Page 36 of Paid for By the Bratva

When her gaze lingers on me for a moment before glancing past me down the hallway toward Sofia's retreating form, I know I’m right in my suspicion. I close the door behind me.

“I think we should talk,” I state.

"Was that your sister? It sounded like you two were having an intense conversation," Lara tries to ignore the conversation I’m trying to have.

“Lara…” I say her name, trying to get her to focus.

I watch as Lara hesitates, her fingers gripping the edge of her coffee table with white-knuckled intensity. Her eyes are clouded with uncertainty and something akin to betrayal.

"I overheard you," she finally admits, her voice wavering. "I heard everything you said to Sofia."

My chest tightens, a mix of anger and guilt churning within me. My chest tightens as I realize how much this must be affecting her—the woman I vowed to protect.

Lara's words hang between us, heavy and fraught with tension. I can see the hurt in her eyes, the tightening of her jaw as she steels herself for my response.

But I have none.

Her lips part as if to say more, but she hesitates, clearly torn between confronting me and maintaining the fragile peace we've managed to build thus far.

"Lara," I say gently, walking over to stop the distance between us. The contact seems to startle her out of her thoughts, and she looks up at me, her eyes searching mine for answers I'm not prepared to give. "Please, let me explain.”

Her eyes flash with anger and hurt. "Do you take me for a fool, Dima? Did you think I wouldn't discover the truth?"

I close my eyes, cursing under my breath. There’s no denying the truth now, no more hiding behind a mask of pleasantries. The time for reckoning has come, and I have only myself to blame.

"You're right; I should have been honest with you from the start." I reach for her hand, but she pulls away. "I never meant to deceive you, Lara. I only wanted to protect you."

"Protect me?" She laughs bitterly. "Or were you protecting your own interests? Marrying me to suit your own purposes, just like my brothers would do."

Her words cut like a knife, and I flinch at the accusation. She thinks me no better than her brothers.

“You treated me like a possession, a piece of property to claim, without ever giving me a choice in the matter. I thought I had to marry you. I thought there wasno other way,Dima. All this while, and you knew you could get rid of Marv with just the flick of a wrist?”

Tears spring to her eyes, and I feel my heart being crushed within. The guilt of keeping this secret from her gnaws at me, screams at me the one simple fact that I’ve broken her trust.

I want to apologize, to tell her I was wrong, but I can’t bring myself to because admitting that is admitting that she might have the right not to want to be with me. That idea seems impossible to conceive, given how I can’t possibly imagine a life without her in it now.

"Is that what you think?" I ask instead, struggling to keep my voice level. "That this is all just some sort of game to me?"

"Isn't it?" Lara challenges, her eyes flashing with anger. "You're no different from them, controlling my life without giving me a say in it."

The comparison to her brothers makes my blood boil, and I have to remind myself that she is not the enemy here. She has every right to be upset, and I must acknowledge the validity of her feelings. After all, the blood boils at the stupid mistakes I made, not her.

She’s not wrong in comparing me to her brothers. From her perspective, there’s no difference between us. I get that now.

“You’re right,” I say at last. Lies won’t get us anywhere now. I never meant to be dishonest with her. Perhaps, I can try being honest now and put my money where my mouth is.

"Listen to me, Lara," I say softly. "Yes, I did some things that I'm not proud of, and I made decisions on your behalf. But it was never about treating you as a possession or claiming you. At least, I never realized it was until Sofia pointed it out.”

"Then what was it about?" she demands, her gaze unflinching.

"It was about wanting you," I confess, my voice barely above a whisper. "It was about being with you, given how, from the moment I met you, I was captivated by who you are. And yes, I went about it in ways that I now regret. But believe me when I say that I never realized where my intentions lay. I was lying to myself all this time, as you believe I was to you. I truly thought I was protecting you, Lara."

She sighs and finally looks into my eyes. This small gesture gives me the confidence to come as clean as I can.

"I don’t expect you to understand, but every decision I made was with your best interests at heart," I insist, though my words feel hollow even to me. "I thought it was the only way to keep you safe.By my side," my last words come out in a whisper.

"Maybe that's true," she concedes, but her eyes still hold that glimmer of betrayal. "But it doesn't change the fact that you lied to me, Dima. How am I supposed to trust you now?"

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