Chapter 10 #2
My father had kept my mother in the dark.
She'd known nothing about the Bratva. Nothing about the dangers.
When things had gone bad, when the violence had come too close, she'd had no tools to protect herself.
She'd just run. But Giulia wasn't running.
She was here. Studying. Learning. Trying to understand something I'd deliberately hidden from her.
"What do you want to know?" I asked.
"Everything." She gestured to the papers. "But start with the leak. What exactly happened?"
I shouldn't tell her. I should keep her separate from this mess. But she was asking intelligent questions and looking at me like I was a person instead of a monster.
So, I told her. About the ambush in Red Hook. About Ionescu. About the pattern of leaks that coincided with Italian presence. She listened without interrupting. When I finished, she was quiet for a long moment.
"It's not Papa," she said finally. "Papa would never betray an alliance he sanctioned. It would destroy his reputation and make him look weak."
"I know."
"And it's not my mother or my uncles. They're too loyal to Papa, and Mamma barely knows anything about the business."
"Which leaves Geraldo."
"Or someone following Geraldo." She picked up the organizational chart again. "You said the leaks started after the wedding?"
"Around then. Maybe a few days before."
"When the engagement was announced." She tapped the paper. "Geraldo made his feelings clear from the beginning. He opposed the alliance publicly and got punished for it. What if someone is using his anger? Feeding him information knowing he'll leak it?"
I hadn't considered that angle. That Geraldo might be a tool instead of the architect.
"You think he's being manipulated?"
"I think he's young and angry and hurting. That makes him easy to use." She looked up at me. "Have you checked his finances? His phone records? Who he's been talking to?"
"Not yet. Giuseppe would see that as an invasion of his family."
"Papa would rather find the truth than protect a traitor." She said it with certainty. "And if it is Geraldo, my father will hand him over to you himself."
The loyalty in her voice. The absolute faith that Giuseppe would do the right thing even if it cost him. I'd married into a family that valued honor over blood. That actually meant something in this world.
"You really believe that? That your father would choose the alliance over his nephew?"
"I believe Papa understands what's at stake." She met my eyes. "The question is whether you understand. Whether you're willing to trust the alliance enough to work with my family instead of against them."
Trust. That fucking word again.
"Trust gets you killed in my world."
"So does paranoia." She moved closer. Close enough that I could see the gold flecks in her dark eyes. "You can't run the Bratva alone, Dimitri. You need allies. People you can rely on. And if you can't trust the family you married into, then what was the point of any of this?"
What was the point. Good question. I'd told myself it was about power.
About securing resources and expanding territory.
About survival. But standing here with Giulia looking at me like I was someone worth reasoning with instead of someone to fear.
.. Maybe the point was having someone smart enough to see the patterns I missed.
Someone who understood loyalty and honor in ways my world had forgotten.
Maybe the point was her.
"I need to verify a few things," I said. "But if you're right about Geraldo being manipulated, I'll need your father's help to prove it."
"So, talk to him. Stop treating my family like the enemy and start treating them like partners."
"It's not that simple."
"Yes, it is." Her hand touched my arm, light and tentative. "You're making it complicated because you don't know how to trust people. Because your father taught you that everyone is a potential threat."
How did she know that? How could she see through me so easily?
"My father taught me to survive."
"Your father got himself killed because he couldn't tell the difference between strength and cruelty.
" Her voice was soft but firm. "You're better than he was.
I've seen it. That night in the penthouse, the way you were gentle when you could have been rough.
The way you made sure I was okay even when you were scared. "
"I wasn't scared."
"You were terrified." She smiled slightly. "Of feeling something, of wanting me. Of this becoming real instead of just political."
She saw too much. Knew too much. How was I supposed to keep my distance when she could read me like one of her history books?
"This conversation isn't about us."
"Everything is about us." She pulled her hand back. "You asked me if I knew anything about the leak. I don't. But I know my family. And I know you're going to destroy this alliance if you keep assuming the worst about everyone."
She was right. Again.
I needed to stop treating Giuseppe like an adversary and start treating him like what he was. Family. Complicated, frustrating, occasionally terrifying family, but family nonetheless.
