Page 7 of His Forever

He leaned forward slightly, his patience thinning. “You know I don’t like guessing games, Brynn. Tell me what in the hell you’re talking about.”

I sighed as if this was something I really didn’t want to explain, though I’d been waiting for this. “Guy Maranga, Leo.”

His whole demeanor shifted in an instant. His back straightened, and he leaned toward me, his eyes wide. “How do you even know the name Guy Maranga?”

“I was married to him for eighteen years,” I said calmly. “Before he died, and I took over his operations.”

If I’d wanted to shock Leo, I’d done it. He looked like I’d punched him in the gut. The color drained from his face, and for once, he didn’t have a quick retort. He just stared at me, processing.

I could have knocked him over with a feather.

Leo Banachi was a big player in the Midwest; hell, in all of North America, people knew his name. His reputation alone made most men either want to work with him or steer clear of him entirely. But Guy Maranga? He was a name that struck fear into people on a global scale.

“You were married to Guy Maranga?” Leo finally managed to say, his voice low, almost disbelieving.

I nodded. “For eighteen years,” I repeated.

He blinked, still trying to catch up. “And now... you’re running his operations?”

“Yes,” I said simply, letting the weight of the statement hang in the air.

Leo ran a hand through his hair, visibly shaken. He looked like he needed a moment to process the bombshell I’d just dropped on him. Guy Maranga was the man you knew about but prayed you’d never cross paths with. He didn’t have to advertise his power; people just knew. And now, Leo was realizing he hadme all wrong. For years, I had been operating in the shadows of his world, and he hadn’t even realized it.

“Guy Maranga is dead?” Leo asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

I nodded. “Yes. But no one knows that. That’s how he wanted it to be. Until the time was right.”

“And you’ve been running things ever since?”

I could see the wheels turning in his head, trying to piece everything together. He was probably equally part shocked that I had been married to the most feared man in the world and that I had successfully taken over his empire without anyone knowing.

“For two years. You didn’t see that one coming, did you?” I asked, leaning back in my chair, watching him squirm.

“No,” he admitted, his voice strained. “No, I did not.”

“All those years you thought you were keeping tabs on me, keeping me under your thumb,” I said, the hint of a smile playing on my lips. “And you didn’t even know who I really was.”

Leo’s eyes darkened, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. The realization that he’d been outplayed—by me—was hitting him hard.

“I wasn’t trying to keep you under my thumb,” Leo said, his voice quieter now, almost pleading. “I was trying to keep you safe and away from my world.”

I tilted my head to the side and let out a laugh, sharp and short. “Oh, really?” I asked, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “And so after you got me out of your dangerous world, though I think you just couldn’t handle losing our baby, I took up residence with Guy Maranga. From the mafia boss of the Midwest to the kingpin of the entire world.” I shook my head, unable to help the bitter smile that followed. “Quite the step up, don’t you think?”

Leo’s face tightened, his lips pressing together in a hard line. He wasn’t used to me laughing at him, not like this. But what didhe expect? That I’d be grateful for the half-truths and shadows he’d left me in for years? He thought he’d kept me out of harm’s way, but the truth was, he couldn’t handle looking at me after I lost our baby.

“I didn’t know about Guy,” he said, his eyes meeting mine. “I had no idea you’d gotten involved with him. Fuck, I don’t know a damn thing about the man. No one does.” He wasn’t going to touch the fact about him booting me after I lost our baby. Why address the real problem, right?

“Because you didn’t bother to really look,” I shot back, leaning forward slightly. “You left me in the dark, Leo. You walked away, thinking you were protecting me, but all you did was make me fend for myself even more. So what if you set me up with a job and an apartment? That wasn’t what I wanted.”

His eyes flickered, and I saw a crack in his façade. He knew I was right. He had walked away thinking it was the best thing for both of us, but in reality, he’d left me vulnerable. Alone and broken.

“I thought you’d be safer without me,” he said, his voice low as if he was speaking more to himself than to me.

“Safer?” I repeated, the word almost bitter on my tongue. “Do you have any idea what it was like for me after you left? The people I had to deal with? The choices I had to make? And then Jason—no, Guy—he showed up, and before I knew it, I was entangled in something far bigger than anything you could’ve imagined.”

Leo ran a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated. “I had no clue about Guy. Mark never even hinted that his brother was Guy Maranga. I thought you’d have a chance at a normal life if I wasn’t around.”

“Normal?” I scoffed, shaking my head. “You think I could ever have a normal life after everything I’ve seen, after everything we went through together?”

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