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“Not my men, actually. They worked for my father. They weren’t good people. Expendable to me. Finally, one of them came back, bloody and beaten, and gave me a warning: keep trying to get to you, and it would lead to an all-out war. It was the confirmation that they knew it was me and my men. So I stopped.”

“Why did you have your men try to kidnap me all those times?”

“They weren't trying to kidnap you,” he scoffs. “They were following you, trying to get your DNA so I could test it to see if my theory that you were my sister was correct. Not something that was easy to do with those brothers always watching."

“So if you didn’t get any DNA, how would you know if I’m your sister? This is all stupid. And sounds like you're grasping at straws. I just can’t wrap my head around why you’re making all this up. It’s a little elaborate and unnecessary, if you ask me.”

“I did get your DNA. The night of your accident, my men were following you. By the time they caught up, all that was there was your truck, abandoned on the side of the road. With your blood on the steering wheel. They brought it back to me, and I did the test. It confirmed you are my sister. That's when it went from a possibility of using you as leverage if needed, to a sense of obligation to help out the woman who showed me nothing but kindness and love as a child. Her daughter was in danger, and the least I could do was save her. Plus, you’re my sister. You’re family. It’s the right thing to do.”

“You’re lying!” I shout, anger rising. “Why are you saying all this shit? You took me as leverage to get back at the guys, to use me for some fucked up game of tug-of-war. So don’t go spewing all this bullshit.”

His brows furrow. “I saved you.”

“I didn’t need saving!” I shout, scrambling to get out of the bed. That’s when I noticed I’m still in my dress from the party. Thank fuck no one tried to change me. If so, I’d be committing my first murder. I might be doing that here in a moment if this fucking asshole doesn’t shut up.

“You were kidnapped!” he shouts.

“I guess that’s a fucking common theme in my life!” I snarl. “Look, you have no idea about anything. I didn’t need saving. Sure, maybe they did kidnap me in the first place, but that’s in the past. The fact is, I’m in a relationship with them. I am theirs. I love them, and I’m spending the rest of my life with them. So, I didn’t need any fucking saving!”

He blinks at me, a blank, emotionless look on his face.

“You weren’t in any danger?” he asks.

“No. The only danger I thought I was in was because of you and your men. The men my guys kept killing to protect me.”

“You didn’t want to be saved...” he trails off.

“Nope. All you did was piss off three bloodthirsty men who would burn the world down for me. Oh, and they probably know that I’m pregnant by now, so that is just going to add to their bloodlust.”

“You’re pregnant?” His face pales.

“Yup.”

“Fuck. Fuck!” He starts to pace, looking stressed as fuck. Join the club, buddy. “I thought I was helping.”

“I get that. I really do. But you just made everything so much worse.”

“Dammit,” he groans. “This is what I get for trying to do the right thing. I didn’t ask for a sister. I didn’t want one.”

“Good, because I’m not your sister.”

“You are!” He swings to face me. “Do you think I’d do all this for some bullshit lie?” He shoves his hand into his pocket and pulls out a piece of paper. “Here’s the DNA test.”

I take the piece of paper and look it over. My brows furrow. “This could be faked.”

“It’s not,” he growls. “Stupid, stupid, stupid.” He scrubs his face with his hands.

“You know, you could just let me go now. I’ll tell them this was a big misunderstanding and we can reinstate the truce. What do you say?”

If what he’s saying is true, I’m not in the right mindset to unpack all of that. Right now, I just want to go home to my guys, to tell them the good news, and move on with my life.

A big brother is the last thing I want right now. Especially a brother who is the leader of the fucking Italian mafia.

Rafe opens his mouth to say something when we suddenly hear the sound of gunshots just outside my window.

“Uh... might be too late for that, actually.”

Rafe runs over to the window and curses. “Fuck.”