Page 69 of Undeniable

I stay silent not knowing exactly what he wants me to say and really not knowing what I even want to say.

“I will be better. I will make it up to you. I will never let you down like that again.”

Giving him a tight-lipped smile, I shake my head.

“We both messed up Gio. I should have been honest about my past. I think we just need to call it a draw. There is no sense in beating each other up.”

“I don’t want anything stewing between us. It will only hurt our relationship,” Gio urges.

“What relationship?” I ask with a humorless laugh. “In case it wasn’t clear, we more than split up after you walked away from my bleeding and broken body in a damn dungeon. You should be relieved, why would you want to be with someone who lied to you for the majority of the relationship anyways? It is clear that your heart wasn’t in it as much as mine was in the end. I could haveneverwalked away from you like you did to me. Not ever.”

Gio roughly shakes his head. “No. I fucked up. I know it. But Tasha, we were real. This is real,” he says as he gestures between us.

I hate how my heart twists at his words. I hate how badly I want to believe him. How badly I want to just forget everything and fall apart into his arms. But how do I get over something like this? It isn’t a matter of forgiving him. I knew why he was acting the way he was as soon as it happened. I am not resentful. I guess I am just…sad.

“Gio,” I sigh almost dejectedly.

“No, Tasha!” He barks almost angrily.

“You need to go,” I say impassively, doing my best to hold back the building tears.

“Not going to fucking happen,” Gio says, his voice rising as he stands to his feet.

“I think it is time to go, Cordova,” Alec says steadily from the doorway.

Gio tenses as he turns to look at Alec.

“Stay out of this, Chernoff. This is none of your business.”

Alec strides towards us casually before stopping a few feet in front of Gio.

“You are upsetting Katerina, and that is every bit of my business. She asked you to leave, you need to leave.”

I watch anxiously as they stand in a tense stare off, neither one wavering. After close to a minute, Gio walks over to Alessandro, lifting him up into his arms before turning back to me.

“We aren’t done talking about this. I will be back tomorrow.”

“No, you won’t,” Alec says confidently.

Gio shoots him a murderous look before turning to me, defiance shining in his eyes. He wants to stay. He wants to fight for us. I just don’t think I can handle that, especially right now.

“Please,” I say softly.

His jaw tenses for a moment before his face softens.

“I love you,” he says intensely, his eyes drilling me into place.

I worry my bottom lip between my teeth, knowing that if I say it back then it will toss everything out the window.

Gio watches me for a few moments, almost willing me to say something. When he realizes that I won’t, he nods and strides out the room evenly. To anyone who didn’t know him, they would probably say that he took it well. But I saw the heartbreak written plainly across his face. I saw the fear swarming his eyes. He is hurting and it is a gut-wrenching kind of pain. I know because I feel it too.

Chapter Twenty Seven

Tasha

It has been 2 months since I killed Dimitri Potrov. Gio, true to his word, showed up the next day looking to talk. However, Alec intercepted him and sent him away somehow before I even knew he was there. I was grateful but also slightly disappointed. I can’t help that my heart wants what my brain clearly points out is stupid.

While I was in the hospital, I did have one visitor that I looked forward to everyday. Alessandro came every single morning and would stay for hours. Sometimes we would draw together, good news, he says I am improving. Other times we would just hang out and watch cartoons together.

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