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“Listen to me, Ruby!” He forces me back around to face him and my hand flies to his cheek.
“Fuck you, Wicked!”
“What the fuck!” He grabs me by the wrists, forcing them above my head. Blood oozes out of the cut slowly, but not enough to be worried about, and anyway, right now I can’t think of me. I need to get in that room. “What’s your fucking problem now? Hmm?”
“You!” I scream so loud my head throbs.
He chuckles, shaking his head and releasing me. “Go on then, little one. Go run back to Papa and see who he really is.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I scream again, shoving him away and picking up my dress to jog down the steps, down the dark alleyway. I round the quiet street, the front sliding doors parting open. I try to run faster, and I think I am, but every time I think the doors to the conference room get closer they take a step back.
Forcing the doors open, my ears ring as I look around the place. Bodies litter the floor with torn flower petals falling around me. The Russians are on one side, and Papa on the other. Where the fuck has the rest of the La Rosa army gone? Val is near Royce and the MC farther toward the back, and I do a quick scan to make sure Jade and Poppy are okay.
“What the fuck is happening!”
Papa spits on the ground, glaring up at me. “Why don’t you ask your baby daddy?”
“Or—” Wicked says from behind me, but I ignore him, pushing and stepping over the dead bodies and puddles of blood to get to Papa. I wince when I see Tony’s lifeless body at Papa’s feet. Tony knew me all of my life, but he was Papa’s main man.
Kneeling in front of Papa, I let my hands rest on his knees. “You told me he killed Mama. I’m sorry. I couldn’t do it. I can’t do that to Wolf, or—to me. I love him, Papa. I’ve loved him since the day you brought him home.”
Papa whacks my hands off his knees and I fall to the ground near Tony. Shock grips me around my bleeding neck as Wickedlaunches forward, grabbing Papa from around the throat. “Probably should stop doing shit to piss me off, old man.”
“Wicked!” I scream so loud my vocal cords tear from my throat. “Put him down!” I spin around to see Mikhail and the Bratva watching carefully. “Leave this. It’s family business.”
“Clearly,” Mik murmurs, leaning against one of the tables tucked in the corner. “Tell me, Wicked, why haven’t you told her about Skully?”
“Shut the fuck up,” he growls over his shoulder.
Mik chuckles, wagging his finger. “You and I both know she should know about that.”
“Know what?” I push myself up from the ground and grab Wicked from the shirt, tugging him back. He doesn’t move. It’s like shifting a brick wall.
Wicked lowers Papa to the ground. “You wouldn’t believe me, so I needed to show you.”
“Show me what?” I snap, looking around the bodies on the ground, mainly Cosa Nostra.
Mik chuckles, stepping forward and dodging the bodies spilled over the floor. “You’re right, this isn’t our war, but—” He leans down, his fist wrapping around my hair and tugging me back. “You would have made a great wife, had this been real fun.”
My blood turns cold and I spin around, face-to-face with the monster I never asked for. “What?” Confusion from all sides drowns me.
“What the fuck are you talking about, Mikhail?” Papa spits, and I’ve never seen him lose his cool quite like he is. His eyes fly over Mik and land on his men. Mikhail’s father died when he was a child, so the only person who runs the Bratva’s crazy ship is him.
I turn back to Wicked, swallowing the pain in my throat. He releases Papa, dropping him back to the chair he was sitting on.When his eyes meet mine, all of the pain he has hidden from me knocks me off-balance. “I was put in your life to bring you to Skully, Ruby. Poppy and I were placed in a foster home, one I didn’t know were members of the Bratva—” His eyes fly over his shoulder, his jaw tensing when they’re on Mik, before coming back to me. “Skully ordered me to kill the family we were with. I did. I had to and didn’t have any choices when it came to him, or he’d hurt Poppy.” Wicked falls back against the table, crossing his ankles at his feet, looking over his shoulder and nudging his head at Val, who slowly makes his way to me. “When I killed them, it drew the attention of your papa. That’s why he took me in. Everything was a need-to-know basis. Your papa has been feeding you to Skully since you were a kid. I saw you once, drugged out and dragged through the asylum, and I saw him.”
I blink past the tears. This can’t be true. “Saw who?”
Wicked’s eyes shift to Papa. “Him.”
Pain grips my heart as my eyes fall on Papa. “What? No…”
“You know I wouldn’t, principessa.” Papa’s voice breaks at the end. “He’s just trying to save his ass because he killed your mother.”
I look back at Wicked, who does nothing to interrupt Papa’s rambling.
Wicked snickers, his jaw clenching. “Kind of hoped you’d fucking believe me, Rubs.”
“Well—” Mik steps up beside me, handing me his phone. “Good thing I’ve got footage.”
