Page 44 of Bound to the Mafia King

I only hoped that this would not be the start of a big problem that we would need to solve in the future.

Chapter Seventeen

Valerio

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

This was bad.

It wasn’t just bad, it was a fucking disaster. I thought I had more time. Those assholes wanted to take her from me, but I would not let that happen.

The image of those tears glistening in her eyes would forever be marred into my mind. I never wanted to see tears in her eyes ever again, and I would make sure that those dreams she told me about would become reality.

I was falling in love with the woman. Or more like, I hadalreadyfallen in love with her. She had my heart, and there was no getting it back.

She was my safe space, my peace, my damn fucking drug. I couldn’t quit her, and I couldn’t give her away. She was mine to have. My entire being was hers.

I stormed down the hallway toward my desired area. I was running on pure emotion at that point. All I could think aboutwas the fact that her stupid brother was offering her up on a silver platter. He was using her like a chess piece.

How could he not see that he was letting go of his most valuable piece? If I were him, I would never allow for something like this to happen. Anastasia was highly intelligent, both intellectually and emotionally. She saw things from a different perspective than most did, which is what made her so skilled.

I could not let them take her from me, and if it meant that I needed to start a war in order to keep her, then so be it.

I reached the door to the study and pushed it open without knocking. My brother and sister-in-law both turned to face me. They were having their morning coffee whilst they looked over the company documents. It was a routine they loved doing together. Normally, they would have my niece and nephew in here while they played in their little play area, but today they were alone. The last thing I needed was for the children to see this.

“You need to stop it.” My eyes were hard set on Savina. From the look in her eyes alone she already knew what I was talking about. “You need to stop it, Savina, or so help me God, I will blow all this shit up.”

Her eyes narrowed, but she didn’t move from her place. “Don’t be stupid, Rio. You know as well as I do that I don’t have the power to stop anything. I am simply a ward.”

Her answer was not the one I was looking for.

I moved toward her, my strides large and deliberate. I was not here to debate or to play games. All I needed from her was a simple yes.

I had almost made it to her when my brother stood from his seat and blocked me.

“What is the meaning of this?” Andres came to stand in between me and his wife. Savina stared me down with a cool gaze while my brother looked at me like he wanted to murderme. “Valerio, I have been patient with you, but I will not stand for you disrespecting my wife. What is the meaning of this?”

My chest heaved up and down hard. I had unloaded a lot. Truthfully, I knew that she could do nothing for me. This was another family’s matter, but she had the power and the backing that I could use if the worst turned to worse.

“Valerio.” Andres steeled his back and widened his stance. “I won’t ask you again. What is the meaning of this?”

“Your brother is in love.” Savina stared into my eyes.

Andres eyes widened. “In love? In love with who?”

I didn’t speak, and neither did Savina. We just stared at each other with the same lethalness we reserved for our enemies. I had always liked Sav. She was like the sister I never had, but in recent years we had drifted, particularly after the death of my father, and it was no fault of her own. I had been the one who couldn’t look her way. I carried the guilt of what my father did to her family. I didn’t know how to ask forgiveness for a pain that I didn’t cause but felt responsible for.

“Tell him.” Her eyes were hard set on me. She didn’t shift her gaze even for a second. True to her name, Ice Queen, she kept herself cool and composed. “Tell your brother who you are in love with.”

I kept my mouth shut, which only annoyed her more. Her nostrils flared, and she stood from her seat and stared me down. The tension in the room was so thick that you could cut it with a knife.

I should stand down. I was in here to ask for a favor, but here I was, aggravating her more.

“Tell. Him.”

My brother looked between his wife and me. The confusion was etched deeply into his features. The tenseness that riddled his wife’s body caused the veins on the side of her head to pop out.

“Your brother is in love with Anastasia.”

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