Page 92 of Innocent Prey of the Bratva
And maybe I am.
“I didn’t want you dead, Violet,” I say, stepping toward her. “That list…it’s not mine. It was Arina. Arina was the one—”
She shakes her head, taking a step back like my words are poison. “You expect me to believe that? After everything? You hid that list. You knew about it and didn’t tell me.”
“I didn’t hide it. I…I didn’t think you’d go looking. I should’ve destroyed it.”
“Exactly. You should have.” Her eyes shimmer with tears. “But you didn’t. And now I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
Pain claws through me, unfamiliar and searing. I drop to my knees right there on the balcony floor. The cold marble bites into me, but I don’t care.
“Violet,” I whisper, reaching for her. My hands wrap gently around her waist as I press my forehead to her stomach. “I didn’t know how to love you.”
Her breath hitches.
“I only knew how to keep you,” I murmur. “Like everything else I’ve taken and locked away. I never had anything I was afraid to lose before you.”
Her fingers twitch at her sides. She doesn’t touch me. Doesn’t pull away either.
“But I’m going to learn,” I promise, looking up at her now. “For you. For our child. For the life I never knew I wanted until you walked into it and wrecked every wall I built.”
My voice cracks. “I swear it, Violet. I’m going to learn to love you right. Just…don’t go. Don’t walk away thinking I’m the monster they made me.”
Silence stretches between us, thick with breath and disbelief.
I stay on my knees, holding her as gently as I can.
And for the first time in my life, I beg—not with words, but with everything broken inside me—begging her to believe me.
She steps out of my hold. Not harshly. Not cruelly. Just…final.
“I can’t trust you anymore, Kaz,” she says, her voice trembling—not from fear, but from something worse. Exhaustion. Heartbreak. “Not like this.”
I rise slowly, confusion and dread flooding my veins. “Then tell me what to do. Tell me what it takes to fix this.”
Her eyes meet mine, soft and sad. “Let me go.”
The words hit harder than a bullet. For a moment, I’m not even sure I heard her right.
“Let you—” I blink. “Violet….”
“I mean it,” she says, backing away another step. “If you want to prove you love me—if you want to prove I’m not just something you keep—then let me go. Give me the choice. Stop locking me behind walls and telling yourself it’s protection.”
“No,” I whisper, shaking my head. “You don’t understand what could happen—”
“I understand perfectly.” Her voice is firm now. “You’re not afraid for me, Kaz. You’re afraid of losing control. That’s what all this has been. Control, not care.”
My hands curl into fists at my sides. Not at her. Never at her. But at the weight of the truth behind her words.
She’s not wrong.
“I don’t know how to do this,” I admit quietly. “Letting go…it’s not something I’ve ever done.”
“Then start now,” she says. “If you love me, let me choose to stay. Or walk.”
Chapter 23 – Violet
I walk back to the balcony, the cold metal of the railing grounding me as I stare out into the trees. The evening is quiet, but inside me, everything screams.
