Page 24 of Plus-Size Bratva Possession (Vadim Bratva #12)

She was hiding something and not giving me an answer. She stood there frozen as I held the folder in my hands, and I knew that whatever this was, she was trying to keep it from me.

“Elena,” I asked again. “Tell me what this is.”

“I…Gastone… look,” she sighed and motioned at the bed. “Can we just sit and talk about this?”

I didn’t want to sit. It was one of those moments, where every life experience accumulated to tell me whatever she wanted to say wouldn’t be good.

Without answering her, I opened the envelope and pulled out the documents.

What I saw had me floored.

My breath hitched in my throat, my eyes widened, my hands shook.

“What the hell am I looking at?” My voice came out furious. There were police reports and bank statements, and information I didn’t know what to do with.

The knot in my stomach tightened as I started to read. “What the fuck is this?”

Elena inhaled, almost like she was scared, and I looked up for just enough time to see how sorry she looked. Like she had been caught in an act she shouldn’t have been in.

She stepped towards me, her hands outstretched, but I shifted back and started shuffling through the pages again. I did not want her to touch me.

“Gastone, please, let me explain—”

“Oh yeah?” I waved the police report at her. “Explain why you’re trying to ruin my life, go ahead, will you? What are you trying to do here, Elena? Is your family so damn important that you’ll play with Adriana’s life? Her truth?”

“No! I swear it’s not like that!” she said with desperation. “Federico did some digging.” Her lower lip trembled. “He wanted to help find out what really happened to Adriana.”

The papers in front of me made no sense. Who the fuck were these witnesses that claimed to have known about Adriana being with another man? I had never heard of them and knew mostly everyone in Adriana’s life. Anyone who should have known something wasn’t even on this list.

My head pounded and I felt dizzy. None of this was true. None of it could be. These medical records stating another as the father’s name could have easily been doctored.

“This is bullshit,” I spat out, throwing the papers onto the bed, not bothering to go through them in their entirety.

“It's not bullshit,” Elena said quietly. “Federico looked into the journalist who covered Adriana’s murder, who hinted at my family being behind it. Guess what? The guy was murdered the day after it was published.”

“So? Your brothers could have had him killed. You know what? Perhaps they did, so he wouldn’t publish any further.”

“No, it’s not like that.” Elena shook her head. “He was paid to frame us. He was fired for that article because his editor realized he had no evidence against my family. He sacrificed his whole career to print those accusations.”

I stared at her, unable to process what she was saying. “Why would anyone pay him to frame your family for my fiancé’s death? Talk sense, will you?”

Elena furrowed her brows. “I know. I was thinking the same thing. Why my family? Why not anyone else? Why not let it be an anonymous murder? But that’s the thing, Gastone.

Adriana was killed as revenge against you.

Her lover hated you because she didn’t want to leave you.

He must have thought my family was powerful enough to destroy you when you struck against them.

So, her lover hired the journalist. He wanted to ruin you!

He wanted to take everything from you, including Adriana. ”

I hated hearing what she was saying. Those ugly words on her mouth, distorting Adriana’s truth. Hated it. Hated her. I knew Adriana. She never had a lover. That baby was mine.

“Shut up,” I snarled. “Don't you dare talk about her like that.”

“I'm sorry,” she whispered. “I'm so sorry. But it's the truth. The police learned about the affair. They investigated her ex-lover, but he disappeared. He's the one who killed her, Gastone.”

I shook my head violently. “No. No, that's not possible. Adriana wouldn't—she loved me. You hear me? She loved me !”

“The police reports say different.” Elena's eyes filled with tears. “There's a photo, Gastone. Of her with him. And the medical records—”

“ Enough !” I roared, raising a hand in the air, motioning at her to just stop talking. “This is garbage. You and your fucking family cooked this up to get me off your backs. To make me doubt myself.”

Elena's face hardened. “Why would I do that? Why would I hurt you like this?”

“To protect your brothers,” I spat. “They’ll always come first for you and you know it.”

