Page 64 of Cruel Bratva King

Giulia shifted her attention back to me. “What do you think you’re doing?”

I stared at her blankly and refused to answer.

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arm to her chest. “Sergey will be here soon, and he’ll watch you die. Don’t even think of doing anything stupid before he arrives.”

Bile bubbled from my stomach and rose to my mouth. I fought to suppress a wave of nausea. No matter how I thought of it, Giulia could not have pulled this off alone.

Sergey had told me the Italians didn’t give their women much power or control. If anything, they were pawns, enslaved to the needs of their men. If there was a drop of truth to what I was thinking, then this was a plan to lure Sergey into his enemy’s territory.

Just like Sergey said, I’d ended up becoming his weakness. He was vulnerable because of me.

Fear of how this would end clogged my throat. “Aren’t you afraid of what Sergey would do if you hurt me?”

Giulia’s face split into a manic smile. “Afraid?” She shook her head sardonically. “Sergey is a dead man, Lilianna. If you’re lucky, you’ll watch him die first.” Satisfied with the look of tears pooling in my eyes, she swiveled around and left the room.

My heart sank into my stomach, and my breath was restricted with a perfect blend of fear and sadness. I tried to convince myself Sergey couldn’t die that easily, but I knew it was a lie. He seemed invisible, but he was human, just like everyone else.

For the first time, I wished he was the monster I’d thought him to be. Because then, he wouldn’t come for me, and he wouldn’t die either.

The terror brewing inside me escaped my throat as a mirthless laugh.

Chapter 29 - Sergey

“You overestimate yourself, son. Allow me to take you hostage, and your little wife will be on her way.”

I looked on as Giovanni swiveled left and right on his mesh chair. He had a smirk on his face, and I imagined what he would look like as a dead man.

Son.

Hearing him call me that was like swallowing my own vomit. I wasn’t his fucking son. If anything, my face would be the last thing he saw before he died. It was a promise, and I always kept my promises.

“How do I know it’s a fair trade?” I asked. Giovanni was a sneaky bastard, and nothing he said would make me believe he was going to let Lilianna get out of this unscathed. The son of a bitch knew my weak spot, and he intended to feed on it like a parasite until the very end.

After my call with him, I’d gone straight home and prepared for an attack. Of course, he knew I wasn’t here alone. Even now, I was certain he knew my men were all positioned outside. What he didn’t know, though, was that some of them were inside, waiting to strike at my command.

He inhaled his cigarette and puffed the smoke into the air. “Trust me.”

As if.

I’d be damned before I trust a snake like him. Anger seared my skin, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could play along with his stupid game. If I weren’t scared for Lilianna’s safety, this fucker wouldn’t be breathing right now.

Burying the heart-scorching anger rising inside me, I said, “We have a deal.”

Giovanni’s sardonic laugh resounded in the room. He rested back in his chair and peered at me. “I’m not stupid, Sergey. If we have a deal, then you need to drop your weapons and call back your men.”

Christ, the urge to soil my hand with this bastard’s blood.

I took out my dagger and pistol from my pocket and set them on his desk. Taking out my phone, I made a call to Nikolai, instructing him to retreat. After I hung up, I added the phone to Giovanni’s new collections.

Giovanni nodded to one of his men behind me, and he stepped forward to search me for more weapons. The fucker’s fingers trembled as he rummaged over my body, making it obvious he was scared of me.

When the war started, he would be the second person I killed.

The first would be Giovanni.

After a minute of searching for what didn’t exist, the Italian guard finally took his disgusting hand off of me. “He’s clear, boss.”

A creepy smile crawled on Giovanni’s face. The second, sharp pain throbbed through me, and it didn’t stop until I was down on one knee. “Welcome to my territory,” Giovanni said, enjoying his short-lived victory. “Did you really think I would let you or your whore go?”