Page 91 of Obsession of the Bratva

“Yes, asshole. Me.”

Neither of us spoke because there was nothing left to discuss. His finger moved first, but mine was faster. The shot echoed through the corridor, and Adrian stumbled backward. Shock spread across his face and he looked down, realizing that blood soaked his shirt. Then he looked back up at me with disbelief and confusion. He couldn’t believe he had been shot.

“This is for the time you dared to barge into my house, and your men shot Vera,” I shouted at him, moving closer.

There was nothing but fear on his face, but I felt no pity for him. He deserved this and worse. He hit the floor seconds later and stayed there. The man who had been willing to marry Vera against her will. The man who had threatened us. The man who had attacked my family was finally gone. Just like that.

I didn’t allow myself even an ounce of satisfaction because the bigger target was still out there. Adrian was a nobody compared to Manny Stavros; after all, he was the one who had made Vera’s life miserable for years. I turned around to return to the main building when I was immediately alerted.

“Manny has been secured.” The voice crackled through my earpiece. “I repeat, Manny Stavros has been secured alive.”

I turned immediately. “Location?”

“Lower level, Nico.” This time it was Viktor’s voice.

“I’m coming.”

The basement resembled a bunker. It had reinforced doors, concrete walls and security checkpoints where normally guards would be stationed, but my men had either killed or arrested all of them. This was the kind of place built by men who expected enemies. The kind of place that still failed. Two Romanov guards stood outside the final room and they stepped aside when I approached.

Inside sat Manny Stavros, bound to a chair. There was blood on his face and bruises were already forming on his skin, but he was still alive, exactly as I had ordered. His eyes lifted when I entered and recognition appeared immediately.

Then hatred. “Nico Romanov. I should have known this was your doing.”

I closed the door behind me with a thud and turned to face him. Neither of us spoke for several seconds while I pulled out a chair and sat down across from him. I studied him closely, reminding myself how this was the man responsible for nearly destroying Vera’s life. The man who had made her believe that sacrificing herself was the only way to protect me. The man who had taught her fear long before she ever met me. He looked smaller than I expected.

Not physically. But still smaller.

Less impressive. Less powerful. A man who had spent years pretending control was love.

“Where’s Adrian?”

I met his gaze. “He is dead. I killed him while he was trying to run away.”

Something flickered across his expression, but it was neither grief nor surprise. It was calculation. Even now. Always calculation. I almost laughed because it told me how Vera too had never been a daughter to him. She had just been an asset. A bargaining chip. A tool. A tool he could use when the time was right, and he had tried doing exactly that by setting up her marriage with Adrian. The realization made something cold settle inside me.

“Do you know what I don’t understand?”

He remained silent, but I continued anyway.

“You spent your entire life controlling her. You isolated her. You manipulated her. You threatened her. And somehow convinced yourself you were protecting her. How conceited are you, Stavros?”

His eyes narrowed as anger flared in his gaze.

“I gave her everything. I gave her a good life and everything she could have ever wanted. The one time I asked her to do something for me, she turned it into an act of rebellion until I was forced to turn it into a threat. It is not my fault she was ungrateful!”

The answer didn’t surprise me. Not even a little.

“You gave her a cage.”

“I gave her opportunities.”

“You gave her orders and acted as if she was obligated to follow whatever came out of your mouth. She was obligated to let go of the man she loved and live a miserable married life with someone like Adrian because you wanted to do business with him. She was nothing but a pawn to you.”

His expression darkened. “You know nothing about raising a daughter.”

I almost smiled. The statement would have meant something once. Before Vera. Before the baby. Before everything changed. Now it only sounded pathetic.

“I know she was terrified of disappointing you.” His silence confirmed it. “I know she was willing to destroy herself to keep you happy. I know she lied to me because she thought you would have me killed.”