Page 99 of Righteous Enforcer
He doesn’t say anything, so I continue.
"You promised you could protect us, but what happens when Alessandro convinces you I'm the enemy? When he turns you against me? I ran because I couldn't bear for Mirabella to watch her father choose his brother over her mother."
Adriano steps closer, his expression darkening. I shrink back instinctively.
"So you ran because of Alessandro. You didn't trust me enough to handle my own brother?" The flash of anger in his eyes unnerves me.
"What would you have done?" I challenge, finding courage in desperation. "Chosen me over your family? Your blood? Alessandro is the Don?—"
"Alessandro doesn't decide who I protect." His words cut through mine like a blade. "I do. You’re still alive because of me. Living in the comfort of my home, because of me. Wearing new clothes and eating your fill, because of me?—”
“Alessandro said?—”
“He doesn’t trust you, but he hasn’t touched you, has he?”
I shake my head, stepping back until the backs of my legs hit the chair and I fall into it.
“He’s protecting me, and maybe I should have listened because you’re poison to me.” He wags his finger at me. “And once again, you’ve avoided the real answer to my question. Why did my father mistrust you? Why is Ivan after you?” He tilts his head. “The only reason I can think of is that you work for the Bratva. Then and now.”
“I don’t?—”
"I'm tired of the half-truths." He leans down. “If you want to keep our daughter, you need to give me everything. No more bullshit."
His face is inches from mine, and I see the flecks of silver in his gray eyes. "Tell me now, or I walk out that door with Mirabella, and you’ll never see either of us again."
I stare at the man I've loved and feared and realize I've reached the end of my path. There is nowhere left to run.
"I'll come back with you. Please, just don't take her from me."
"That's not what I asked for." He shakes his head at me, and I think he’s going to follow through on his threat. “If you want to come with me, you can. Mirabella needs a mother and I’m not so cruel as to deny her that.”
It’s a dig at what I did to him, but I don’t point that out.
“But you’re nothing to me. You’re just a nanny. And whatever Alessandro wants to do, he can do it. If you’d rather run, I’ll understand. Maybe you can ask Ivan for protection.”
I’m dying inside that my life has come to this.
I didn’t set out to betray anyone.
My father got in trouble and I was forced to pay the price.
And since then, my life hasn’t been my own.
I’d wanted to go to college.
Maybe become a teacher.
Instead, I’m the shell of a woman who has no options left.
“I accept that.”
He studies me. "If you run again?—”
"I won't," I cut him off. "I can't lose her." And the truth is, I don’t want to lose him, either. How crazy is that? He’s threatened me and I still care for him.
He cuts my restraints. “We leave in ten minutes.”
As feeling returns to my hands, I realize what I've done. I'm walking back into the lion's den. Back to Alessandro's suspicion.