"I'll talk to your father," I said. "Work with him to figure out what's happening."
"Good." She moved back to her chair and picked up her journal. "Now get out of my house."
"Your house?"
"You gave it to me. That makes it mine." She sat down and opened the journal, dismissing me like I was a servant instead of the Pakhan. "I have studying to do. Margaret will show you out."
I should have been angry, reminded her who she was talking to. Instead, I almost smiled. This version of Giulia, sharp-tongued and confident and refusing to be intimidated, I liked her. That was dangerous. But I couldn't seem to help it.
"Giulia."
She looked up.
"The information you're studying, the organizational charts and personnel files, be careful with them."
"I'm not going to leak your secrets, Dimitri."
"I know. But knowing too much makes you a target. If anyone finds out you have this kind of access..."
"Then you'll protect me." She said it simply, like it was a fact instead of a hope. "That's what husbands do, right?"
I didn't have an answer to that. I'd spent a week keeping her at a distance.
Telling myself it was for her protection.
Convincing myself that separation kept her safe.
But she was right. Ignorance didn't protect her.
It just made her vulnerable. If I really wanted to keep her safe, I needed to give her the tools to survive in this world.
The knowledge. The connections. The understanding of how everything worked.
I needed to actually be her husband instead of just her jailer.
"I'll send Maxim by," I said. "He can answer questions about the personnel. Give you context I can't."
"Thank you."
I turned to leave and then stopped. There was something else I needed to say. Something that had been sitting heavy in my chest since I'd sent her away.
"I'm sorry," I said without turning around. "For how I handled things after the wedding. For sending you here without explanation. For making you feel like you were being punished."
Silence behind me, then… "Are you going to do anything differently?"
Was I? Could I?
"I don't know," I admitted. "But I'm trying to figure it out."
"That's more honesty than I expected." Her voice was softer now, less sharp. "It's a start."
I left before I could say something stupid. Something that would make this more complicated than it already was. Margaret waited in the hallway with my coat and an expression that suggested she'd heard every word.
"She's stronger than you think," Margaret said quietly as she handed me my coat.
"I'm starting to realize that."
"And she's lonely. Whatever you're protecting her from, it's costing her."
I knew that. I'd seen it on the security feeds. But hearing it from someone else made it more real.
"I'll work on it."
"See that you do, Mr. Morozov. She's a good girl. She deserves better than being locked away like a secret."
The drive back to Manhattan was quiet. I sat in the back of the car and replayed the conversation.
The way Giulia had stood up to me. The intelligence behind her questions.
The way she'd cut through my bullshit and forced me to see things differently.
She'd given me a new angle on the investigation.
A possibility I hadn't considered. If Geraldo was being used, that changed everything.
My phone buzzed. Maxim.
"We need to meet. I found something."
"What?"
"Not over the phone. Come to the club."
I redirected the driver. Whatever Maxim had found, it was big enough to require privacy.
But as we crossed back into the city, my mind kept drifting to Silverleaf.
To that library where Giulia sat surrounded by my secrets, learning my world, and trying to find her place in it.
Maybe I'd been wrong to keep her away. Maybe isolation wasn't protection.
Maybe the only way to keep her safe was to bring her closer.
Teach her how to survive. Trust her with the truth instead of hiding behind convenient lies.
It would be risky. She'd see things she couldn't unsee.
Know things that would make her a target.
But she'd also be prepared. Armed with knowledge instead of vulnerable in ignorance.
My phone buzzed again. A text from an unknown number.
This is Giulia. Maxim gave me your number. Thank you for the apology. And for trusting me with the information. I won't let you down.
I stared at the message for a long moment, then replied.
I know you won't.
I sent it and immediately felt like an idiot. Three words. That's all I could manage.
But her response came quickly.
When you figure out what you want from this marriage, let me know. Until then, I'll be here. Learning. Waiting. Trying not to hate you.
The last line hit harder than it should have. She was trying not to hate me. Which meant part of her already did. I couldn't blame her. But maybe, eventually, if I stopped being a coward about this, thenmaybe I could give her a reason not to.