AllFreeNovel
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Liam has been taking pictures of me without my permission. It’s one thing to, I don’t know, take a cute photo of your girlfriend on your phone, but it’s another to have dozens of them printed out. I’m not even looking at the camera in half of these. I’m completely unaware that the photo is being taken.
My skin crawls. Not once did he mention the photos, or being a photographer, or anything of the sort.
“Where did you get these?” I stare at the photo from New Years. If I wasn’t so horrified, I might want to keep it.
“Ezra found the older ones in Liam’s apartment. The new ones you saw first arrived just today, here at our doorstep.” Andrei exhales slowly.
My grandmother’s voice rings in my head, repeating the same phrases over and over.
He’s been worrying himself sick about you.
He loves you, Valentina.
“My grandmother introduced us. She said she liked him. Liked us together.” I wrap my arms around my chest and hold on tight. If I inhale too deeply, let my ribcage expand, I might feel my bones fall loose through the cracks. “I don’t understand.” I look up at Andrei’s face and hear the words he’s said a thousand times now: moya zhena.
My wife.
“I’m not married to Liam.”
“And you never will be.” Andrei grasps my chin and tilts my head further back, spilling my curls across my shoulders. “But this means that he knows Russian, and he knows who you really are.”
I didn’t exactly hide my identity while Liam and I were together. I’ve been using the name Valentina my entire life, including the years I was gone. Grandma insisted I use my surname, too, despite all of our precautions at remaining hidden from my father. At the time, I didn’t think much of it.
Now, though, it adds to my confusion.
“My grandmother could have taught him that phrase. Maybe he was going to propose before we broke up.”
Mikhail scoffs and waves his hands in front of him, offense radiating from his movements. “Please. Tell me you’re joking. Did you ever see a ring?” He shakes his head. “Don’t answer that. I don’t want the mental image.”
I roll my eyes at the dramatics. Some things aren’t adding up, though. “So, okay, Liam’s a creep. But why does that make you want to kill my grandmother? It’s not her fault that he’s like that.”
“You never should have been introduced, Valentina. You should have been here, with me. With us.” Andrei’s forehead creases. “Katya sent you that letter, Valentina. She was waiting for you outside the chapel, took you two fucking states away, holed you up in some ramshackle house?—”
The house wasn’t bad, but Andrei’s temper is flaring so hot that I don’t dare interrupt.
“—set you up with Liam, which, by the way, is a fake fucking name.” Andrei’s jaw tics. “She has kept you from us for years, kept you from your birthright as head of this Bratva, and kept you in a relationship with that fucking mudak.” His eyes burn with hatred so deep that it cuts straight through me.
The urge to defend my grandmother’s honor rises. “She’s been looking after me.” I grab his wrist to remove his hand from my jaw, but he doesn’t budge. His grip tightens, but I refuse to react to his anger. “She’s been trying to keep me safe.”
Mikhail’s glare could cut steel. “Is that what she’s been telling you?” He slams his palm on the desk, scattering photographs to the floor. “Is a psycho stalker supposed to keep you safe?” Shaking his head, he laughs. “Malyshka. She’s been lying to you from the beginning. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s been lying to your your entire life.”
I glare at him. “That’s not true.”
Ezra takes a stiff step forward and draws a deep breath. “A guard died today, Valentina. Katya wanted to get inside, and she killed good man for it.”
“She came for you,” Mikhail huffs. “She came to steal you away from us. Again.”
Andrei’s thumb smooths over my lips. “She almost succeeded.”
With each beat of my heart, a piece of it breaks. I don’t know what to believe. Everything my men are saying goes against what I know in my bones, but they sound so sure.
The evidence is damning. Could my grandmother really have done all of this? And for what?
I shut my eyes and breathe through the pain. Despite all the accusations and chaos from the day, at least one thing is certain. “I wouldn’t have gone with her. I won’t leave you again.” I look between all three of my men, making sure they understand me clearly. “Any of you.”
“I know you wouldn’t have wanted to,” Andrei concedes. “But she wouldn’t have given you a choice.”
Ezra sets down both of the guns he’s been carrying since our stroll through the garden, and a shiver races down my arms.
