Page 58 of Undeniable

“Nothing,” I say as my voice breaks. “I haven’t been spying on you. I didn’t even know you were in the Mafia until a month ago, remember?”

“You honestly expect me to believe that?” He scoffs.

“Maybe not. But it is the truth. I ran away 6 years ago. My cousin has been helping me stay hidden from Dimitri ever since. My own brother died trying to help me escape. When Dimitri found out, he killed him right then and there in front of me. When my father died, Dimitri took over and…” I pause as graphic memories flicker through my mind, no matter how hard I attempt to banish them. “I almost didn’t make it out alive.”

There is not an ounce of compassion across Gio’s face, not that I’d expect any at this point. He believes that I betrayed him, he believes that I never truly cared for him, which couldn’t be further from the truth. He watches me carefully, as if seeing me for the first time. Instead of the warm and safe feeling his gaze used to provide, I suddenly feel exposed, raw and broken.

“Luca is going to kill you,” he says impassively.

“I know,” I rasp.

“I can’t stop him. I don’t think I should even want to, honestly.”

My eyes flick up to him, but I don’t say anything as he continues. His head shakes as he wipes a hand down his face.

“Fuck Tash…Katerina,” he corrects quickly, cracking my heart at how foreign my given name sounds on his lips. “Why me? Haven’t I suffered enough at your family’s hands? Hasn’t my son?”

My brows dip as I stand. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, seriously? We are still playing that game? Alright, I will play along. The man that ordered the hit on my wife and newborn baby, Vladimir Chernoff, the man who carried it out, Victor Chernoff,” he says coldly.

I suck in a surprised breath and slap a hand over my mouth, shaking my head vehemently. My father ordering something like that I see, the man was a son of a bitch, but my brother? No, no way. Vic hated our father, probably more than me for nothing if not his sick methods. He would never slaughter innocents. Gio’s information is wrong. It has to be.

“Yes, Katerina. It is true. The only satisfaction I got was gutting your pig of a father myself. I watched the light drain out of his evil fucking eyes with pleasure. That was one of the best days of my life. I am only pissed that I didn’t get the same chance with your brother.”

“Stop it,” I snap on half of a sob. “Vic wouldn’t do that. He wasn’t like my father. He was good. He didn’t want to be like him. He had plans for when he took over. He would never have gone after a family just to get to their husband or father.”

“Are you really that naïve? Did you grow up completely sheltered from the life around you, or are you just a fucking idiot? Vladimir’s dying words were that he was glad hissonkilled my wife.”

“That doesn’t prove anything! He hated Victor. He probably wanted you to kill him. He always thought he was weak. Too soft and kind for this life. He was.”

“Whatever. I am not going to waste time debating the truth with you. I just came to warn you that when Luca comes down here in the morning, you better tell him something. It is your only chance if you want to live.”

“I don’t know anything,” I say brokenly as I look down at my bare feet. “I told you. I have been on the run from them for years.”

Gio shrugs. “Better come up with something. I have done everything I could think of to deter him, but he is on a fucking war path.”

He doesn’t want me dead too?

“Why?” I ask suddenly confused. I thought he came down here to rub my impending death in my face. To inflict as much pain as possible to help try to heal the current kind that he is suffering through.

“Why what?” He barks.

“Why are you trying to save me?”

He scoffs. “Because I fucking love you!” He takes a deep breath before shaking his head and looking back at me. “Loved, I thought I loved you. My mistake.”

Without another word, he turns on his heel and storms down the hallway and up the stairs. I don’t make any protest. I don’t call out his name, hoping that he will turn around. I watch the man that I am completely head over heels in love with walk away, knowing that that was probably the last time that I will ever see him again.

-

The faint sound of padding footsteps wakes me from the shit sleep I have been trying to get all night. I don’t even know why I tried honestly. Being locked up in a dungeon awaiting another brutal interrogation that will undoubtably result in my death doesn’t exactly provide a nice cozy environment to catch up on some much-needed sleep. Maybe it is my way of wasting time, to just get it over with. If I have to replay the look of pure betrayal on Giovanni’s face in my head one more time, I may just do it myself.

I wish he understood. I wish I could make him see the truth. I never betrayed him, I mean yes, I lied about my identity but that wasn’t to trick him or get close to him, that was for my safety. I knew the truth would come out somehow someway. As soon as I realized that I didn’t want to live without him anymore I also realized that I would never get the opportunity. We were doomed before we even started, all because of a damn last name.

Leaning up off of the cobble stone slowly, I push myself up to sit up against the damp wall as I squint in attempt to make out my late-night visitor. It won’t be Gio, I know that for sure. The dismissal and goodbye in his eyes confirmed that for me before he walked away.

As the person comes closer, they come better into view until I make them out completely.

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