Page 39 of The Mobster's Forced Marriage

I chuckle and shake my head. My cheek still hurts, but it’s not as bad as it could’ve been. “Do you really think I would ever want to see you again?”

The room falls silent, and the men around me freeze at the clear display of disrespect. Father’s gaze immediately turns to ice, but I can see that he’s holding himself back. He wants to appear more confident and powerful than he really is, and it fills my heart with disgust. God, I can’t believe I spent years side by side with this boar.

“Well, you’re here, so you clearly wanted to see me. Unless you’re having an affair with one of our men.” He smirks and pointedly looks at the men behind me, and they chuckle as if on command. Pitiful.

“I came here to hear the truth.” I straighten my shoulders and look him in the eyes, hearing my heart beating in a frantic rhythm. My head feels heavy, and my thoughts are in disarray. I don’t even know if I truly want it anymore—but finally, the words spill out of my mouth. “Didyoukill Mom?”

The tension in my chest becomes clear, the weight of my mind grows, and I can barely breathe with dark dots dancing in my vision. Just hearing the question makes something in my heart ache and pulsate, and I suddenly feel scared of the answer. I don’t want to know, I don’t want it!

But I steel myself and focus on Father who, after a moment, leans back in his chair and reaches for a pack of cigarettes. “Who told you?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

He hums and lights up his cigarette as if taunting me with his slow movements. I grit my teeth, barely keeping myself from barking at him to hurry up, but I know it’ll only make it worse.

“I guess you’re right,” Father responds finally, and I feel ready to blow up.

What is that supposed to mean? Can’t he just tell me straight away?

“It doesn’t matter anymore, indeed.” He shrugs and looks me in the eyes. “I did kill her.”

My legs suddenly weaken, losing the ground under my feet, and I have to step from one foot to the other to keep myself upright. So Olga was right. I stare at the floor for a few seconds, catching my heavy breath and pulling myself together. I want to call him a liar, I want to refuse it—but the ease with which Father speaks about it is louder than any doubts.

“Why?” I can only mutter and look up at him, almost leaning on Lev’s arms still holding my hands behind my back. The pain and anger suddenly flare up in my chest, and I raise my voice even higher. “How could you do that to her?!”

But Father hums as if nothing. “Valentina was a traitor.”

“No, she wasn’t!”

“Yes, she was,” he repeats with sudden pressure, looking into my eyes. “You didn’t know your mother as well as I did.”

What? I gasp and suddenly feel angry tears welling in my eyes. This bastard! I tug at my hands, trying to pull them out of Lev’s grip in an urge to step closer to Father.

“I knew her better than anyone! Mom would never betray us. She didn’t even care about the war, she only wanted peace and—”

“Exactly!” Father suddenly blows up, standing up, and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen him so aggravated. “Valya didn’t care about the war, she didn’t care about the Bratva, she didn’t care about anything! All she could think about was you and your stupid boyfriend.”

What? I freeze with my mouth open, staring at him. What is he talking about?

Father reads my shock and huffs, nodding to himself while dusting off his cigarette. “Of course, you didn’t even know about that. But I warned her, I warned her that if she went looking for that goddamn Italian, I’d report it to Yuriy. She knew what she was doing, but she didn’t believe I’d do something like that, huh?”

He chuckles, still staring at the ashtray, and it sounds so cold and arrogant that I feel a wave of goosebumps down my back. This fucking monster—

“Everyone goes through a breakup, and you were nothing special.” Father suddenly looks up at me, and I see a glint of cold steel in his eyes. “But Valya was ready to risk her life and sneak into the enemy’s territory to make things right—and she paid the right price for her treachery.”

I can’t believe he’s saying this. I can’t believe he’s blaming Mom.

“What treachery?” I almost yell at him, thrashing in Lev’s grip again with tears burning my throat. “What price? She wanted nothing but peace—”

“She disregarded the rules of our family,” Father cuts me off with his booming voice, finally showing his true face. “She went against Yuriy in the middle of a war. She couldn’t be trusted anymore.”

“Is that what you’re telling yourself when you realize what a fucking monster you are?”

“Alexandra,” Father says my name with a low warning, but I don’t care.

“What? You know it’s true!”

I don’t care about anything but the hot rage blinding me. I want to kill him. I want to kill him! That fucking parody of a human. I can’t believe I carry his blood in my veins. I keep tugging at my hands, trying to get closer to him, and when both Lev and Yar hold me down, I growl under my breath and turn to the men standing still on the other side of the room.

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