“That's not true and you know it.” She stepped closer, her eyes flashing with anger now. “I was going to show you eventually, but didn’t want to hurt you. I know how much this sucks, but please, just listen to what I have to say. That photo—”

I screamed at her. “I don’t care about no damned photo. Everything in there is concocted, and you’re talking to me about living a lie?”

“Yes!” she said vehemently. “Because, despite how we started, I've never lied to you. Not once. Can you say the same? For the longest time, you let me believe all of this was because my brother took your sister. What was that? The truth?”

I snarled, not willing to listen to reason. “You expect me to believe you can just erase Adriana’s memory like that? You think that just because she’s gone, you can convince me she was fucking someone else behind my back?” My voice cracked on the last word.

“No, of course not,” Elena cried out. “I would never!”

“You weren’t there! You didn’t see how Adriana and I were! You know nothing . She loved me. Only me! As I did her!”

“I'm trying to help you; can’t you try to just hear me out?” She threw her hands up in frustration. “God, you don't even want justice, do you? You just want to be right! You're so in love with your narrative, with hating my family, that you can't even consider you might be wrong!”

Her words struck home, but I was too far gone in my anger to admit it.

“You don't know what the fuck you're talking about,” I growled. “You don't know what it was like to cradle her dead body, my dead baby, to lose everything in one fucking afternoon!”

“And you don't know what it's like to be taken from your family, forced to marry a man who hates everything about you, only to find yourself falling—” She stopped abruptly, her face flushing. I didn’t even care what she had to say. I was so furious.

She shook her head, tears finally spilling over. “It doesn't matter. Nothing I say matters to you. You've already decided what you believe.”

I stared at her, unable to comprehend why she wouldn’t just admit that this couldn’t be true.

“I trusted you,” I said quietly, the words like acid in my mouth. “I thought that you and I... that we were...”

“We were,” she said, her voice breaking. “We are. But this,” she gestured to the papers on the bed, “this is bigger than you and me. This is the truth, Gastone. What you do with it is up to you.”

I backed away from her, suddenly needing to be anywhere but here. The walls were closing in, and I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think.

“I need to get out of here,” I muttered, already turning toward the door.

“Gastone, wait—”

But I was already gone, slamming the door behind me, needing distance, needing air, needing something to dull the roaring in my head.

***

The first night, I drank myself blind at some dive bar downtown.

It reminded me of the places I used to frequent before Elena came into my life, before I started coming home to her, looking forward to seeing her.

The whiskey burned down my throat, and I welcomed the sensation, draining glass after glass until the bartender cut me off and called me a cab.

I didn't go home that night. The truth was, I didn’t want to be around Elena because being around her meant one of two things. We would have fought, or she would have tried to convince me of something I couldn’t believe.

I checked into a hotel instead and passed out drunk. When I woke up the next morning, I thought of Adriana. Then, Elena. Adriana. Elena. Adriana. Elena.

I was such a fucking mess that I blew off work that day. I drank again, drank myself stupid, because when I was drunk, I didn’t have to think.

Had it all been a lie?

The third morning, I forced myself to go to work, though I wasn’t of much use to anyone. At night, I drank until I couldn't see straight, then passed out in the same hotel room, my phone off, ignoring the world.

I thought about Elena constantly. I hated that I missed her. I hated that she would lie for her family.

The next day at work, I was surprised to see Carlo and Dino waiting with somber expressions at my office.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked, pausing at the door.

“You look like shit.” Dino gave me a once-over.

“Fuck off,” I growled, walking over to my chair. “Tell me why you’re here.”

Carlo and Dino exchanged cautious looks. “Elena called,” Carlo said at last. “Why haven't you been home in days?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said, and motioned at the door. But of course, none of them left.

“You're scaring everyone, brother, including Larissa. She’s been worried sick,” Dino said softly.

“Tell Larissa I’m fine,” I said.

But my brothers refused to leave, forcing an answer out of me.

“Elena had some papers,” I said finally when they badgered me for fifteen minutes straight. “About Adriana.”

Carlo leaned forward, suddenly intent. “What kind of papers?”

And then, it all came out. About how she told the Lebedevs we thought they killed Adriana, and they started digging into a newspaper article on her murder, what I found in Larissa’s drawers. I didn’t hold back because the truth was, I felt utterly alone, and they were all I had left.

