Page 20 of Obsession of the Bratva

His gaze sharpened. I could practically feel the anger simmering beneath the surface.

“My response is that you’re here with me, just as alone and miserable as you left me six months ago. So forgive me if I don’t give a flying fuck about your company or your NGOs or whatever it is you enjoy doing in your free time.”

I stared at him and then laughed again. This time without humor.

“That’s not an answer, Nico. You don’t get to make decisions like this and not tell me what the plan is moving forward.”

“It’s the only plan you’re getting, my lo—” My gaze widened as I realized he was just about to call me my love, the way he had always called me before. Old habits die hard, I believe. “Please leave, Vera.”

Something snapped in me. Maybe it was exhaustion or fear or the fact that he had just called me his love again after what felt like an eternity without hearing it from him. Maybe it was four days of holding everything inside me, but whatever it was, I was suddenly angry. Really angry.

“You need to let this go, Nico. This is not going to work.” My tone was louder than I had intended it to be, but I no longer cared. He needed to hear this.

The room went still. Dangerously still. I knew immediately I had said the wrong thing, but I continued anyway.

“You need to move on from me. You can’t stay stuck on me after I have explicitly ended things with you, and you can’t go around kidnapping women from their weddings. This is not how life works.”

His expression hardened. “Careful.”

“No.”

I took another step forward. Now we were standing much closer than we should have been. Close enough that I could see the small dusting of hair through the open collar of his black shirt. Close enough that I could smell his cologne. Close enough to remember things I shouldn’t.

“You need to stop this right now.”

His eyes never left mine. “Stop what?”

“This.” I gestured around us. “The need for revenge and punishment. The way you are acting obsessively towards me. All of it.”

His jaw flexed, but I kept going.

“You need to accept reality.”

A muscle jumped in his cheek. “Reality?”

“Yes.”

“You mean the reality where you cheated on me with Adrian Petrov? Seriously Vera? Adrian?”

The words hit harder than I expected, and pain flashed through me. Not because they were true, but because he believed they were. I forced myself not to react.

“Yes.”

His eyes narrowed. “Interesting.”

“I told you what I did.”

“You certainly did.”

“I hurt you.”

A pause. “I know.”

“I destroyed what we had.”

His breathing changed slightly, but it was enough for me to notice. “And?”

I swallowed. “This isn’t fixing anything. Kidnapping me and bringing me here won’t solve our problems.”