Page 20 of Claimed by the Enemy (Moretti Bratva #2)

Chapter Eighteen

Dom

“ Y ou want me to what?”

Raff stares at me from across my office like I’ve just asked him to commit murder. Maybe, in a way, I have.

“I want you to find out what Sophie’s hiding,” I repeat, keeping my voice steady despite the turmoil in my chest. “She’s planning to tell me something today, but I need to know what I’m walking into.”

“Dom, this is Sophie we’re talking about. Your wife.”

“My wife, who’s been lying to me for weeks, disappeared yesterday and came back with a story full of holes.” I lean back in my chair, exhaustion weighing down my bones. “My wife, whom I love more than my own life, is exactly why I need to know what she’s not telling me.”

Raff runs a hand through his hair, a gesture I recognize from our college days when he was trying to talk me out of particularly stupid decisions. “So you want me to spy on her.”

“I want you to protect her. And me. And whatever chance we have at making this marriage work.”

“By violating her trust.”

“Her trust?” I force a laugh. “Raff, she’s been playing games with me since the day we met. The only difference is now I care about the outcome.”

“Do you? Because from where I’m sitting, it looks like you’re sabotaging the first real relationship you’ve ever had.”

“I’m trying to save it.”

“Are you? Or are you looking for an excuse to run before she can hurt you first?”

The question hits too close to home. Maybe that’s exactly what I’m doing. Maybe I’m so terrified of losing Sophie that I’m willing to destroy what we have to protect myself from the inevitable.

“I can’t do this blind, Raff. If Sophie’s uncle is planning something, if she’s still caught between loyalty to him and whatever she feels for me, I need to know.”

“Then ask her.”

“I tried. She deflects, changes the subject, gives me just enough truth to make the lies go down easier.”

“So you’re going to go behind her back instead?”

“I’m going to get answers the only way I know how.”

Raff leans forward, his expression serious. “Dom, listen to me. Sophie loves you.”

“Does she?”

“Yes. I’ve seen the way she looks at you when she thinks no one’s watching. I’ve seen the way she lights up when you walk into a room. Whatever games she might have been playing before, whatever lies she might have told, what she feels for you now is real.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I know you. And I know that you wouldn’t have fallen for someone who was just playing a part. Your instincts are too good for that.”

I want to believe him. Want to trust that what Sophie and I have built over these past weeks is real, not just another manipulation in an elaborate revenge plot.

But every time I close my eyes, I see her face when she came home yesterday. The guilt, the fear, the way she couldn’t quite meet my eyes when I asked what Uncle Enzo had told her.

“Just do this one thing for me,” I say. “Find out what she’s hiding. Then I’ll know how to move forward.”

“Dom-”

“Please, Raff. I’m asking as your friend.”

He sighs, the sound heavy with reluctance. “What exactly do you want me to find out?”

“Everything. Where she went yesterday, who she talked to, what Uncle Enzo told her. I need to know if she’s still planning to destroy me or if she’s finally chosen a side.”

“And if she’s chosen your side?”

“Then we figure out how to protect her from whatever her uncle is planning.”

“And if she hasn’t?”

“Then I’ll deal with that too.”

Raff studies my face for a long moment, probably seeing more than I want him to. “You know, there’s another possibility here.”

“Which is?”

“That Sophie is caught between two impossible choices, and instead of forcing her to pick a side, you could try helping her find a third option.”

“What kind of third option?”

“The kind where nobody has to betray anyone. Where you work together to solve this instead of working against each other.”

“That would require complete honesty from both of us.”

“Yes. It would.”

“And Sophie’s not capable of that.”

“Isn’t she? Or are you just not capable of asking for it?”

Before I can respond, there’s a soft knock at my office door.

“Come in,” I call.

Sophie appears in the doorway, and my heart does that stupid stuttering thing it’s been doing since the day I met her. She’s wearing a simple blue dress that brings out her eyes, and her hair is pulled back in a way that shows the elegant line of her neck.

She looks beautiful. And terrified.

“Am I interrupting?” she asks, glancing between Raff and me.

“Not at all,” Raff says, standing up. “I was just leaving.”

“Actually,” Sophie says, her voice carefully controlled, “I think I heard enough.”

My blood goes cold. “Sophie-”

“You want to know what I’m hiding? You want Raff to investigate me like I’m some kind of criminal?” She steps into the office, closing the door behind her. “Save yourselves the trouble. I’ll tell you myself.”

