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My chest tightens as I force myself to take a heavy breath.
“What now?” I say as I break the silence, desperate to be involved in these plans my sister is rambling about. “What areyour plans for the future? Or are you both winging this entirekidnap and fall in love with some random girl from the streets of Londonthing?”
Chiara’s mouth drops open, and her cheeks soon fill with colour.
The corners of Nikolai’s lips twitch.
And Mikhail snorts.
“That’s a very harsh word.” He says. “It wasn’t like that, dearestfratello.”My eye twitches. “We wouldneverkidnap a woman as beautiful as my beauty over here.”
My eyes dart between him, Chiara, and Nikolai, then I look back to Mikhail once more.
“Youstolemy sister.” I deadpan. “You took her from her flat—one which she didn’t even get to spend a night in, if I may add.”
Mikhail only grins at me.
“Sure, we took her.” He says. “And now, we’re keeping her.”
Nikolai butts in.
“If Chiara misses that small apartment so much, we can always build something identical in New York. Property is not an issue for us.”
My jaw tightens at his smug tone, and my eyes narrow in his direction.
Bratva bastard.
“Our future involves Chiara. That’s all you need to know.”
My eyes move back to Mikhail, my anger more apparent now than it was before.
“Is that supposed to reassure me?”
I snap at him.
“It should.” Nikolai says, his voice as cool as ice. “Because it’s the truth, Dario.”
Chiara only squeezes my hand tighter.
“Dario…” Her voice is soft, almost as if she’s pleading with me. “I chose this. I chose them.”
Goddamnit.
I drag my free hand down my face, forcing myself to take a few deep breaths before I can look at her again.
“You do realise that this isn’t normal, right, Chiara?” I don’t miss the way she flinches. “You werekidnapped,and you were with them for weeks on end, forced to do fuck knows with these mad men. This situation isn’t normal, sorellina. Do you understand that?”
She blinks, and her bottom lip trembles.
I hate that I’m the one making her feel this way, but if nobody else wants to give it to her straight, I’ll need to.
Even if it makes me the villain here.
“Nothing about this situation isnormal,dearestfratello.Not the way our past is connected, or the way our future will be formed.”
Mikhail quips, clearly amused.
I ignore him, focusing on Chiara instead.