Chapter 28 Mauro
Chapter twenty-eight
Mauro
For years, I had buried the secret of that day between Alina and me in vain.
I had tried and failed to make the memory vanish into the dark abyss because it only ever brought me shame.
It didn’t care about the pain it inflicted upon me every time it played out before me like a movie I couldn’t turn off.
It was the darkest hour of my life.
A time when I felt I had lost everything.
Forgetting all the good that surrounded me.
I was consumed by guilt for the last words I lashed out at my father. I was trapped in my head, unable to scream into the universe without the scathing pain that reminded me of all I had lost.
So, I ran.
Through the woods and past the lake.
I didn’t stop.
Not until I heard her voice.
“Stop!”
Her beautiful eyes, coated in fear, locked onto mine.
And without thinking, I dropped to my knees.
My head hung low as tears trailed down my cheeks.
An unbearable ache filled my chest.
And then… She hugged me.
It was the first time in my life that the world didn’t feel so dark. The first time in a long time, I could breathe freely. And the first time, my heart beat for another.
However, all this time, I never stopped to think why she was there. I just assumed she happened to be in the right place at the right time, preventing me from making the biggest mistake of my life. And it pains me to know how much she was hurting.
That if fate hadn’t intersected our paths that day…well, who knows what would have happened.
But it’s not something I want to dwell on.
Because a world without Alina in it is not one I ever want to live in. So even though I can’t change the past, I can alter the future. Giving her a life filled with love. Every day. Until my last breath.
“I need to talk to you.”
I shake away my thoughts as I lower my fist, watching as Alex jumps into the ring with a thick stack of papers clenched between his fingers. “Everyone out,” he barks, his voice cutting through the noise of the gym. “Now.”
The men don’t hesitate as they drop everything and leave. I jerk my chin at the guard I’m sparring with, and he immediately slips between the ropes, clearing the space without a word.
I reach for my water bottle, tilting it back and draining half of it in one go. Sweat drips down my spine as I swipe my forearm across my temple, my pulse still pounding from the fight. My eyes never leave Alex as he approaches.
He drags a hand through his hair, pacing once before stopping in front of me. Whatever he’s holding has rattled him. Badly.
“I found out who runs the Alaskan port,” he says at last, his voice clipped, almost too steady. Then his jaw tightens. “It wasn’t easy. And there was a whole trail of paperwork to follow, but I found it.” He exhales sharply. “Unfortunately, it’s not good news.”
The words settle heavily in my chest.
He holds the papers out to me, but something deep in my gut twists in warning. Every instinct I have tells me not to take them. Not to look. That once I read what’s written there, nothing will be the same. That whatever is on those pages is about to cause more damage than good.
With reluctant fingers, I take them, already bracing for the damage they’re about to do.
My eyes skim the front page, the last will and testament of Anya Vasiliev. I glance up, raising a brow.
“Flip to page seven,” he says, his voice tight, uneven.
I turn the page, scanning, until something stops me cold. A single name.
Alina Fowler.
Why the hell is her name in here?
To my daughter, Alina Fowler, I leave you Port Clarence, which has been passed down in our family for generations, on one condition: to become the rightful heir, you must be of legal age and marry for sixty days.
Until that time, your father, Gregory Fowler, will be the sole executor in charge of all operations.
I stare at the words, unable to look away. My pulse thunders in my ears. My stomach twists painfully as I reread it.
It can’t be. It can’t mean what I think it means.
As if reading my mind, Alex tells me, “She’s a Vasiliev. She’s one of them. And we had no idea.”
The words hit me like a physical blow.
She’s a Vasiliev.
Everything shifts.
I curl the papers between my fingers, the thin pages crumpling as a fury unlike anything I’ve ever known coils inside my chest, vicious and consuming. It feels like a storm tearing through me, ripping away everything I thought I knew.
“I’m going to assume she married you to inherit the land and then plans on signing it over to her brothers.
” He adjusts his glasses, his gaze dropping to the floor.
“I’m sorry, Mauro. I know what she means to you.
” He exhales, shaking his head. “I never would’ve believed she’d do something like this.
She grew up here. She was always one of—” He glances up, and he must see something on my face that makes him stop speaking mid-sentence.
I spin on my heels and grip the top rope, my knuckles tightening so hard they shake with rage.
She used me.
She used me to help our enemy.
She lied to me.
She married me so she could give her brothers exactly what they’ve wanted.
I shake my head.
After everything that’s happened between us.
After everything we’ve shared.
After last night…
Was it all a lie?
A sharp, blinding pain tears through my chest, stealing the air from my lungs. A raw sound rips out of me before I can stop it, rough and broken, echoing through the empty gym.
Silence follows, filling the space around us. It presses in from all sides as my mind searches for a plausible explanation it can’t find. Something that makes this betrayal make sense. Something that doesn’t leave me shattered beyond repair.
My head drops, a harsh breath leaving me as the weight of it all finally settles.
It really was all pretend. None of it was real.
“Where is she now?”
I face him. Out to dinner with Madeleine and Scarlett.
Alex pulls his phone from his pocket and presses it to his ear.
“Madeleine, where are you?” He nods, pacing once.
“And it’s all three of you there? Alright.
No, nothing’s wrong. I’m on my way now. Stay put.
” He ends the call and slips the phone back into his pocket.
“They’re in the city. At a wine bar. Rouge ou Blanc.
” Taking a step closer to me, he places his hand on my shoulder. “How do you want to handle this?”
I’ll talk to her.
“Okay,” he responds, studying my face. “But I’m coming with you.”
I don’t expect you to.
“I know.” Worry washes over his eyes. “But I’m your brother. Whatever happens next, you don’t face it alone.” He pauses, then adds quietly, “You know we’re going to have to inform Vin.”
I sigh. He’s right. Let me talk to her first.
He nods. “I’ll wait by the car when you’re ready.” He gives my shoulder a final squeeze before turning away, ducking between the ropes, and disappearing from the gym.
The door shuts behind him, leaving the space unnervingly silent.
I lift my gaze to the mirror across the room.
And the longer I stare at my reflection, the more the truth becomes apparent.
I was never meant to have a happily ever after.