Page 55 of Always Meant To Be
He nods. "She does. She's the one who called me, thought you'd need me, which is a big fucking win in my book after the shit I said to her.”
Hope fills me, that we haven't gone ten steps back, and I nod. "Then you'll most likely get the blame for not stopping me."
He furrows his brows. "Stop you from what?"
I smirk, pushing my white shirt to my side, and he groans, seeing the blood I can already feel dripping.
"Sorry,fratello," I say unapologetically, and he narrows his eyes at me.
"No, you’re fucking not." Leonardo’s eyes shoot daggers.
Maxim and Mikhail chuckle along with Marco, and I shrug, when the soon-to-be-dead guy groans, and I look his way. His face is covered in blood, but it's not enough. He tried to kill my wife, my baby….
Breathing heavily as fury overtakes me, I grab the gas can near the chair he’s tied to.
"Fuck, it's nice seeing the demon in action; it's like fucking poetry," Maxim whispers as I pour the gas over the fucker, causing him to wake, before panicking at the smell.
"P-please, I'm sorry, please…" he stutters as I hold my right hand out to my brother. He places his lighter in my hand, ignoring the pleading man, and I light it, throwing it on his lap.
He lights up like a fucking bonfire, and I take one step back, watching as he screams, trying to fight against the restraints.
Fucking beautiful….
We all watch as his screams quiet down, and death takes him after a few minutes.
"Mikhail, next week, I want a meeting to discuss your daughter, who we both know survived what I did," I rasp after a few minutes of silence, the rancid stench of burnt flesh surrounding us.
"I'll ensure she's locked in the basement until then," he replies.
Leonardo cuts in, "You'd do that to your own daughter?"
I look at Mikhail, who swallows. "It's something I didn't want to do. I've tried for years to clear up her messes, but this is one…I know we can't." He shakes his head. "She tried to kill her own sister, who is pregnant with my first grandchild, the future heir to the Italian Mafia. Even before she knew about the pregnancy, she had that vile on her…so it was her plan all along."
Maxim speaks up, "How will Aunt Ana take that, though?"
Mikhail clears his throat. "She won't step in. These past few months, her eyes have been opened." He clears his throat again,fidgeting before admitting, "Liliya isn't Anastasia's." My eyes widen in shock, and he winces. "She's Agy's. I got drunk one night after Ana found out her chances of conceiving were slim. Agy took advantage, believing I'd leave my wife. She recorded it and sent it to her own sister, hoping to break us up, and it nearly worked. Ana tried to leave me, but I wouldn't allow it; I locked her up for weeks."
"What the fuck?" my father rasps.
Mikhail shrugs. "When I fought for my wife, even after finding out she was pregnant, Agy didn't want to raise her. Her husband had just been killed. It took a lot, but my wife said she'd adopt Liliya, and over the years, Agy started to become more involved, much to my dismay, but Agy is still her sister, so Ana allowed it."
I cut in, "It's why Agy always sided with Liliya over El?"
He nods. "And when my wife finally got pregnant, she was upset El was a girl. Liliya was already acting up, even as a three-year-old, and my wife struggled to bond with her. She had hoped to give me an heir."
Maxim cuts in, "Fucks sake, she overcompensated and treated El poorly instead, not wanting her to turn out like Liliya."
He nods again, and I sigh. "Does El know?"
He shakes his head. "No, but Liliya does. Agy told her out of spite, and she's used it against my wife several times over the years."
Sighing again, I look at my shirt, wincing at the blood before stating, "Next week, we'll talk. I need to get home and face the music."
He nods, and I turn and leave, allowing my brother and Marco to deal with the body while Ray accompanies me.
"Your wife is going to kill you," he rasps as we climb into the car, and I nod, knowing damn well she will.
If she gets pissed, then it just means she still cares. I can’t be mad about that.