Page 78 of Obsession of the Bratva

“And then he threatened me that he would kill you if I didn’t end things with you and agree to marry Adrian. It broke me completely, but I had no choice. Truly. I came to you and lied to you so you would hate me, and I went and said yes to marrying Adrian.”

His expression darkened immediately. “I know he is your father, Vera, but I can’t wait to kill Manny Stavros.”

Nico’s entire body went still. Dangerously still. I knew that stillness. I’d seen it before. It was never a good sign.

“How could you have trusted him about something so absurd? Do you seriously think he could have hurt me? I am a Romanov, Vera, and he is an insignificantly small man who only ever cares about money.”

I wiped tears from my face. “He has connections, Nico. He knew people who hated you and would have taken their help in order to kill you. I didn’t want that to happen.”

The words tumbled out now. Months of secrets finally breaking apart.

“He told me I had two choices.”

Nico stared. Unblinking.

“Either I leave you and marry Adrian...” I laughed shakily. “Or he would make sure you disappeared.”

The silence that followed felt endless. “I didn’t know what to do, but I just knew that I would rather lose you than have you killed.”

Pain flashed across his face. Real pain. The kind no one else ever saw.

“So, I lied.” I looked down, ashamed and heartbroken. “I just thought if you hated me and continued hating me, it would be a little easier to let go, and you would eventually move on. Instead, I apparently created a monster.”

For one terrifying second, I thought he might laugh. Might get angry. Might explode. Instead, he simply stared at me, and something inside him broke. Actually broke. I watched it happen. The realization. The guilt. The regret. The horror. All of it arriving at once. Months of assumptions collapsing beneath him.

“Nico.”

His hand covered his mouth, and he looked away. Then stood abruptly, walking several steps across the room. I thought he was leaving, but instead he stopped and braced both hands against a dresser. Nico lowered his head and the sight frightened me more than any outburst could have.

Nico never fell apart. Never. Not in front of anyone. Yet here he was, struggling to breathe.

For several long moments, neither of us spoke.

Then finally, a quiet voice. Rough and destroyed.

“I’m sorry.”

I froze.

He turned toward me, and the expression on his face stole every remaining word from my mouth.

“I am so sorry.”

The apology wasn’t for one thing. I knew that immediately. It wasn’t about the kidnapping, or the stalking, or the revenge. It was about all of it. About months of pain condensed into four words, and he wasn’t even the one who was at fault here. Not entirely anyway.

“I’m sorry.”

The tears started again, harder this time because I believed him. Nico crossed the room and returned to me, approaching me as if approaching something fragile. Something precious. Something he wasn’t sure he deserved to touch.

“I should have known.” The guilt in his eyes was unbearable. “I should have known you.”

“You couldn’t have,” I sobbed. “I should have trusted you enough to tell you the entire truth and should have asked you to protect me.

So I reached for him without thinking or hesitation. My fingers found his hand, and his eyes closed instantly. The reaction was devastating, as if even that simple touch meant everything. When he looked at me again, all the walls were gone. Every single one. And for the first time in months, I wasn’t looking at the man who kidnapped me. Or the man obsessed with revenge. Or the man who stalked me.

I was looking at Nico. My Nico.

The man I loved. The man I had always loved and nearly lost. His forehead touched mine, and somehow it felt like coming home. The room grew quiet.