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“I’m pretty sure that holding a gun on people is worse for a child than a curse word,” Natasha muttered. I stiffened as my mother turned the gun on her.
“Watch it, little bird,” she threatened. “I have no use for you.”
Isaac was standing by the fireplace with a drink in his hand. He looked bored by the entire thing, and I wondered what he was thinking. Did he know who Maddy really was? If he did, that changed things.
Isaac would now have the ammunition that he needed to screw Leo, and in the Bratva, something like this would get Leo killed. Whether people agreed or disagreed with what Leo did, they would see his actions as a betrayal.
“What’s with the dramatics?” I asked, trying to keep my voice even.
My mother turned to look at me, and she walked forward her eyes wide as she looked at me. “Katarina,” she said. Her voice was reverent. I stiffened as she reached out.
“Don’t,” Leo said, grabbing her hand. “Don’t touch her.”
I stiffened. I didn’t know what the hell she was doing here, but it was clear that she was not stable. Maddy had said as much when she spoke to me.
“What are you doing here?” I repeated.
“She’s come for revenge,” my father sneered. He was sitting in his favorite chair. “Apparently, giving her everything made me a monster.”
My mother swung around, and I jumped slightly as she leveled the gun at him. “You made me give up my daughter.”
My father sneered, as he looked at Maddy. “I told you to leave your Blanchi bastard with her family where she belonged. You made the decision to leave Katarina for her.”
I saw the moment that Isaac put things together, and my stomach dropped. Even if we all survived this, we were screwed. Isaac would take what he knew to the Bratva, and Leo would be hunted down for his betrayal. If I aligned myself with him, I would never become Pakhan.
“Don’t make me the problem,” she snapped. “You and your devil of a mother ruined my life, and you ruined my daughters’ lives. You tried to kill Madeline and Matthew.”
There was a small gasp, and I knew it came from my nephew. He was practically trembling, and I knew in that moment that this little boy deserved better.
I wanted to reach out and take hold of him, but Leo was squeezing me.
“I should have found someone better to get rid of the two of them,” my father snapped. “They don’t deserve to breathe.”
My ears processed the sound before my eyes did.
There was a commotion around me, but I couldn’t focus on anything other than my father. He slumped in his chair, and my eyes immediately zeroed in on the hole in his head. His eyes were open and staring off into space, and there was a small trickle of blood down his nose.
I rushed forward wanting to grab him in my arms, but I felt Leo jerk me back.
“Don’t move!” my mother snapped.
She turned the gun back on me, and there was a wild look in her eyes. I knew that she would kill me. She would kill all of us. Madeline had been right. She was broken, and those cracks were beyond repair.
“What have you done?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. My tongue felt as though it were attached to my mouth, it was so dry.
Natasha was crying silently, and Maddy was crouched over her son.
“I did this for you.” She turned to Maddy. “For all of you.”
“You killed my father for me?”
She trained the gun on Leo, and I knew in my heart that she was going to kill him. “I’m saving you both. Mafia men will be the death of you, and I won’t allow my daughters to become like me.”
I placed my body in front of Leo’s shielding him as best I could and prayed that she would not shoot me.
“Kat…” Leo was trying to move me, but I wouldn’t budge.
“Move, Katarina. I’m doing this for you. Leo is no different than your father. When I met him, I thought that he understood me. He was handsome and kind, but the power…it changes people, and before I knew it, he was cruel. He broke me. He stole me, and he ruined my children.”
