Her face crumples, and this time it’s my father who speaks, finally lifting his gaze.
“That was wrong. We were wrong, stellina. We made a grave mistake, and for that, we will always pay the price.”
I blink back the swell of tears trapped in my lower lashes.
“If you can’t forgive us,” he says, “I understand. Because I can’t forgive myself either.”
“I just…it’s all too much right now. It’s like I’m getting hit with one thing after another, and I don’t know how much more I can take.”
They sit there, this gaping chasm between us full of everything they’ll never be able to take back. And still, some broken part of me wants to reach across it. Because they’re my parents. Because no matter how much they lied, how much they failed me, they love me in the only way they know how.
“Is thereanythingelse you’ve been keeping from me?” I ask. “Because now is the time to tell me.”
My mother shakes her head. “There’s nothing else, Fiona. I swear to you.”
“She’s right,” Dad adds. “And you listen to me. We’ll give you all the space you need. We’ll move out. We shouldn’t be here.”
I shake my head. “No. Stay. Please. At least until Aleksei finds whoever’s left and ends this. It’s not safe yet.”
Mom’s gaze drops to her lap. “I’m so sorry. You don’t know how sorry I am for all of it.”
“I know.” I walk to her and take her hand, squeezing it gently.
Her chin shakes, and something inside my chest gives way. I don’t know who I’m comforting anymore: her, myself, or all of us at once.
A hollow silence settles over the room, stretching between us. None of us speak because there are no words left. Just the quiet, and everything we’re trying so hard to hold together.
ALEKSEI
Konstantin leans over the counter, phone set to speaker as it rings, while my knuckles ache from clenching them too hard.
But I can’t stop. Every image that flashes through my mind is Fiona. Her cheek scratched up, the bandage I put on the back of her neck where they ripped the damn tracker out of her like savages.
I cannot wait to tear Elio’s throat out.
The line clicks, and then Adriano Scutari’s voice fills the room. “Konstantin. To what do I owe the call?”
“We plan to kill your uncle, Elio, and everyone associated with him. He took Fiona and tried to marry her off to the Volkovs.” His tone stays even and composed, like he’s just listing what he plans to have for dinner. “If the Grazia family stands in our way, it will be taken as a declaration of war.”
There’s a pause, enough to hear Adriano thinking on the other end, calculating how to answer without appearing weak.
“We understand,” he finally says. “As you already know, my uncle was acting on his own. Neither my father nor I are involved. Whatever you need to do, you have our permission.”
Konstantin glances at me, his mouth curving into a faint, satisfied smile before he speaks again. “Very good. That is what we wanted to hear. Do you know where he and his men could be hiding?”
He sighs, like he knows he has no choice but to tell us. “He owns a shipping warehouse in Brooklyn. If I had to guess, that’s where he’d be hiding.”
Konstantin’s satisfaction grows. “We appreciate this. Please tell your father we send our regards.”
“Thank you.”
“I think after this is over, we all need to talk and figure out how to better unite our families so this never happens again.”
“We look forward to it.”
“Us too. Speak soon.” Konstantin ends the call and fixes his stare on me. “We end this tonight.”
He doesn’t need to tell me to get ready. I’ve been at war since the moment they took her, and I won’t rest until I have their heads.
