Page 80 of Mafia Don's Secret Baby

“Someone took a while to wake up,” she said, pulling herself to her feet. She’d been hunched over on a cheap metal folding chair.

“How long?” I asked.

She shrugged with a smirk, intent on giving me no information. I knew how this game worked. If I asked a question, she’d make sure not to answer it. I’d be better off acting as if I knew everything, and maybe she’d let something slip.

Even knowing that, my heart begged me to ask about Matteo and Callum. I needed to know.

“You,” she declared, pointing at me as she began circling my chair, “have been very difficult for me to get my hands on.”

I needed to play this right. I needed her to spill information, and I needed her not to notice when I moved my wrists to loosen the bindings, but I also needed to stay alive. I had to push her just far enough to lose her temper, but I knew it would be a dangerous game. Especially since I couldn’t defend myself.

“You could have asked nicely,” I rasped.

I cleared my throat and winced. I needed water, but I knew I wouldn’t get it here.

“Oh, you have a sense of humor,” she said dryly, stopping in front of me. “Did you think it was funny when my brother was killed?”

“I didn’t even know your brother,” I told her, leaning as far forward as I could against my restraints. “I’m not the one who pulled the trigger on your brother. You can’t say the same about mine.”

Her hand raised, and she slapped me hard across the face. My ears rang for a moment as I took a deep breath. I wouldn’t show a reaction. I couldn’t.

I began wiggling my wrists to test the restraints. I wanted to release a sigh of relief when I realized they’d been lazy with them. With time, I could slip out of them. I just had to loosen them first…

“Your stupid father should have known we’d never go through with the wedding. Blood deserves blood, and your men killed him. You killed him by calling off the wedding.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t do anything. I never swore to marry him.”

“And I never swore to marry your brother,” she countered.

“I didn’t take matters into my own hands and kill your whole fucking family, did I?” I shouted. My cheek stung again before I even registered the blow was coming.

“No, you let someone else do it for you,” she snarled.

She looked nothing like she had on their wedding day. Aelita no longer looked well put together and beautiful. Her hair had been tied into a knotted bun atop her head, and filth coated her face as if she hadn’t showered in weeks. She must have been a part of the attack on Matteo’s penthouse if she looked like this.

“You hate me for leaving,” I told her. “I never knew your brother, and I certainly never wished him ill will. We both lost our brothers, and we both want people dead for it. But your reasons are fucking insane.”

She bent over my chair, grabbed both of my arms, and shoved herself in my face. Her voice was low and eyes were hard when she spoke. “You’re going to suffer for the part you played.”

I didn’t hesitate before slamming my head forward and into her nose. Aelita jerked back and held her nose as blood seeped from her fingertips. She cursed in Russian, and I released a chuckle.

I used the opportunity to speak. “We could have killed you weeks ago. But I wanted to come and talk to you first. I wanted to be a decent person and apologize for the loss of your brother. But you killed my brother in cold blood. You deserve to die for what you did, and I wanted you to know who was going to be responsible for it.” I licked my dry lips before continuing. “And then you blew up their resting place out of spite. You dug your own grave, and after everything, there isn’t room in my heart for forgiveness.”

“You fucking bitch!” she squealed, still holding her broken nose. “I knew it would be you who set off the bomb. You’re the only one stupid enough to visit empty graves. Dad wanted to put the motion detector closer and take you out right away, but I convinced him to send a message instead. We knew it wouldn’t kill you.” She scoffed as if I was the stupidest person she’d ever met. “It’s not like they’re resting there anyway. Their bodies are at the bottom of the ocean by now. They’re fish food, and they deserve that fate.”

I continued working on my bindings as I took in her words.

Their bodies were gone.

When they hadn’t turned up, I’d suspected as much. I hadn’t wanted to think too much about it, but the realization had lingered in the back of my mind for a while. I’d hoped they were buried somewhere I could eventually find. I’d hoped the Petrovs would have given me that decency.

But I knew better.

It had been over a month.

If their bodies had been kept, I knew there wouldn’t be much left of them.

Maybe this was for the best. At least the Petrovs weren’t holding onto their bodies and letting them rot.

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