Page 82 of Forced Bratva Bride

“Look, Gastone,” I said as I felt Larissa huddle behind me. “I’ll do anything to prove you wrong. Anything.”

“Anything?” Gastone smiled.

“Yes. Anything,” I said, with such intent, such meaning, that I knew I’d give an arm if needed.

“Give her freedom. Ensure her safety. She’s better off with us. The Lebedevs haveenemieseverywhere.”

There was something in the way he said it, with such care for his sister, that for a moment, I froze. Was I being selfish bringing in a woman I loved to death into this dark world? Was she safer with Gastone? I was lost, afraid to say something wrong, afraid to know what was right.

In that moment of hesitation, I felt Larissa move. I turned, thinking she had chosen to walk away, feeling a strange, hard lump in my throat that restricted my breath as she walked past me and stopped halfway between her brothers and me.

“Enough,” she said, her voice stronger than I expected as she moved her eyes to each one of us. “No more of this.”

“Larissa, get in the car,” Dino ordered gently. “We're taking you home.”

She shook her head and when she turned to Dino, I swear I sawteeth. “I'm not going anywhere without Gio.”

“This isn't the time for your rebellion,” Gastone snapped. “That man is seventeen years older than you and our enemy.”

“That man,” she replied, her chin lifting defiantly, “is the father of my child.”

The words hung in the air like suspended glass, fragile and sharp. I felt as though I'd been struck by lightning, electricity replacing the blood in my veins.

Larissa was pregnant. With my child.

“What did you just say?” Carlo's voice was dangerously quiet.

Larissa turned to face me, her eyes searching mine. “I'm pregnant, Gio. That's why I told you to stay away. I was scared—of my brothers, of the future, of how they’d hurt you and how you’d react. But when I saw you tonight, I knew I couldn't keep lying.”

My throat tightened with emotion. “How long have you known?”

“Ten weeks now,” she admitted. “I found out just before our fight from the day we got back from the mall.”

The pieces fell into place—her sudden distance, the harsh words meant to push me away. She'd been protecting our child, uncertain of her brother’s reaction. And on one level, mine.

I stepped forward, ignoring the warning looks from her brothers and mine. Taking her hands in mine, I searched for the right words, ones that could tell her how I felt, though it seemed impossible. How could I? When there were no words to describe the volcano of love I couldn’t contain.

“I've spent two weeks thinking I couldn’t live without you,” I told her softly. “I was wrong.”

Her aquamarine eyes widened. “What are you saying?”

“I'm saying I was wrong because if you aren’t in my life, Larissa, I’d choose death. It’s beyond living, the way I feel about you. Beyond death, beyond time, beyond history, beyond anything. What I feel for you is everything, all-consuming. I love you, Larissa Ajello. I have from the first moment, though I was too stubborn to admit it. And I already love this child—our child.”

A tear slipped down her cheek. “I love you, too. So much it terrifies me. I thought I could let you believe I wanted nothing to do with you, but I couldn’t. Tonight, I snuck out to seek you out.”

“You did what?” Gastone bellowed from where he stood, took away this wonderful moment, but something in Larissa’s eyes told me that moments like these were plenty to come. She’d decided that I was the one for her, and I knew she was the one for me. She carried my child—our child—and she was now my family.

I would never allowanyone totake her from me again. I would protect her because she was mine. I turned to Gastone, ready to tell him so, to warn him not to mess with the future Mrs. Lebedev when, to my surprise, I heard Larissa speak first.

“No one will love this baby fiercer than Gio,” she said, turning to face her brothers, her hand still clutched in mine. “No one will protect us better. This isn't just about our families anymore. I carry a baby in my womb. A child who deserves his or her father.”

Gastone stared at us, the conflict evident on his face. Behind him, Caspian and my brothers stood silently. I knew they would back my decision, whatever it might be.

Gastone stepped forward, and I watched as his hand reached behind him. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I growled. Beside me, Larissa shook her head and bellowed—“Gastone!No!”

He paused and his eyes travelled between us, before they finally rested and remained on Larissa. “There are other ways to handle this, you know? This situation you’re in with this…baby.”

What he insinuated has me clenching my fists and I feel Larissa tremble beside me.

---