Page 82 of Owned By The Bratva King

“I did,” he replies. “I came straight here. She was sitting exactly where you are now, and I said nothing stood between us anymore. I’d love her and raise her child as my own. How many women experience that kind of devotion?”

He kicks over an already half-broken coffee table. “I was obsessed, and she was alone. I came to her side and swore I’d protect her, and she fucking laughed.”

He’s wandering away in his mind, no longer in the room. I can see the scene—the distraught Bianca, her belly swollen with a baby whose father had been killed. The brittle, fragile laughter of a woman trying to cling to sanity as her world crumbled around her.

“You know what?” Silvio narrows his eyes. “I hated her at that moment. How dare she mock me after all I’d done for her? So I told her I’d had Antonio murdered. Seeing the smile drip off her face when she realized the trouble she was in was so good, but I didn’t want it to go down the way it did.”

“She must have been petrified,” I whisper. “I get that.”

“I’ll bet you fucking do.” He closes the barrel with a click. “You remind me of her. ‘You’ll never get away with this, Roman will kill you.’ Endless bleating about how her brother would fuck me up when he found out. I pulled my gun to frighten her into shutting her stupid mouth for one goddamn second, and she flew at me.”

God, Bianca was brave. To hurl herself at a love-sick psycho, ready to fight, at five months pregnant? I wish I could have known her.

“She was strong, but I guess that’s the fear,” Silvio continues, his expression imploring me to understand him. “I fucking loved her. I didn’t mean to do it, but she turned into a demon, all claws.

She damn near gouged my eye out, so I kicked her in the stomach, and that settled her good. Shoved her into the chair and the rest is history. Putting the gun in her hand and dressing the scene wasn’t difficult. By the time I left, there was no sign I’d been there.”

This man shot a pregnant woman in the head and made it look like suicide. No wonder he’s desperate to pin the blame elsewhere.

“Roman loved her too, Silvio.” I strive to inject some warmth into my voice. “You were both devastated by her death, but it’s time to face up to what you did.”

“He warned me to stay away from his sister.” He grits his teeth, straining against his rage. “If only he hadn’t forbidden her from loving me?—”

“Was that it?” I sit up straight, growing bolder. “I don’t think so. She fell for Antonio and married him. You don’t know what love is. If you did, you couldn’t do this, and you wouldn’t have been able to hurt Bianca.”

I take a deep breath and go for broke. “You’re at fault here. The call is coming from inside the house, and you know it, right?”

Silvio lifts his gun and presses it to his temple. Lubomski notices what’s happening and hits the deck, rolling behind the couch. Silvio throws back his head, and I watch in fascinated awe as he releases a thin, keening shriek of anguish.

Do it, you piece of shit. End this.

To my horror, he pivots to face me, raises his arm before him, and fires.

I scream, sure I’m already dead, but the bullet smashes into the wall beside me, sending up a plume of chalky dust.

“Nice try, Quinn.” He lowers the weapon and grins maniacally as I start to cry. “Let’s save the bullets for you and your husband, shall we?”

60

Roman

“Are you out of your mind?” Leon yells into the phone. “I cannot believe you’re calling me from the fucking highway to tell me you’re on your way to a fight to the death!”

“Vercotti is on the edge.” I turn on the blinker and take a left, following the long track to Bianca’s house. “I can’t risk antagonizing him.”

Viktor is speaking in the background. “Tell him it’s a trap.”

“Jesus, Viktor—I know it’s a goddamn trap. The sick fucker wants to look me in the eye when he kills my wife, but that’s not to say he won’t lash out if he thinks he’s cornered.”

“So, what do you want me to do?”

“Hang back and wait. This will be over in an hour, but if you haven’t heard from me by then, bring the cavalry. Oh, and Leon?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t tell anyone what’s happening until then. My life and Quinn’s depends on it.”

He sighs. “Okay. Udachi, Roman. Don’t get killed.”

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