Page 93 of Savage Bratva King

We circle each other and change positions. I’m willingly exposing myself to my enemy, but I hope Melissa sees this as a sign that I will do anything for Gianna. Her faint smile gives me a glimmer of hope that injects warmth into my chest.

“Is Gianna safe?” I ask.

Another smile: Melissa is keeping it light for her husband’s benefit. Trying to prove that I’m perhaps not the enemy he expected me to be.

“She’s safe. Talk to me, Leo.” Her voice is gentle. “Tell me how you feel about my sister.”

Leo. She has listened to Gianna enough for her to adopt the shortened version of my name, and I have to believe that this isn’t false hope.

“I love her.”

It’s the first time I’ve admitted this even to myself. But saying the words out loud only reenforces my love for Gianna, and my chest swells in response.

“I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I will protect her with my life. I will do whatever it takes to make her happy, because my happiness is nothing compared to hers.”

Does this make me sound cheesy, like some lovesick teenager?

I don’t even fucking care.

I’ll scream it from the fucking rooftops so that everyone in Chicago can hear me.

I’ll paint the sky with aircraft trails declaring my love for Gianna Sedric if that’s what it takes.

Melissa studies me closely, her expression unfathomable. “What would you do if I said that she isn’t coming back?”

“I…”

I lick my lips, buying myself some time to reassemble my thoughts, making sure to keep my fists unclenched so that Xander doesn’t get the wrong idea. Did I read the situation wrong? Is Melissa here because Gianna couldn’t face telling me herself that it was fun while it lasted but now it’s over?

“I’d spend the rest of my life without a purpose.” I pause, trying to put into words the kind of man I’d become without Gianna Sedric in my world. “I guess I’d become the kind of cold-hearted monster she believed me to be when we first met.”

Something flickers behind her eyes. “My brother would’ve had me believe that Xander was a cold-hearted monster before I met him.” She forces a smile for the man sitting in the car behind me. “But he’s different when he’s with me. I see a side to him that no one else sees. I see what’s in his heart.”

I nod. I suspect that she isn’t finished.

“He would be angry with me for telling you this, but he calls me his sunshine.”

“Gianna is my printzessa.”

Melissa’s smile lights up her face even in the gloom, making her look even more like Gianna. “She told me about the puppy and the women’s refuge. I’m going to keep smiling, for Gianna’s sake, not yours, but she also told me that your brother claimed the refuge is part of the plan to defeat my husband.”

Fucking Andrej!

My jaw clenches, and I can feel a tic pulsing in my temple. I have to put all thoughts of him aside and focus on the present.

“I won’t lie. Opening the refuge will earn me some gold stars within the community, but I want to do it for Gianna. I’ve seen how passionate she is when she talks about her work. I promised her that I would never make her give it up for me. If she’s happy, I’m happy, and believe me nothing gives me greater pleasure than seeing her smile.”

Melissa laughs then. “That’s a little too much information, thank you very much.”

I smile right back at her.

“I believe you, Leo. But one question remains: what do you intend to do about this long-standing feud with my husband? Because you see, I’m in love with him, and I can’t bear the thought of a life without him.”

“Have you asked your husband the same question?”

“Let’s just say that I’ve laid the foundations. He didn’t want me to come here and talk to you tonight.”

No surprises there.

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