Page 59 of Innocent Bratva Twins

He sighs and carries on.

“At first, I thought the money you stumbled across might have been the laundering processes put in place by our accountant to flush money through the company, because that is the main purpose of our business. It’s a cloak, covering the true nature of where our money comes from. But it wasn’t that.Someone was actually stealing from us. And because of that, it’s so much worse that you’re the one who found it.”

He’s explaining things to me, and I feel like I’m underwater. Sometimes my mind goes numb, and the words echo around; sometimes they are distorted, and I have to squint my eyes to try and focus on his mouth to hear what he’s saying.

“So that means that someone inside the business is a rat. A very dangerous rat who might know that you know his secret, and that type of person—they wouldn’t hesitate to hurt you, Sera. I’m so sorry.” He sighs.

“You’re sorry?” I murmur.

He clenches his jaw, reaching his hand out to take mine. I snatch my hand away from his touch.

“This is a joke, right?” I laugh nervously. “It has to be a joke.”

He shakes his head.

“Of course it is,” I shout.

Please let this be a really bad joke.

Tears are stinging my eyes. I don’t move to wipe them away when they spill down my cheeks. Nico clenches his jaw tighter, and I can see he wants to reach out and hold me.

I throw him a look that says if he dares to touch me now, I’m going to scream bloody murder.

“Sera, just think about the size of my business. It’s my family business, right? Now think about the extravagant lifestyle I live, and the lifestyles my brothers and sisters live. Private jets and penthouses, the latest, best cars—anything we want whenever we want it—“

I narrow my eyes at him, listening intently. “So?” I murmur.

“Do you really think that the income from my business is in the league of being able to fund that lifestyle for my entire family?” he asks, and the weight of understanding hits me like a ton of bricks.

I sink into the sofa with a small welp as reality smacks me.

I can’t speak, even though I open my mouth to say something, nothing comes out.

Nico shifts closer to me.

“Sera, are you ok?”

His question is stupid. It’s a stupid, pathetic, stupid, bad question. Why the fuck would he ask me such a stupid question?

I glare at him, my eyes shooting lasers.

“Am I ok? Are you kidding me right now? You’ve been lying to me,” I shout as I scoot away from him on the sofa. “You’ve been lying to me from the moment I met you. You’ve been fake. Pretending to be a good, normal person with a normal job, living a normal life. I thought you were agood person, Nico. But you’re not. You’re a criminal. You’re literally acriminal.” My voice breaks as the understanding sinks deeper and deeper into my heart.

The man I’ve fallen in love with isn’t even real.

Nico, the Nico that I know—he isn’t the real Nico, which means he doesn’t exist, and I’ve been hanging out with an impostor. Someone who tricked me. Lied to me. Kept dark and dangerous secrets from me.

“I fell in love with you, but you aren’t even you,” I stammer, the tears streaming like a flood now.

“You—fell in love with me?” he asks, shock widening his eyes. He tries to move closer to me again, and I practically fall over the back of the sofa, scrambling away from him.

“I fell in love with someone who wasn’t real,” I cry out.

“Sera, I—“

“Don’t you dare say it,” I snap. “Don’t youdare tell me you love me, too.”

I hold my hand up and take a deep breath. The penthouse, despite its massive size, suddenly feels claustrophobic. The walls are closing in at an alarming rate, and I have to get out of here.

---