Page 18 of Dangerous Games of Trust
My eyes narrow in on him. “What’s yours? This is kind of insane,” I throw right back at him. He has to know how this looks. Crazy, messed up, psychotic. All the things.
“I asked you first,” he demands, making it clear he’s not fucking around anymore. He’s jealous as hell about myrelationship with the boys. Serves him right for watching us together. He got more than he bargained for there.
My teeth sink into my bottom lip as I look him over. “I’m not obsessed with them. Like you.” I roll my eyes, flicking my attention back to the screen. His hand comes to my chin, forcing me to look right at him, his eyes boring into me with a scary intensity. “I just…” I brush a strand of hair behind my ear, feeling self-conscious under his scrutiny.
“You fell for them.” Disgust drips off his every word.
It makes me feel guilty, even though I know I have nothing to feel remorseful for. The person who lied to me for six months was him, our entire relationship we had was built on falsehoods. He can’t hold this against me, when we both know whatever chemistry we had was him trying to earn my trust so he could get access to my papa’s businesses. I swallow the lump in my throat, wanting to find the words to stick up for myself and maybe explain my behavior.
“In their own way, they were trying to protect me,” I whisper, losing my edge under his scrutiny.
“By getting you shot, chaining you up, forcing you into a marriage you didn’t want so the family can control you and steal your family’s businesses. That doesn’t sound like protection to me.”
“I said in their own way.” I stare him down, knowing he’s right, but also, I know what I felt when I was with them. They do care about me. He’s no fucking better. “Sometimes things aren’t as simple as they seem. You know that as well as I do. Look who used me to get access to my family’s businesses. Don’t try to pretend what happened between us wasn’t a ploy.” I glance at the screen, watching the three of them in the living room. I wonder what they’re talking about. An ache in my chest forms when I think about the last time I saw Ricky and Alessandro. I was so angry with them both. I’m still so angry with them both.
“You want to hear what they’re saying?” he offers, a cunning look in his eyes.
I bite into my lip, considering what he’s asking me. If I do, that makes me just as bad as him. A voyeur. But I’m dying to know. Even more than that, I miss them. I nod. He passes me the headphones. Their voices fill my ears, making my heart race a little faster. I miss them like crazy.
Ricky sits on the kitchen counter drinking from a tumbler. “We’re running out of time, Alex. Enzo’s furious Marco’s disappeared. He knows he had something to do with Harley escaping, and he wants us all to pay.”
Alessandro looks up from his spot on the couch, a shadow of the man I know. He looks like he hasn’t shaved or showered or eaten since I saw him last. Instead of his usual sharp suit, he’s in a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt.
Maddox is leaning against the kitchen counter next to Ricky, his arms crossed. “I’m booked on a plane for Italy for the end of the week because he won’t take fucking no for an answer. Ricky’s going to be forced to marry Elisa D’Amico if you don’t fucking fix this shit. Is that what you want, both of us gone?”
Alessandro runs a hand through his long hair. His handsome face is tight with rage, and there is also a dusting of unkept stubble peppering his jaw. “You think this is what I fucking want? You think I have any fucking choice. This is all her fucking fault. If she stayed and went through with the wedding, none of us would be in this position. I would have the fucking power to fix this fucking mess,” he growls out, every sentence getting more aggressive. He’s a man on the edge. Part of me feels sorry for him, even if I’m theshehe is blaming for his current hell.
Maddox shakes his head, disappointed in his brother. “She was never going to marry you. Enzo made sure of it when he signed that deal with Carlo,” he snarls back.
Alessandro stands, rushing at Maddox. “Bullshit. He wouldn’t. He knew what she meant to me… to the family,” he corrects himself. “She was fucking valuable. He wouldn’t just let him have her.”
I gasp, my heart racing a little faster. What I meant to him? He really did want me for his own and was trying to manipulate Enzo into making it happen. Fuck.
Ricky stands, trying to get in between the two hotheads. “Boys, everyone’s had too much to drink. We all need to just cool it. We’ll talk about this again with clear heads tomorrow.”
Maddox shoves past Ricky, staring Alessandro down. “That’s exactly what he was going to do. That’s why we had to get her out of there.”
Alessandro’s face turns murderous. “You fucking helped that traitor.” Alessandro runs at Maddox, shoving him into a wall, causing me to jump back in shock at his violence against his brother. “You turn on your family for a girl.” Alessandro hits him with a right hook, making me flinch.
Maddox pushes him back, forcing him into the fridge and holding him by the throat in one swift move. “I’m not the fucking one you need to worry about turning on the family, it’s Enzo who’s turned on all of us. If you can’t see the way he’s manipulating all of us, then you’re just as bad as he is. Marco didn’t deserve to be treated like his fucking lap dog, and Harley isn’t some fucking slave to be traded to that pig. Be the boss you want to be. Stop moping around mourning the loss of a girl who was never yours and do something to get the control back.”
Mourning the loss of a girl who was never his. Is that what this is? Marco said he was furious and desperate to see me. I knew he would be angry about losing all the control and power he wanted, but part of me had really started to believe that was all I was to him. This paints a very different picture.
Ricky moves in to say something, but the earphones are removed from my head, so I don’t hear what it is.
“That’s enough,” Geovani cuts in.
I shuffle on his lap to meet his eyes, frustration clawing at me. “What? They’re talking about me. I want to know what they’re saying,” I say, desperately trying to take them back.
“You need to go back to bed so I can do my job.”
“Enzo can’t hear this conversation.” The words tremble out of my lips, knowing what this means for Maddox, for my brother. Enzo will destroy them if he knows the depths of their betrayal.
“Do you think I wouldn’t have this already taken care of, Red? Enzo won’t know a thing.” He chuckles.
I stand abruptly, shoving him back, a fresh wave of anger radiating through me. “But you do. You’re hearing it all. How am I supposed to trust this conversation isn’t going straight back to your pa? Who will then leak it to his new best buddy. You know as well as I do if you have this footage, others can find it.” Tears prickle in my eyes. I lunge at him again.
But he’s too quick for me, flying out of his seat, pulling me into him in a chokehold, my back pressed to his front. I suck in deep breaths as I try to escape him. “You need to start trusting me, sweetheart.”
