Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33564 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33564 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 168(@200wpm)___ 134(@250wpm)___ 112(@300wpm)
Sergei standing up against my brothers. He said he loved me and then... I close my eyes. Said he was done with me. I’d wondered if it was a game the whole time until the end. Was him even holding a gun on his brother a part of it all? I don’t understand it.
I turn off the shower and get myself together. For the benefit of everyone, I need to appear okay. Or maybe I need to appear okay to prove to myself that I am. I go about doing my hair and even putting on makeup. Trying to portray that I’m the same Olivia they have always known, but I’m not. I’ll never be the same after Sergei.
A knock sounds at my door. I know it’s my parents.
“Come in,” I call out. My mom enters first with my dad following, his hand on her lower back. I can tell they need to tell me something, and whatever it is is important. I can only guess it has to do with where I’ve been and what that means for our family and the Talettis. Is it war?
“What?” Dad closes the door behind him.
“I talked to your brothers. They told me the details.” Dad is the first to speak. My mom is wringing her hands. She’s always so calm and collected, but that’s the opposite of what she is right now, which makes me uneasy.
“I know. I was stupid. I thought—”
“It’s not that, sweetheart,” my dad cuts in. “There’s something you need to know.”
Oh shit. This must be big or we’d be having this conversation as a whole family.
“Only a few people know.” Mom finally speaks. “With all that has happened and Luca targeting you—”
“Because I look like you? I thought that might be part of it.” I roll my eyes.
“He’s always had a bit of an obsession with your mother, but I’ve let it go.” My dad pulls my mom in closer to him. “Because she begged me to in case one day things came to light.”
“If I remember correctly, I gave you an ultimatum.” She glances up to my dad with a soft smile filled with so much love. They’d do anything for one another. My heart starts to ache harder. I thought I’d found what they had with Sergei.
“True.” Dad leans down and presses his mouth to hers for a brief kiss. “But I would have sold my soul to get you to agree to marry me. So I took your conditions, but—”
“Things have changed,” she whispers.
“What things?” What the hell are they talking about?
“Vincent.” A tear slips free. My dad wipes it away for her, whispering something into her ear. She nods.
“Vincent is my son. My first born,” my dad says. “He will always be mine, but the truth is this isn’t the first time Luca has taken something that wasn’t his. He took your mother.” My heart starts to race.
“But your dad found me. I was broken and scared. He put me back together and claimed me as his own.” All the pieces begin to click into place.
I remember Mom telling me when she met Dad she knew he was the one. That they never spent a night apart. Their marriage was a whirlwind and not long after, she was pregnant.
“Does he know?”
My mom can only shake her head.
“No. Only we know and the doctor who delivered him. We had his birth date forged so Luca would never think for a second Vincent might be his.”
I step back to sit on my bed. All of this information is a lot to take in.
“And now he’s crossed another line.” My father’s tone hardens. “It can’t be undone, Liv.” I can see the fire in my father’s eyes. All bets are off. He’s going to kill all the Talettis now. Including Sergei.
21
SERGEI
I’m downstairs when the cars roll up, all of them fanning out in a row and parking in front of the warehouse.
I remain still, my gaze landing on the final car in the column. My father isn’t visible, but I know he’s in the back seat.
Sal jumps out of one of the cars and jogs over to my father as he steps out.
A dozen soldiers step from the other cars, all of them staring at me. It makes my blood boil, the fucking nerve of them rolling up on me like this.
My father strides over to me, his beady eyes moving around, taking in every detail. It’s what he does. It’s why he’s survived this long. I respect it, but nowhere near as much as I did before. Something inside me has shifted, and I know exactly how it happened. Olivia. The fact that my father intended to hurt her–it’s fucking unforgivable. My hands fist, and I force myself to relax. After all, he’s not my enemy.
I can talk to him, show him that the Fernandinos aren’t what we thought. They don’t have to die screaming. My father drummed into me again and again that they wronged us long ago, that they’re the reason our lives have been so hard. Now I have to wonder why I didn’t ask him for more. Why did I never question him? Why did I never doubt him? Because now, after seeing Olivia and how her brothers would do anything to protect her, I can’t imagine that they’re the rancid cesspool of human filth that my father described with vigor again and again.