Lorenzo sat at the other end of the table, Dante sat on his right, and Sergio and I sat on his left. Finley positioned himself by the wall, close to Lorenzo and Dante’s guards.
“Thank you for coming, Seraphina,” Vasilas said, his voice calm but edged with steel. “I’ll get straight to the point. I need to know what Dorian did to deserve death.”
“She’s not reliving all that shit,” Sergio snapped before I opened my mouth. “Do you want me to spell out what she looked like when I found her? What she’d been through?”
I didn’t blame him for being furious. He’d seen firsthand what Dorian did to me. He held my bruised and battered body, praying that I survived. But this wasn’t about me anymore. This was about ending the feud between two families.
I laid my hand on Sergio’s arm. He turned to me, jaw clenched, his eyes burning with fury.
“You don’t have to do this,” he said.
The fight was still in his voice but softened by his love for me. I met his gaze, then focused on Vasilas.
“If I tell you everything,” I said, my voice steady despite the storm rising in my chest, “will it end this? Will the Drakos family leave the Puglisi’s alone?”
Vasilas studied me for a long moment, his face unreadable. Then he nodded once. “If I believe he deserved what happened to him, yes, it ends today.”
I took a breath, the weight of the past pressing down on my ribs. “And I’ll be free?” I asked. “No one will come after me?”
“You’ll be free to live your life,” he said. “You have my word.”
Silence settled over the room. I could feel Sergio’s emotions beside me. The way his muscles coiled like he was ready to fight the entire Drakos bloodline if I gave the word. But I didn’t. I could say what happened to me if it saved everyone else. Too much blood had been spilled because of Dorian Drakos. It was time all this ended.
“Then listen closely because I’m only telling this once. I’ve been through a lot with your brother, and I don’t want to relive it anymore.”
Vasilas leaned back into his chair then nodded.
I blew out a breath, as Sergio’s hand landed on my thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze.
“At first, he was nice, and he treated me very well. I was still getting over a nasty breakup, and I liked his attention. But then the abuse started.”
“Why did you marry him, then?” Vasilas asked. “If he was abusive and mistreated you, all you had to do was walk away.”
“Because he threatened my family and Sergio, Vasilas. I couldn’t let anything happen to them. Should I have not taken his threats seriously?”
Vasilas just looked at me because he knew I was right to take Dorian at his word. He didn’t threaten without taking action. That was one thing you could count on with all the Drakos men. They meant every word they said.
“At first it was just verbal abuse, then it shifted to physical abuse,” I continued. “He’d beat me until I was unconscious then rape me. I’d wake up covered in blood, blood and cum covering my thighs. Sometimes he used objects, sometimes he’d just do it himself. He’s brutalized me so bad, that now I can’t have children.”
Tears filled my eyes. I always wanted to be a mother. There had been times I dreamed about having kids with Sergio, but it never happened. And maybe that was a good thing, but now that I would miss out on having children it was just sad.
“I have scars all over my body from where he grabbed something and hit me with it, or he pushed me into something,” I continued. “I wished for death so many times.”
“That’s enough.” Sergio wrapped his arm around my shoulder, pulling me close to him. “She’s gone through enough, Drakos. If you want to avenge your brother’s death, take it out on me, but your family has done enough to her.”
“No, it’s fine, Sergio. He needs to know what kind of man his brother was,” I said, turning my attention back to Vasilas. “Do you remember the night you had a dinner party at your home, and Yannis Makros and Dorian got into it?”
“Yes,” Vasilas said, nodding. “Dorian said he disrespected him. He said Yannis said something inappropriate to you.”
I rolled my eyes. “The truth is Yannis asked me where I’d gotten my necklace. He was interested in purchasing something similar for his wife which is what both Yannis and I told Dorian, but he refused to believe either of us.”
The look on Vasilas’ face almost made me laugh. That argument led to tensions between the Yannis and Vasilas. The only reason I know was because Dorian always bitched about it and accused me of meeting up with Yannis in secret. I always knew when business was bad between them because he’d accused me of sleeping with Yannis even though I’d only seen that man once in my life.
How could Vasilas not know how unstable his brother was?
“This was my punishment for leading Yannis on and our plan to leave our spouses to be with one another.”
I stood up and lifted my shirt just above my navel so he could see the long, jagged cut across my stomach. All the men shifted in their seats looking at just one of the scars Dorian left me with. When he said he would always be with me, he told the truth. Even cosmetic surgery wouldn’t get rid of them.
