Page 30 of Sweet Deception

Vincenzo didn’t answer.

Salvatore was silent, his expression unreadable.

Then, in one slow movement, Vincenzo stepped out.

Gleb smiled. “Good choice.”

I felt the ground beneath me tilt.

No.

No, no, no.

“This isn’t freedom,” I choked out, my chest tightening. “This is a deal.”

Vincenzo met my gaze, his expression cold. “It’s survival.”

Matteo let out a sharp, angry breath. “Don’t do this.”

But Vincenzo had already moved past me, stopping in front of Gleb.

A long pause.

Then, without hesitation, he sank to one knee.

The breath rushed from my lungs.

Gleb reached out, placing a firm hand on his head, a silent, chilling gesture of acceptance.

Vincenzo had just pledged himself to the Krasnogorsk Bratva

I turned to Matteo, my heart breaking at the fury in his eyes.

Salvatore hadn’t moved, but his silence was deafening.

Gleb finally spoke. “Your cousin understands what it takes to survive. You should be grateful.”

Grateful.

I was going to be sick.

“You promised,” I whispered, voice shaking.

His gaze snapped to mine. “I promised you’d see them.” His lips curled into something cruel. “Not that you’d like what you saw.”

I wanted to scream. I wanted to fight. But I couldn’t.

Because this was exactly what he had intended.

To show me that even when he gave, he still took more.

A lesson. A warning.

And worst of all, proof that no matter how much I wanted to believe otherwise, the people I loved would break before he ever would.

I turned away from him, swallowing down the grief clawing at my throat.

Matteo was watching me, his eyes burning with the same unspoken words that had been on my tongue for months.