“Sophie, it’s not what you think-”

“Isn’t it?” She moves to the chair Raff just vacated, sitting down with the kind of rigid control that tells me she’s barely holding herself together. “You think I’m lying to you. You think I’m still playing games, still trying to destroy you.”

“I think you’re scared,” I say carefully. “And I think whatever your uncle told you yesterday has put you in an impossible position.”

“You’re right. It has.”

Raff clears his throat. “Maybe I should go-”

“Stay,” Sophie says without looking at him. “You might as well hear this, too. God knows Dom’s going to tell you anyway.”

“Sophie-”

“Uncle Enzo is planning to kill you,” she says, the words coming out in a rush like she needs to get them out before she loses her nerve. “He’s given me one week to prove my loyalty by destroying you myself, or he’ll do it his way.”

Silence fills the office, thick and suffocating. Raff has gone completely still in his chair, and I can feel my own heartbeat hammering against my ribs.

“When you say destroy…” I begin.

“He wants you dead, Dom. He’s wanted you dead since the day your father died, and he’s been training me to be the weapon that kills you.”

“And yesterday?”

“Yesterday, his people brought me to him because he was starting to doubt my commitment to the mission. He could see that I was… wavering.”

“Wavering how?”

Sophie’s hands are trembling in her lap, but her voice stays steady. “Falling in love with you. Which, according to Uncle Enzo, makes me a traitor to everything he’s taught me.”

“So what did you tell him?”

“I told him what he needed to hear: that I would finish the job. That I would find a way to take you down without killing you, because that was the only way I could protect you from what he was planning to do.”

I lean forward, studying her face. “And now?”

“Now I’m telling you the truth, even though it probably means Uncle Enzo will kill us both.” Sophie’s eyes fill with tears, but she doesn’t let them fall. “Because I can’t lie to you anymore, Dom. I can’t pretend that my loyalty is anywhere but with you.”

“Sophie-”

“I love you,” she says, her voice breaking on the words. “I love you more than I’ve ever loved anything, and I can’t stand the thought of you believing that I’m still trying to hurt you.”

“What about the evidence? The documents you found?”

“Uncle Enzo says they were falsified. That someone planted them for me to find, to make me doubt everything I’ve been taught.” She wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. “But I don’t know what to believe anymore. I don’t know who’s lying and who’s telling the truth.”

“Sophie.” I stand up, moving around the desk to kneel in front of her chair. “Look at me.”

She does, and I can see everything in her eyes. The fear, the love, the desperate hope that I’ll forgive her for the lies and the secrets and the weeks of deception.

“Thank you,” I say simply.

“For what?”

“For choosing me. For trusting me with this.”

“Even though I’ve been lying to you?”

“Especially because you’ve been lying to me. It means telling me the truth costs you something.”

Sophie’s tears finally spill over, and I reach up to brush them away with my thumbs.

“What happens now?” she asks.

“Now we figure out how to keep you safe from your uncle while we find out who’s really been pulling the strings.”

“Dom,” Raff interjects quietly, “if Enzo Bellini is planning to kill you-”

“Then we’ll deal with that. But first, we need to understand what we’re really fighting.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that someone’s been playing a very long game with both our families. Someone who benefits from us destroying each other instead of working together.”

Sophie frowns. “Who?”

“I don’t know yet. But I intend to find out.”

I help Sophie to her feet, pulling her into my arms. She feels fragile against me, like she might break if I hold her too tightly.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers against my chest. “I’m so sorry for lying to you.”

“I’m sorry for asking Raff to spy on you instead of just asking you to trust me.”

“I do trust you. I trust you more than I’ve ever trusted anyone.”

“Then we’ll figure this out together.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

Sophie pulls back to look at me, and I can see some of the fear starting to fade from her eyes. “What about Uncle Enzo?”

“What about him?”

“He’s going to be expecting an answer soon. If I don’t give him one-”

“Then we’ll make sure you don’t have to.”

“How?”

“I don’t know yet. But Sophie, you’re not alone in this anymore. Whatever happens, we face it together.”

She nods, wiping away the last of her tears. “I should go. Let you and Raff figure out what to do next.”

“Are you sure? We could-”

“I’m sure. I need some air anyway.”

Sophie kisses me softly, a gesture so full of love and gratitude that it makes my chest ache.

“I’ll see you at home,” she says.

“Sophie.” I catch her hand as she starts to leave. “I love you, too.”

Her smile is the first genuine one I’ve seen from her in days. “I know.”

After she leaves, Raff and I sit in silence for several minutes, both of us processing what just happened.

“Well,” Raff says finally, “that was not what I expected.”