Page 156 of Inferno

He shakes his head in disappointment.

“We all have a choice in life, heartbreaker. You chose to leave that knife in my suite. You chose to betray me. Use me. And now you’re back? To finish the job?” He pauses for breath, his face reddening.

“Not this time. I won’t let you get under my skin again. I won’t let you.”

“It’s not what you?—“

He lunges forward and grabs my throat, his warm blood now on my skin as he squeezes.

“I’m not the same man I was back then. You helped create this version, and now that’s going to bite you in the ass, heartbreaker. And not in the good way, either.”

He keeps squeezing tighter, my lungs start to burn.

“Because of you, while my father was sacrificing himself, I was trying to get out of fucking Italy, away from the cops. I couldn’t save him. You. Did. That.”

Tears burn in my eyes. The guilt swallows me whole. How can he forgive me for that? I had no idea. I was saving myself, and the consequences, it turns out, are horrifying.

“C-Charlotte,” I manage to choke out.

I heave for air as he releases me.

“Charlotte. That suits you better. Last name?” He rubs his thumb along my jaw.

He’s right, he has changed. I can’t work him out.

“Kovalyov. But Novikov is my true surname.”

He huffs.

“Russian. You don’t sound it?”

“I moved to the States as a kid.”

I know he’s going to search this name up. I’m a ghost thanks to Drago. I’m a ghost in that house and to the rest of the world, and so is my little girl. We don’t exist.

But that family name holds weight, especially in the mafia.

He steps away from me, and I’m not sure if that’s comforting or not.

“Good girl.” He says with venom and throws his knife down onto the ground before opening the door.

My mouth drops open, and my body gives me away.

He’s seen the flush spreading up my chest.

Chapter 60

DECLAN

Ialmost beat down my office door to get inside. Air. I need fucking air away from her.

I fall for her every single time. She distracts me.

But I have a name. Potentially.

As I stumble into my office, I find Enzo reclined back on my chair.

“Quite something to watch between the two of you. You know her?” he asks, clasping his hands together on his thigh.

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