Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Please Don’t Let Him Take Me

I groaned as I started to sit up. My head was pounding, and the whole room began to spin.

I slowly stood up and walked into the bathroom as slowly as possible, recognizing the room as Giovanni’s.

I grabbed a pill from his medicine cabinet before taking it and going to lie back down.

I lay down for five minutes, letting the pill sink in, before standing up and going to look for the boys.

“Don, he doesn’t exist. We couldn’t find anything on him,” I heard a frightened Italian voice say just as I walked past a closed door, making me stop.

“You have a first and last name and you’re trying to tell me you can’t find out shit about a fucking JOHNATHAN PETROV,” I heard Giovanni yell before I heard a loud crash.

I jumped at the sound and decided to make an appearance.

I opened the door, and as soon as I stepped in guns were pointed at my head, but I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off Giovanni as I tried to make sure he wasn’t hurt.

When I was sure he wasn’t I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.

A broken flowerpot caught my eye, and I frowned as I realized I freaked out for no reason.

“Drop the guns,” I heard Alessandro say before everybody put their guns down.

“What do you want to know about him?” I asked in general as I took the seat in front of Giovanni’s desk. He looked at me curiously as he took a seat himself.

“There’s not much you’ll know, Lulu,” Alex said, giving me the same look as Giovanni.

“You’d be surprised,” I said, keeping my eyes on Giovanni.

“Tell us everything,” Dimitri said from somewhere behind me.

“Johnathan Marcus Petrov is eighteen years old. I met him through my parents who are some type of business partners with his parents.

“The reason you probably couldn’t find him is because he goes by the last name Marcus.

“When we were together, he would say little things in Russian, but it never occurred to me that he was Russian,” I said softly.

“You mean we’re right, they don’t work together anymore?” Alex asked.

“No, they said Johnathan’s actions weren’t going to reflect who his parents were,” I said, remembering the conversation my parents tried to have with me.

“What the fuck?” Alex asked. The anger was evident on his face and I took his hand in mine as I sent him a small smile.

“I never questioned him when he did anything. I never questioned why he used to give me little nicknames in Russian.

“I never questioned why every time we watched movies together and it was his turn to pick, he was set on Russian movies,” I said, taking a deep breath.

“Why not?” somebody asked from behind me.

“I wanted to be his perfect girlfriend,” I said with a sad smile as I looked at my hands in my lap. I bit my lip to hold in my tears, but that didn’t stop them from flowing.

“Lulu . . .” Alex started to say, and I could hear the frown in his voice.

“There was this one time we were watching a Russian Mafia movie and I was half-asleep, so he started to tell me all these things, but I thought he was kidding,” I said, shaking my head.

“What did he say?” Alessandro asked.

“There—there was a scene with human trafficking, and I hid my face in his chest, and he asked me why I was trying to hide.

“I told him that what was happening to the women was terrible, and it was even worse because stuff like that happened in real life. He laughed and told me to get over it.

“He said they did it to raise money. Whatever happened during the process happened,” I said, swallowing a lump that was beginning to form in my throat.

“That’s disgusting,” Alex gritted out.

“He hates his parents, so they wouldn’t be a weakness. He’s an only child and doesn’t talk to any of his family members.

“Back when we were together, he had a best friend who I know for a fact he tells everything to, so if you can find him, you’ll get more information.

“We had this pregnancy scare once where an ex of his lied about being pregnant. He was beyond happy about it, but I wasn’t going to play stepmom to his kids.

“When I told him that, he beat me for hours, screaming at me, saying a perfect girlfriend would never leave no matter what. When we found out she was lying, he was beyond pissed.

“We had a date the day we found out, and he left me stranded for hours, and when he finally showed up, he was covered in blood, but none of it was his.

“I tried to ask him about it, but instead of an answer, I just got beat again for questioning him.

“He used to tell me that Russians never lie, but he also said that I was his only weakness and he loved me,” I said softly.

“I don’t think he lied about loving you,” Alex said, clearly deep in thought.

“What?” I asked, shocked.

“Do you remember when you were in the panic room and you were trying to get into the security system?” Alex asked.

“Yeah,” I said softly.

“The password was Luna. Now, years later, he’s about to start a war—for you. I think he does love you, he just had a very screwed up way of showing it,” Alex said, looking at me sadly.

“I think he’s right. He said he knows who Giovanni is, and nobody gets bold with Giovanni like that.

“He does have a weakness, Luna, and it’s you,” Alessandro said, taking a stand next to Giovanni.

Giovanni hadn’t said a word since I stepped into the room, and he still wasn’t making a move to talk. I looked at him for the first time to see him staring angrily at his desk.

“Tell me about the best friend,” Lorenzo said, staring at me intently.

“His name is Alexi. He was the one who got me to start talking to Johnathan after our parents introduced us.

“I figured whenever we were together and in front of our parents I’d put on a show, but anywhere outside of that I didn’t know him, nor did I want to, and I made sure that was clear to him.”

“He tried to talk to me one day and I completely ignored him. Alexi saw everything that happened and came and talked to me about him.

“Anyway, he’s loyal to Johnathan and Johnathan to him, but to an extent, so if you want information out of him you need to try tricking him or using his emotions against him.

“He can be cold at times, but he has a big heart,” I said, running a hand through my hair.

“Thank you. You can go now, Luna,” Alessandro said, giving me a small smile.

I bit my lip and slowly nodded my head before getting up and walking toward the door.

“Please don’t let him take me. The last time we were together I ~stabbed~ him because he tried to kill my brother and me.

“This time he won’t try—he’ll kill me,” I whispered without turning around.

I left the room, making sure to close the door behind me before anybody could respond.