By the time I was done speaking, they were both looking shell-shocked.

“Shit.” Carlo’s eyes widened.

I nodded.

“You never told us all this was going on,” Dino commented. “That Larissa told the Lebedevs our suspicions.”

“I wanted to protect you… If things got ugly.”

“So, this whole time, your anger towards them…it was never about Gio taking Larissa, was it?” Carlo asked. “It had always been about Larissa.”

I shook my head. “It wasn’t.”

“So, do you believe Elena?” Dino asked carefully.

I looked him dead in the eye. “Of course not. You knew Adriana. She would never have done such a thing. I will not allow her reputation to be tarnished, now that she’s gone. It's obviously something Elena’s family cooked up to protect themselves.”

There was a tense, momentary silence in the air.

“Gastone,” Dino said, nearly in a whisper. “Sometimes we don’t know people the way we should.”

“What are you saying?” I hissed at Dino.

“What Dino’s trying to ask is,” Carlo shot our brother a warning glare. “Could Elena have presented a truth you’re too afraid to face?”

I slammed my fist on the desk. “Not you too. Jesus Christ, whose side are you on?”

“Yours,” Dino said firmly. “Always yours. But brother, you need to ask yourself something. Why would Federico make such an effort to dig into your accusations? He could have easily said they didn’t do it, and Elena would have believed them. He’s her brother, for God's sake.”

Elena’s words came back to me. Something about how I didn’t truly want justice when she tried telling me something about a photo. My guilt must have shown in my face, for Carlo sat straighter.

“You didn't even listen to her properly, did you?” he asked.

“She didn’t come to me to talk. I found the envelope. There was nothing to listen to!” I defended myself.

“Maybe she was trying to figure out how to tell you,” Dino suggested. “It's not exactly easy news to deliver to someone, you know?”

“No, no, it’s not,” I said, reluctantly.

“Think about it, Gastone,” Carlo urged. “She was waiting. She kept the evidence. If her aim was to stop you from thinking her family did it, she would have come to you as soon as she had all that information at hand. Fake, or not. She held back because she knew how much it could hurt you. She wasn’t thinking of herself now, was she? ”

My head was spinning. I hadn't considered it that way.

“That took courage,” Carlo said quietly. “And care. She carried that burden. It must have been for something, don’t you think? She was shouldering your pain.”

I found myself at a loss for words. What if they were right? What if Elena had been trying to help me, not hurt me?

“Fuck,” I muttered, dropping my head into my hands. “I've been an idiot, haven't I?”

“A colossal one,” Dino confirmed, in a way only a brother could, without judgment.

“What do I do now?” I asked, feeling suddenly lost.

“Go home,” Carlo said simply. “Talk to her. Really talk to her, not yell at her.”

I nodded, knowing they were right. I needed to face this situation head-on. Everything would have felt like a lie until I got to the truth. And no matter how painful the truth might be for me to bear, I knew Elena deserved to be heard.

“Thanks,” I said gruffly, gathering my things to head home.

My brothers nodded, and Dino clapped me on the shoulder as I passed. “Good luck, brother. Don't screw it up this time.”

—

When I got home, there was no sign of Elena anywhere. I checked her room, the living room, and the kitchen. When I realized she wasn’t in for sure, I hunted down Dom, who was working in the smaller office.

“Hey, Dom?” I popped in my head through the door. “You seen Elena anywhere?”

He swiveled his chair to face me. “She left, boss. Yesterday afternoon.”

My heart sank. “Left? Where did she go?”

“Back to her family,” Dom said. “She said something about spending a few nights there. Nothing more. I thought you knew. She told me she’d informed you already.”

The words hit me like a physical blow. She was gone. I'd driven her away with my anger, my refusal to listen. My stubborn insistence on clinging to a narrative that might have been false all along.

My hands went numb, and suddenly, I didn’t know what to do without her.

“Oh yes, that’s fine,” I told Dom, just because I didn’t want to talk about what happened, lest he ask. Nothing, however, was fine.

Everything had gone up in flames.