Page 228 of Legacy
His jaw clenches. “Arsen survived. I left him there to die, but he didn’t. He saw me.Knewit was me.”
My stomach drops.
“The next day my mother goes missing.”
My voice is too fast. Too high. “Wait, wait.”
He stills, the sauce bubbling quietly.
I slide off the counter, feet unsteady on the tile.
“If he knew it was you… if he ordered your mother’s death… Angelo—”
My throat dries.
“They didn’t stop, did they?”
He turns, just his head, and I see it, the guilt, the grief, the fear he never lets anyone else see.
I press my hand flat to my stomach like I can hold the dread there, keep it from spilling out.
“This war you’re in—it’sstillbecause of that? You married me, and you think I’m safe from people who put hits on families?”
My voice cracks, the room spinning around me.
“If they find out who I am, who I’m married to—I’m dead, aren’t I?”
“No,” he says instantly, but his eyes flick.
It’s instinct, not certainty.
“Don’t lie to me,” I whisper.
“I’m not.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
I step closer, fists curling tight at my sides.
“Am I a target now?”
His jaw clenches.
“Am I?” I push, louder now. “Because I didn’t agree to this. I didn’t agree to walk blind into your war—a war you’ve been fighting since before you even met me and neveroncethought to tell me.”
He finally faces me fully.
“Did Luciano know?” I ask, dreading the answer.
He shakes his head.
“No one but Maksim and I know what we did.”
I take in a shuddering breath, disappointment flooding through me with the fear.
“Angelo….”
“I won’t let what happened to Vasilisa happen to you.”
