him, but I had to ask.

“Is Roman your
child?” I asked, quickly blurting out the one question on my mind as he gasped
audibly.

“No, Scarlett.
We couldn’t have children, it’s why we adopted you, sweetheart,” he said as I
shook my head, barely reining in my temper.

“You and my
mother couldn’t have children. That’s not what I’m asking, Dad. How do you know
that you and Penelope couldn’t have children? Who ended the affair?” I shouted;
trying to hold back my urge to scream at him and wondering how the hell he
could never have considered this before, because from the answer he’d just
given, he obviously hadn’t.

“She did, she
couldn’t lie to him anymore,” he said so softly and quietly that I could barely
hear him. I calmed down immediately. I recognised the hurt, the way he was
trying to hold back the tears because I’d done it so often myself, taking a
deep breath and speaking in the gentlest voice I could manage.

“Was she
pregnant, Dad?” I asked but he didn’t answer. “Why would Silus disown Roman,
turn all his brothers against him and put an end to Charlie loving me less than
a week after Penelope died, Dad?” I asked, pausing and letting my question sink
in. It seemed obvious to me. It was twisted, fucked up and evil and exactly the
same kind of thing that I would have done, although I was damned if I’d admit
that to my father.

He still didn’t
answer and his breathing was erratic. “Dad, it’s the only explanation. Perhaps
Roman and the others didn’t know. Maybe she told Silus the baby could be yours
and that’s why she stayed with him all those years, just so the boys would
never know the truth. There was no reason for him to keep that silence when she
died. He’s never been as close to Roman as the others and I can’t think of a
better way to get rid of him. I was convenient collateral damage, payback for
what you did. It’s the only explanation,” I said.

“No, Scarlett.
There is no way Penelope would have kept that to herself. She’d have told me if
Roman was mine,” he said, sighing heavily and I could hear the ice chinking
against his glass as he took a long swig of whatever was taking the edge off.

“Why, because
Penelope Hunter was incapable of lying? Wake up, Dad. She lied to her husband
for the whole duration of your affair. I assume he didn’t know his best friend
was fucking his wife?” I spat, unable to control the sarcasm in my voice.
Penelope Hunter wasn’t a saint. She was a twisted, selfish fuck up, just like
the rest of them.

“Watch your
mouth, Scarlett,” he snapped, the hostility in his voice as unusual as it was
palpable and levelled straight at me. I wasn’t the one at fault here.

“I’m sorry, Dad,
but it’s the only feasible explanation I can think of. Roman Hunter didn’t show
up today for his own father’s funeral. Don’t you think that’s odd?” I said as
the glass chinked down the line.

“You’re
emotional, Scarlett. Take care and get some rest,” he said, hanging up the
phone as I was about to speak. I couldn’t understand whether he was being
stupid, naive or just as blind to the truth that seemed as evident to me now as
the nose on my face. No one had ever known the truth of that professional split
and I’d heard the rumours over the years, but an affair with Penelope Hunter
had never been mooted, at least not publicly. Jesus fucking Christ I thought,
moving to ring him back when I noticed a new voice message, pressing play with
absolutely no idea at who might be calling at this time on a Friday night.

“Scarlett, its
Charlie, we need to talk.” My heart stopped beating in my chest, the whole
world slipping out from under me and I knew immediately that I was right. Silus
had fucked us over and Roman Hunter was my brother, of sorts. Not by blood, but
I wasn’t related to anyone by blood, at least no one I knew, but this might mean
something else. My heart began to hammer wildly in my chest. That faint glimmer
of hope that resided in the recesses of my heart like the Olympic torch, always
burning, never extinguished, shot through me like a blazing flame and I was
suddenly wildly ecstatic, sobbing with joy and playing that short message over
and over again.