Page 81 of Mafia Princess


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“We are all guilty in this,” I said as diplomatically as I could.

Nikolai sneered. “Your new husband tried to murder me. He left me broken and bleeding, and he didn’t care.”

I didn’t know what to say. Nothing that I did say was going to make things better for my brother. I didn’t absolve Dom of his many crimes. But I couldn’t hide my head in the sand and pretend that Nikolai hadn’t killed people who Dom would mourn.

My mind recalled Matte, and the way his mother had wailed at his funeral.

“Did you shoot me?” I asked. I could barely get the words out from the thickness that had closed my throat.

Nikolai looked away from me, and I knew that he had.

Tears filled my eyes. “Why?” I asked.

“You weren’t my target. The shot ricocheted. It was meant for him, but the bastard has some luck.”

I felt as though I couldn’t breathe. I’d known that someone from my family had ordered the hit, but it was something different to hear it being said. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to react.

“We’ve all had to make sacrifices,” Nikolai said. “Your being hurt made Dom more open with you, and his men began to lose trust.” The glee that Nikolai felt was evident in his tone.

“I’m going to be sick,” I said, jumping up from the bed. I moved towards the window. I couldn’t get any air, but as I pressed myself against the cool glass, I was comforted by the feel of the chill on my cheek. I closed my eyes as I tried my best to keep myself from breaking apart.

“Do you know what you’ve done?” I whispered.

“You’re fine,” Nikolai told me. “More than fine. I watched you and Dom, and he started to believe you. To care about you.”

“Dom cares about me because he cares about me, not because I was shot.”

Nikolai shook his head. “He didn’t trust you before that. Isn’t that what you told Mama when she asked you to get close, gain his trust, and kill him?”

I turned away from the window. “How long have you and our mother been working together?” I asked. I wondered if Nikolai was the reason I married Dom in the first place. This whole time I wondered if my marriage to Dom had been a ploy between my parents to get rid of the Blanchi’s once and for all. Now, I was wondering if my father knew anything about it.

“We’ve been plotting our vengeance since the day Nikolai called me from the hospital,” my mother said.

I had been so focused on Nikolai that I hadn’t heard her enter.

She walked in, as put together as always, and gave Nikolai a kiss on the cheek. She looked at my brother as though he had hung the moon.

“Look at this,” she said, a tight smile on her face. “Both of my children together again.”

I looked closely at my mother, unsure of what I had just heard, and that was when I noticed the dark stain on her dress.

“What is that?” I asked, pointing a shaky finger to the stain. There wasn’t enough light for me to make it out clearly, but my gut instinct told me that my mother was covered in blood.

“It’s nothing,” she brushed at the stain before turning her attention back to Nikolai. “We need to get going.”

Nikolai said nothing. He gave our mother a short, curt nod before turning his attention back to me. “Let’s go,” he said. He walked towards me, and I moved away.

“I’m not going anywhere with either of you,” I said. “Where’s Papa. Does he know what you’ve been doing?”

My mother scowled. “Your father was weak, and the Bratva has no place for weak men.”

I didn’t miss how my mother talked about my father in the past tense. “No…” I said, tripping over my feet as I tried to get away from them. “You wouldn’t.” I fell to the ground as my grief overcame me.

I couldn’t breathe as my eyes focused on the blood splattered on my mother’s dress. I knew in my bones that my father was dead. It was the only thing that made sense.

“You want to take over the Bratva,” I said.

“The Bratva belongs to your brother.” She reached out and caressed Nikolai’s scared cheek. The action made my stomach turn. “He’s strong enough now.”

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