Page 72 of Forced Bratva Bride

Each confession hit like a physical blow. The bombing could have killed people, killed Gio, killed his lovely family.

My knees weakened. I sank back onto the bed. “Why?” The word emerged as barely a whisper.

“Business,” he said simply. “The Lebedevs were expanding too rapidly. Taking contracts that should have been ours. Recruiting men from our territory.”

“So you risked open war? For business?”

He shrugged. “War is business, Larissa. Your grandfather understood that. Your brothers understand that. We kept you safe from this world.”

I thought of all that time I wasted trying to gather evidence to prove to Gio that my brother wasn't behind the escalating violence between our families. All lies. I'd been defending a monster.

“So, that day,” I asked, for myself more than anything. “When you sent Dom with me for those chores…”

“He wasn’t there to help you with chores. You were sent as a cover. I needed him to spy on Giovanni Lebedev, but Dom made a mistake by leaving you alone. Lebedev covered his tracks so well that day that we were chasing false leads for months. Months.”

“And here I was,” I said, with anger in my voice as I met his gaze. “Trying to prove you innocent. Trying to convince Gio that you wouldn’t do such a thing! You used me. You used me, Gastone!”

That was when the tears began to fall. I held back sobs and curled my arms around my body, but I didn’t want to cry. Not after what Gastone had just told me. He was cold and cruel, and I knew my tears would mean nothing.

“Gio?” I heard him ask, softly.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I looked up and saw his scrutinizing gaze directed at me. “You were working with him, trying to prove my innocence?”

I shouldn’t have told him that, I felt it in my bones before I understood the full context of why he’d asked. But I also knew there was no point lying when the truth had already been laid out. I gave him a single nod.

“And he let you work with him, didn’t he?” It wasn’t a question, just an observation. I said nothing.

He walked closer until he towered over me. But unlike when Gio did so, I felt afraid. I looked up and met his cold, blue eyes.

“You know, I always wondered, Larissa. That day at the mall, when Dom found you, why you didn’t go with him straight away. Now I know. You werewithGio. You betrayed me.”

The way Gastone used the wordwith,tinged with disgust, told me I was too late. He’d figured it out. He knew what Gio meant to me.

“You went soft on him,” the accusation hung in the air.

“I never betrayed you,” I whispered. “I was trying to—”

“To what? Make peace?” He spat the word. “Let me explain how this works now. You will end your relationship with Giovanni Lebedev. You will remember that you are an Ajello.”

My hand instinctively moved to my stomach. The baby. Our baby. But I quickly removed it, before Gastone caught on. “And if I refuse?”

“If you refuse,” he said softly, “I will destroy him. Not quickly. Not cleanly. I will take everything he loves, piece by piece. And when he has nothing left, when he is broken and begging for death, then—only then—will I tell him why.”

Chapter 23 - Gio

The first thing I felt, before I managed to open my eyes was the sharp pain shooting all over my skull, my brain. I winced as I opened my eyes, and at the first hint of light, the pain crept down my vision until I had to blink it off.

It felt as though a truck had turned my skull into its personal racetrack. My mouth was so dry, my tongue stuck to my roof, and I peeled it off as I tried to sit up with a groan.

“Hey, hey,” I heard footsteps rushing toward me and felt a sturdy hand support my back. “I’m right here.”

Caspian helped me sit up on the couch and settled some pillows around me. My vision was still blurry in my left eye, and when I reached for my face, I felt the swelling that left it half-shut. My ribs hurt, my abdomen felt like pulp, and every single muscle, bone, and tendon in my body screamed at me to lie back down and go to sleep.

“What happened?” I ask, piecing together the memories. “Wait,” I said, suddenly gripping Caspian’s hand with urgency. “Where’s Larissa? The boat… they attacked…she—”

“Easy, Brother.” Caspian's hand pressed against my shoulder, trying to guide me back down to the leather couch. I shoved it away.

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