Page 62 of Plus-Size Bratva Possession
“Elena?” Gastone called.
“In the bedroom!” I called back, my voice unnaturally high as I quickly shoved it back in the drawer and slammed it shut. “Just getting ready!”
He appeared in the doorway, loosening his tie. “Good. I need to grab your phone charger. I left mine in the office by mistake.”
He moved toward the nightstand—the nightstand with the drawer—and I jumped up.
“I'll get it for you!” I said too quickly.
He gave me a strange look, his hand already on the knob as he pulled it open. “It's right there in the drawer.”
“No!” and without thinking, I reached over and grabbed his hand.
His eyes narrowed, and he glanced down before I could stop him. The envelope was right on top, the word “EVIDENCE” glaring up at us in bold black letters.
“What's this?” he asked quietly, dangerously.
I swallowed hard. “Gastone, please—”
He picked up the envelope, his expression hardening. “What is this, Elena?” he repeated, his voice like ice.
Chapter 20 - Gastone
She was hiding something and not giving me an answer. She stood there frozen as I held the folder in my hands, and I knew that whatever this was, she was trying to keep it from me.
“Elena,” I asked again. “Tell me what this is.”
“I…Gastone… look,” she sighed and motioned at the bed. “Can we just sit and talk about this?”
I didn’t want to sit. It was one of those moments, where every life experience accumulated to tell me whatever she wanted to say wouldn’t be good.
Without answering her, I opened the envelope and pulled out the documents.
What I saw had me floored.
My breath hitched in my throat, my eyes widened, my hands shook.
“What the hell am I looking at?” My voice came out furious. There were police reports and bank statements, and information I didn’t know what to do with.
The knot in my stomach tightened as I started to read. “What the fuck is this?”
Elena inhaled, almost like she was scared, and I looked up for just enough time to see how sorry she looked. Like she had been caught in an act she shouldn’t have been in.
She stepped towards me, her hands outstretched, but I shifted back and started shuffling through the pages again. I did not want her to touch me.
“Gastone, please, let me explain—”
“Oh yeah?” I waved the police report at her. “Explain why you’re trying to ruin my life, go ahead, will you? What are you trying to do here, Elena? Is your family so damn important that you’ll play with Adriana’s life? Her truth?”
“No! I swear it’s not like that!” she said with desperation. “Federico did some digging.” Her lower lip trembled. “He wanted to help find out what really happened to Adriana.”
The papers in front of me made no sense. Who the fuck were these witnesses that claimed to have known about Adriana being with another man? I had never heard of them and knew mostly everyone in Adriana’s life. Anyone who should have known something wasn’t even on this list.
My head pounded and I felt dizzy. None of this was true. None of it could be. These medical records stating another as the father’s name could have easily been doctored.
“This is bullshit,” I spat out, throwing the papers onto the bed, not bothering to go through them in their entirety.
“It's not bullshit,” Elena said quietly. “Federico looked into the journalist who covered Adriana’s murder, who hinted at my family being behind it. Guess what? The guy was murdered the day after it was published.”
