Bratva.
Like Dante.
And while Dante was good and kind to me, while his family was nothing less than lovely to me, I didn’t know if their courtesy would extend all the way to my father.
“Hello, Alisa,” Caspian smiled warmly at me, then gave Dante a curious look.
“I was in the middle of something. What’s going on?”
“Yes, we’re all eager to know,” said Achille, his eyes landing on me.
I knew what they were thinking. What the hell was I doing here?
Dante motioned at everyone to get comfortable. Caspian pulled up a chair. Federico slouched back on a recliner after asking if I wanted it.
I shook my head and kept standing while everyone got comfortable.
“So, we’ve got a situation,” Dante said and leaned back against his desk as he surveyed the room. When his eyes landedon mine, he paused as though he wanted me to give the green light. He knew how worried I was about this meeting, and Dante, being Dante, didn’t want to push me into something I didn’t feel comfortable with.
But it was right for us to tell his brothers. We’d discussed this earlier—they needed to know everything. If the Pavlovs were coming for me and I was married to Dante, the entire Lebedev family was at risk.
“So, what’s the situation?” Caspian asked.
“It involves the Pavlovs,” Dante said.
The room went silent. Cold.
“The Pavlovs?” hissed Federico. “What business do we have with those fuckers?”
Then, he looked my way sheepishly. “Sorry, Alisa.”
“I’m sure she’s heard the word fuck before, you know?” Luca rolled his eyes.
I couldn’t help but feel a little more relaxed.
“Guys, focus.” Dante brought them all to silence. “Marc Montes wanted to meet Alisa, and we set up the meeting. I was nearby, listening in, until I had to pull her out of there.”
“Why did you have to pull her out of there?” Gio asked, leaning forward on his chair.
“Because he’s deep in debt to Arko Pavlov, and to pay it off, he promised Alisa as a bride to him.”
Everyone looked stunned.
“Jesus Christ,” Giovanni muttered.
Caspian stood and walked toward me, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Tell us exactly what happened.”
I told him everything we knew: How my father had admitted to owing a debt to the Pavlovs, how he’d begged me to come home with him, and how he’d let Arko’s name slip in his anger.
“He seemed terrified,” I added, remembering the fear in my father’s eyes. “Whatever he owes them, it’s big enough that he was willing to sell his own daughter to clear it.”
“That fucking bastard,” Luca snarled, slamming his fist into the wall. “Who does that to their own daughter?”
I flinched. This right here was exactly what I’d been so damn afraid of. Their judgment.
“I mean… we still don’t have the complete picture,” I tried to calm them all. “We don’t know what kind of debt. These guys are dangerous, right? Maybe my father’s truly petrified.”
None of them acknowledged that they heard me. In fact, they even looked at me with pity, and something inside me shrank.
