Page 80 of Pregnant Bratva Wife
By the man I’d just made love to yesterday.
The man I was starting to trust.
I ducked away from the door, hiding around the corner as. I needed to hear more, but the loan shark stormed out, walking right past me without noticing.
Federico Lebedev had played me from the very beginning.
With shaking hands, I stormed into his office. Threw open the door.
“Autumn?” Federico turned, looking pale when he saw the anger in my face.
I threw the picnic basket on the ground. Stormed right up to him. “What the hell was he talking about?”
Chapter 19 - Federico
Autumn stood right before me, and I had never in my life seen her this angry. I tried to find her somewhere, see even a hint of the sweet Autumn I had come to know, but all I saw in her eyes was fury.
Like Autumn had withdrawn. The raw hurt in her eyes made my throat go dry.
The truth was clawing its way out, and I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready to watch her look at me like I was a monster.
“You paid them,” she hurled the accusation at me.
I wasn’t ready. I feared what she’d think of me. “Paid who?” I asked like a weasel.
“Don’t do that,” she snapped. “I saw him. The loan shark, Igor Petrov, who went after Megan. The same man you just had a meeting with. Don’t lie to me, Federico. Tell me what that man was talking about.”
My jaw locked.
She wasn’t guessing.
Sheknew. But maybe, I thought, I could still find a way out of this mess.
“I don’t know what you think you heard—”
“I know exactly what I heard,” she bit out. “And now, it’s all starting to make sense. Megan’s money didn’t just go missing. You had someone steal it from her dorm. You orchestrated that entire fucking mess so I’d come crawling to you for help. Didn’t you?”
“Autumn—”
“Did you set me up?” Her voice cracked.
I hesitated. For how long, exactly, did I think I could get away with the lies?
Her eyes widened. “Oh my God. It was you.”
“It’s not what you think,” I said, stepping toward her with a desperation to be heard.
She backed away as if I were contagious. “You orchestrated my entire financial ruin to trap me into marrying you!”
My brain scrambled for more words, but came up empty.
What was the point?
She already knew.
I looked at her, at the woman I’d spent the last few weeks falling into like quicksand, and I couldn’t bring myself to lie to her any longer. I knew it was wrong. She was right, and to convince her otherwise would mean calling her crazy.
Which she wasn’t.
