AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I am so confused, and I’m sure I look it because Romero throws his hands in the air. “You stupid, naive little child.”
“I… He definitely isn’t Italian or Irish, I’d know,” but that isn’t a good answer.
Romero whips around. “What about Russian, Shirley!” He has raised his voice, and I flinch. In all the years he’s treated me as his daughter, he’s never raised his voice that loud with me, not that aggressively.
“You’ve literally handed the Bratva Volkov family our plans on a silver platter, and they have bought and secured all the territories I had plans for,” he shakes his head. “What were you thinking? You have betrayed your family with these stupid decisions. And why? Because an older man paid attention to you?”
His voice is low now, but I hear the disappointment breaking my heart.
“Pa… I didn’t…”
“You didn’t think, that’s the problem. When I expected more from you.” He waves me off. “Just go. You’ve done enough damage for Alessandro to fix.”
I feel the tears stinging my eyes, and I grab the car keys and hurry out. I pass Alessandro, who looks at me confused, but I don’t stop to tell him. I couldn’t stand it if he were ashamed of me as well. I know he’s taking over soon, and I’m sure he will want me to leave because of this.
I don’t care that I’m speeding, and I don’t care that the police might pull me over. It doesn’t take me long to reach the apartments where Evgenii is staying. Everything works on a number code, which I know very well from the nights I’ve spent here.
I let myself into his apartment and hear him on the phone in the living room. He turns around as I storm in. “Hang on. Something’s come up. I’ll call you back.”
As he hangs up, I pick up a nearby statue and throw it at him. He steps back, raising his hands, but he doesn’t stop me.
I pick up and throw picture frames, awards, decorations… Anything that I can destroy, throw at him, or throw around as I scream what an asshole he is. I don’t know how long I am there as I continue to tell him what a user he is. That I had loved him. That he said he loved me.
Eventually, I sink to my knees and sob into my hands.
He still doesn’t say anything immediately, and I look up at him, knowing my mascara is streaking down my face.
“I didn’t make you do anything you didn’t want to,” he says with a smirk.
A chill settles over me. He doesn’t care about stuff. I could burn his apartment to the ground. It doesn’t matter because I’ve already given him everything he needs to hurt my family.
I leave and drive around momentarily before stopping at central park. As kids, Romero and Helena would often bring us here for family picnics. I remember feeling so included and loved in everything. I sit on a bench and sniff, wiping my eyes on the back of my hand. Passersby give me weird looks, but I don’t move until I feel a heavy weight; someone has sat down next to me.
I don’t look up until the most unexpected voice starts speaking next to me.
“Don’t beat yourself up about it. I once ratted out one of my cousins to an undercover cop for doing drugs.”
I look at Alessandro and shake my head. “it’s not the same.”
“You’re still just a kid, Shirls. He took advantage of that. He took advantage of the fact he has more experience in life than you, and you can’t hate yourself for that. And I promise, Papa doesn’t hate you either. He will forgive you, and you will still work within the family.”
My shoulders shake as I hold back more tears. “I feel like such a fool.”
“Love does that,” he looks out at the park. “Which is probably why I’ll never get married and have kids.”
“That makes you a shit catholic,” I say quietly, and he chuckles.
I feel his arm around my shoulders. “These horrible things that happen to us, you have to take this experience and let it harden you a little and teach you how dirty people are. So you grow into a force to be reckoned with, Shirls. You have that power. You just have to tap into it.”
I rest my head on his shoulder. “You’re the best big brother.”
“I know.” He chuckles.
Present Day
We spend most of the day in the office working until mid-afternoon when Evgenii keeps disappearing. Eventually, when evening falls, my curiosity wins out. “Okay, what are you up to that you keep disappearing?”
He smiles. “My chef needed instructions. I was actually coming to get you for dinner.”
