Page 63 of Plus-Size Bratva Possession
“So? Your brothers could have had him killed. You know what? Perhaps they did, so he wouldn’t publish any further.”
“No, it’s not like that.” Elena shook her head. “He was paid to frame us. He was fired for that article because his editor realized he had no evidence against my family. He sacrificed his whole career to print those accusations.”
I stared at her, unable to process what she was saying. “Why would anyone pay him to frame your family for my fiancé’s death? Talk sense, will you?”
Elena furrowed her brows. “I know. I was thinking the same thing. Why my family? Why not anyone else? Why not let it be an anonymous murder? But that’s the thing, Gastone. Adriana was killed as revenge against you. Her lover hated you because she didn’t want to leave you. He must have thought my family was powerful enough to destroy you when you struck against them. So, her lover hired the journalist. He wanted to ruinyou!He wanted to take everything from you, including Adriana.”
I hated hearing what she was saying. Those ugly words on her mouth, distorting Adriana’s truth. Hated it. Hated her. I knew Adriana. Sheneverhad a lover.That baby was mine.
“Shut up,” I snarled. “Don't you dare talk about her like that.”
“I'm sorry,” she whispered. “I'm so sorry. But it's the truth. The police learned about the affair. They investigated her ex-lover, but he disappeared. He's the one who killed her, Gastone.”
I shook my head violently. “No. No, that's not possible. Adriana wouldn't—she loved me. You hear me?She loved me!”
“The police reports say different.” Elena's eyes filled with tears. “There's a photo, Gastone. Of her with him. And the medical records—”
“Enough!” I roared, raising a hand in the air, motioning at her to just stop talking. “This is garbage. You and your fucking family cooked this up to get me off your backs. To make me doubt myself.”
Elena's face hardened. “Why would I do that? Why would I hurt you like this?”
“To protect your brothers,” I spat. “They’ll always come first for you and you know it.”
“That's not true andyouknow it.” She stepped closer, her eyes flashing with anger now. “I was going to show you eventually, but didn’t want to hurt you. I know how much this sucks, but please, just listen to what I have to say. That photo—”
I screamed at her. “I don’t care about no damned photo. Everything in there is concocted, and you’re talking to me about living a lie?”
“Yes!” she said vehemently. “Because, despite how we started, I've never lied to you. Not once. Can you say the same? For the longest time, you let me believe all of this was because my brother took your sister. What was that? The truth?”
I snarled, not willing to listen to reason. “You expect me to believe you can just erase Adriana’s memory like that? You think that just because she’s gone, you can convince me she was fucking someone else behind my back?” My voice cracked on the last word.
“No, of course not,” Elena cried out. “I would never!”
“You weren’t there! You didn’t see how Adriana and I were! You knownothing. She loved me. Only me! As I did her!”
“I'm trying to help you; can’t you try to just hear me out?” She threw her hands up in frustration. “God, you don't even want justice, do you? You just want to be right! You're so in love with your narrative, with hating my family, that you can't even consider you might be wrong!”
Her words struck home, but I was too far gone in my anger to admit it.
“You don't know what the fuck you're talking about,” I growled. “You don't know what it was like to cradle herdead body, my dead baby, to lose everything in one fucking afternoon!”
“And you don't know what it's like to be taken from your family, forced to marry a man who hates everything about you, only to find yourself falling—” She stopped abruptly, her face flushing. I didn’t even care what she had to say. I wassofurious.
She shook her head, tears finally spilling over. “It doesn't matter. Nothing I say matters to you. You've already decided what you believe.”
I stared at her, unable to comprehend why she wouldn’t just admit that this couldn’t be true.
“I trusted you,” I said quietly, the words like acid in my mouth. “I thought that you and I... that we were...”
“We were,” she said, her voice breaking. “We are. But this,” she gestured to the papers on the bed, “this is bigger than you and me. This is the truth, Gastone. What you do with it is up to you.”
I backed away from her, suddenly needing to be anywhere but here. The walls were closing in, and I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think.
“I need to get out of here,” I muttered, already turning toward the door.
“Gastone, wait—”
But I was already gone, slamming the door behind me, needing distance, needing air, needing something to dull the roaring in my head.
