Warm My Bed, Brother-in-law Chapter 10: Chapter 10: A Petrov Doll.

Read chapter 10 of Warm My Bed, Brother-in-law by PayalSinghRajput on NovelPedia.

ELENA - POV. My left cheek throbbed from the slap. The hit made me stumble back into the boardroom. My hand flew to my aching cheek, and I tasted blood and tasted blood in my mouth. I stood frozen as tears filled my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. "Elena!" Lev’s voice bellowed from the hallway. The next second, a furious Lev appeared in the doorway with a gun in his hand and aimed it straight at the person who had struck me. "Lev, no! Lower the gun!" I choked out. The words caught in my throat. I raised my free hand to stop him, struggling to keep it steady. Standing in the doorway, completely unbothered by the barrel of Lev's gun pointed at her chest, was Letizia Vitale. My mother-in-law looked perfectly put together despite the dark circles under her eyes. She wore a tailored coat, and her silver-streaked hair was neatly pinned back. She didn't look like someone who had just slapped me. She looked calm and completely certain of herself. "Go ahead, boy. Shoot me," Letizia said, her voice dropping into a cold rasp as she stared down Lev without blinking. "Kill the matriarch of the family inside her own home. See how far you and your cousin make it down the driveway." "Lev, stand down. That is an order," I repeated, my voice cracking as a tear finally spilt over my eyelashes and ran down my burning cheek. Lev's gun remained steady, but I stepped right in between, shielding the older woman. I didn't do it just because killing Nikolai’s wife would start a war we couldn't win. I did it because she was Richard's mother. She was an elder, the matriarch, and despite the burning pain in my cheek, I respected her position. I respected her grief. Lev’s jaw clenched so hard a muscle jumped in his cheek, but slowly, he lowered his weapon, but he didn't holster it, keeping it flush against his thigh. Letizia turned her full attention back to me, her eyes cold with hatred. "Look at you," she whispered, her voice breaking as tears smeared her perfect makeup. "My son is lying in a hospital bed, fighting for his life. And where are you, Elena? You are sitting in his chair, and taking his empire before we even know if he will open his eyes again." The truth in her words was hard to ignore. I felt ashamed the moment they left her mouth. Richard is lying in the ICU room surrounded by wires. He was fighting to breathe, and here I was playing politics, bargaining with captains, and letting his brother press his body against mine just minutes ago. I felt dirty. I felt like a monster. I felt like a traitor. But I couldn't let Lev pull that trigger. Letizia is the mother of the man I had promised to honor. More than that, if Lev killed her here, my father and I would be slaughtered before we reached the gates. "Mother, it’s not like that," I tried to speak, but a stray tear escaped from my eyes once again, "The empire needed—" "Do not call me mother," she snapped, taking a step forward into the room. "You never loved him. You were a transaction. A silent Petrov doll was shipped from St. Petersburg to keep the peace. I warned Richard about you from the very beginning. I told him your family would eventually bleed us dry, and look at what happened. He is broken, and you are playing the queen." I bit my inner lip to keep from sobbing out loud. Every word she said crushed me. I wanted to scream that she was wrong, that I did love Richard, and that I was trying to save what he built, but the words died in my throat. I looked down at the floor, unable to meet her gaze as my chest heaved with suppressed cries. Letizia looked past me at Damian. He had rushed over the moment I stumbled back into the room and was now standing still beside me. "And you," Letizia spat, looking at her younger son with pure disgust. "The disappointment who walked away from his bloodline. You couldn't even wait for your brother's heart to stop beating before you crawled out of your filthy clubs to circle his wife. You are disgusting, Damian. Both of you." Hearing her