Page 156 of Cruel Romeo

Lev’s lips press into a thin line. Finally, he lets out a bitter laugh, but that too dies fast. “Fuck. You don’t make it easy, do you?”

“You’ve known me for a decade. You should know I never make it easy.”

“Right,” he mutters with a half-smile. “Shouldn’t have forgotten that.”

He shifts in the driver’s seat. His fingers drum against the wheel, faster with every second. But his gaze stays locked on the black water ahead.

“I never set out to betray you, Petyr. Never. I just… Got in over my head.”

His words reek of excuses. I swallow the urge to vomit. “Over your head with what?”

“Gambling.” He sounds ashamed as he says it. “Cards, dice, whatever I could get my hands on. Every time, I thought I could win it all back. But…” he trails off.

“But you didn’t.”

He nods once. “By the time I realized how deep I was, I was drowning.”

I settle back, jaw locked. Lev, of all people, turned on me for fuckingmoney. If anyone had told me this, I would have put their head on a spike.

But someone did tell you,that ugly part of me whispers.Sima did.

And how did you repay her?

I shake off that thought hard. Right now, I can’t afford to get distracted. I need to focus on what matters.

“How much?”

Lev’s lips twitch downwards. “Half a mil. Not impossible to pay back, but the people I got into bed with weren’t keen on waiting. If I didn’t pay up, they’d have sold me for parts.”

My fists curl on my thighs. A half-million—that’s nothing to me. Men like us make ten times that with a single delivery.

But if Lev was deep into debt already and kept overspending, then even that sum could become a problem.

He could have come to me.Why didn’t he just fucking come to me?

“Anatoli found out,” he continues. “Paid it all off. Said all he needed in return was a name.”

“A name,” I echo.

“Yes. Just one. One of our weapons suppliers.”

Fucking figures.So that’s who sold out our shipment to the Italians. He told the Danilos where to intercept it, how to grab it and disappear.

I’ve been looking for a leak, but all along, the rat was right by my fucking side.

“I thought that would be the end of it.” Lev sounds more panicked now, less in control. “One piece of intel, and I’d walk away clean. Figured it wouldn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things. No real harm done.”

Except for the driver I killed,I think angrily.

“But then Anatoli came back. Again and again. Every time, he wanted something more. If I didn’t give him what he asked, he was going to tell you what I’d done.” Lev’s tone turns pleading. “I was trapped, Petyr. The more I gave him, the deeper he dragged me. I couldn’t go back anymore. I just couldn’t.”

I study him in the dash light. His cheeks are pale, his voice raw, but I can’t tell if it’s guilt or fear that has him by the throat. Maybe both.

“By the time I realized how much trouble I was in, it was already too late.” He looks at me, finally, eyes hollow and desperate. “You have to believe me. I never meant for any of this to happen.”

“Any of what?”

“Everything.”