Page 45 of Killer Love

“But Luka didn’t kill Hans,” Yuri points out, still barely following what’s going on, but I’m not too far behind him.

“No, one of our agents did,” Fox confirms. “A hit also ordered by Giovani Zappia.”

Yuri throws up his hands.

“So, Gio wants to start a mob war in Russia,” I say. “Why?”

“It’s not just Gio,” Fox says. “Snake Eyes and the Lutrova family have a long history of butting heads. It started with Viktor. He stood up to the organization and when he tried to push them out, they silenced him. That scared your father enough and there’s been peaceful co-existence ever since… until recently when you started digging a little too deep.”

Yuri fires an accusing look in my direction, but I don’t tear my eyes away from Fox.

“You’re saying our father knows about all of this?” I ask.

“Yes.”

“You’re lying.”

“Ask him yourself,” he says with a shrug.

I pause. I can try and deny it all day, but the truth sinks in quickly. No wonder my father always ordered us to ignore them. Let the kobra do what it wants. He didn’t want answers because he already had them, and he was too much of a coward to do anything about them.

“The conflict in Russia has been in motion for a while now,” Fox begins. “The truce was legitimate. Antony and your father really did bring peace between the families, but Snake Eyes deals in war. Once Antony exported the family to America to run the Chicago branch and left Giovani in charge of Italy, Snake Eyes approached him with a new status quo.”

“And he took it,” I seethe.

“Killing Hans Petrovin was just the beginning of a slow build. They knew you’d lean on the Zappias for help. Giovani would use his power to whittle your family’s influence down to nothing, but he wanted to honor the truce. Worst-case scenario: you’d all be working under him when the Italian mob took over Russia, but then… yesterday, he wanted you out of the picture entirely.”

Yuri shakes his head. “We grew up with Gio,” he says. “He’s our friend. Why would he send an assassin to kill Luka?”

Fox glances at me, reading my expression before I can hide it. For a moment, I wonder just how powerful Snake Eyes really is. Mine and Sofia’s secret love child might not be as secret as we thought.

I tilt my head. “I might have an idea…”

“Like what?” Yuri asks.

I bite my inner cheek, hesitating to say it, but I don’t have much choice here. “Lucian is my son.”

“What?”

Fox smirks. “That would do it.”

Yuri grows several centimeters taller in anger. “What did you say?”

“Lucian.” My heart lurches. “He is mine.”

He blinks at me with great confusion. “How is that possible?”

“It’s a long story, brother.”

“Tell it quickly.”

“Yuri…” I sigh. “Sofia came to me and asked for my help.”

“Why?”

“She wanted to destroy the Zappia family from the inside,” I explain. “Humiliating Gio was the only way she knew how.”

“When?”

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