Page 78 of The Den of Sin
“Tell me one thing. How did you know she was your half-sister?” I asked him.
“I should have known right away she wasn’t your sister. But I kept seeing her all day with your men, so I assumed she altered her appearance. After last night, I went home and curiosity had me digging up information. She seemed important to you.” I should have kept a better poker face. It's too late now. The fact that Isabella was the most important person to me had been impossible to hide. “The connection didn’t hit me till I saw her birth certificate. Her mother was my father’s side thing. She wanted his help and he used her. One day she disappeared. He only found out a few years back she had a daughter by him. A kid from her hometown reached out.” It had to be the kid from the hospital. They talked about Santos. “Except he was useless in terms of telling my father where she was or what she looked like. Isabella didn’t stay in touch after her mother died. And here we are.”
“Here we are,” I agreed. “I’ll see you in two hours. Try something stupid, and I don’t care what it costs, I’ll have you killed.” It wasn’t a threat, it was a promise.
“Don’t worry, Vasili,” he grumbled back. “I wouldn’t damage my chances with my sister by hurting someone she obviously loves.”
“Half-sister,” I reminded him in a growl but couldn’t help but hope. Did he see it in her that she loved me?
We left Raphael behind and headed back towards the city, my driver speeding down the highway. I wasn’t sure how I’d explain to Isabella that we would meet with the man that tried to kill her. Fucking mafia and criminal underworld. One day we kill each other, the next day we forge alliances. Nobody in their right mind would understand that.
“Tatiana wants to talk to you,” Adrian interrupted my thinking. I wasn’t really in the mood for it. “She says it’s important. About Isabella.”
“Tell her I’m calling her.”
I pulled out my phone and dialed up my sister. She answered on the first ring.
“Vasili?”
“Yes, what about Isabella?” Silence followed, which was uncharacteristic for my sister. “Tatiana?”
“How is Bella?”
I frowned. My sister and Bella talked all the time. I would usually be the last person Tatiana would call to ask how her best friend was doing.
“She’s strong,” I told her. I didn’t think Adrian would share details of Raphael choking the life out of Isabella or any details of last night. But you never knew what the fuck men did when they fell for their women. Just look at me.
I pressed the mute button and quickly asked Adrian. “What did you tell my sister about last night?”
“I kept it short. Raphael tried to take Isabella thinking she was her, but you and Sasha got to her.”
I nodded and unmuted the line. “Tatiana, I don’t have time for dramatics today. If there is something you need to say, spit it out.”
I heard a deep exhale over the line. “Sasha said he woke up to you and Isabella sleeping together.”
“So?” She remained quiet and I felt my skin tighten. “Is that a problem?”
God, I hoped my sister wouldn’t start some shit now. They have been best friends forever and they better not have some stupid pact. No brothers or stupid shit like that.
“Don’t hurt her again.” My heart thumped with ache and my breath stilled.
“She told you?”
“No, she never said anything. When she stopped coming around, I blamed it on her probably hearing stuff about you. But I figured it out when she went off on you the other day.” I had no idea what to say. Was Isabella heartbroken when I left her? She didn’t act like it. When I saw her on her graduation day, she barely even glanced my way. The gift I got her, I saw her discard it in a trash can without even opening it. “Vasili, I shouldn’t tell you this, and I might lose my best friend for it, but I owe her this.”
“You are not making any sense.”
“Remember five years ago when I asked you for a new car.”
“Yes, you and Isabella got into some trouble and the fucking car looked like a murder scene.” I could still remember Tatiana’s pale face from that day. She refused to tell me what happened. Even to Sasha who was more understanding.
“It was Isabella’s blood. She almost died.” I stared in front of me, not seeing anything around me but those old images of all that blood soaked through the carpets, seats.
“What happened?” My voice was hoarse and my heart thundered in my ears.
“She was pregnant.” The sharp pain pierced through my chest, and my breath cut through my lungs. I recalled yesterday the fleeting expression of sorrow, and suddenly it made sense. “She was four months along. I didn’t know. I should have picked up on it; she was tired all the time, sick and pale, but I missed it all. We were cramming for exams after her mother passed away, so I just coughed it all up to exhaustion. Till I found her in the middle of the night, in her own pool of blood. I was sure she’d die.” Tatiana’s voice shook, but it was nothing to the images that swirled in my mind. Isabella was doing it all alone, and it was my fault. No wonder she held back. She was pregnant with our child, and she never even told me.
Why would she when I discarded her after that night. All the words I threw her way!
