“Oh, AJ.” She rolls her eyes. “Total sleaze. From what I hear, Matti cut out his tongue and shoved it down his throat when he killed him.” She takes in the horror on my face and waves her hand at me. “Oh, no, trust me. This guy was the worst. The world is a better place. Honestly, I can’t believe it didn’t happen a long time ago.”
He cut off his tongue? Holy shit, she’s talking about the guy who licked me.
My heartbeat is thudding in my ears, and I try to take a deep breath to calm myself down. Matti’s intensity is confusing. He’ll literally murder someone for licking me but kick me out of his life when another man tries to rape me in front of him?
Olivia is still talking. “Now, I don’t know, but in my opinion, he was keeping you at the Edge to protect you from Aurelio. Aurelio never goes down there; he thinks it’s beneath him. But what I don’t get is why he’s sending you home when you’re like this. I mean, you’re definitely doing better now than you were a week ago, but…” She gestures at my cuts and bruises then shrugs. “I just don’t know. He never does anything without a reason, though. Never.”
I shrug. I have no idea why that man makes the choices he does. Why he brought me to the Edge in the first place. Then left me there for weeks. Ignored me but got angry when I tried to leave. Fucked me relentlessly. Kissed me like he loved me. Then threw me out like garbage.
Anger rankles through me as I gingerly move my arm to relieve some of the ache and suck down the glass of water.
He’sdone withme! I mean, what the fuck? I’m the one who should be done with him. He all but admitted that he was responsible for Emily’s death. How the fuck is keeping a fucking flash drive from him anywhere near as bad as that?
It’s not. Simple answer. He should be fucking groveling, begging for my forgiveness. There’s no fucking comparison.
As I’m trying to put this together, the pilot announces our initial descent, and Olivia pats my arm again. “Girl, one thing I do know for sure, Matti is 100% in love with you.”
Suddenly, Olivia’s gaze shifts over my head, and her face twists into a sneer.
A woman’s voice sounds behind me. “Matti in love? With who? With Miss Old Navy over here?”
I swivel the chair to see the owner of the voice laughing as the heavy door in the back of the plane closes behind her. Her curvy hips sway back and forth as she sashays toward us.
She’s gorgeous with dark olive skin, long shiny black hair that is styled to perfection and glossy red lips. She’s wearing a long black trench coat cinched at the waist with a red belt, her already long legs made longer by her classic six-inch black Louboutins.
If I stood up, she’d easily tower over me, especially in those heels, so I stay seated and raise an eyebrow at the bitch.
Olivia snorts and throws back the rest of her drink. “Fuck off, Valentina. Why are you even here? I heard you were dead.”
“Aww, little girl. You still pretending that Vin and Matti are your daddies? Or have you graduated to fucking them yet?” Valentina’s blood-red lips curl into a mocking smile, pure venom wrapped in designer perfection.
“Why don’t you go ahead and exit the plane now, Valentina. Since you’re already the living dead, the fall won’t hurt too much. Might improve on your looks a little bit, too.” Olivia smirks.
“Don’t be jealous, little girl. When Mommy is done fucking Daddy tonight, I’ll be sure to tell him to come tuck you in, too,so you don’t feel left out.”
Olivia turns to me. “I don’t know if it’s the drugs talking or just her usual delirium, but don’t pay attention to her. She’s clearly lost. When she snaps out of her little episode, she’ll realize what a dumbass bitch she is and finally kill herself and put us all out of our misery.”
Valentina scoffs. “I stumbled onto the wrong plane when it was sent forme? For your information, hooker, Matti sent the plane so I can meet him at his place.”
I frown. “If that’s the case, then you missed your stop. We were just at his house.”
Valentina bursts out laughing, hand to her chest like she can barely contain herself. “Oh, you poor thing. You don’t think he lives on the Demonio estate, do you? You mean, you haven’t even been to his penthouse?” She turns to Olivia and rolls her eyes. “Yeah, that sounds like love to me.”
Valentina leans over my chair, letting her hair fall in my face as she looks out the window into the darkness outside the plane. “Guess we’re making a little pit stop first to drop off the trash. Call me when we’re at my man’s place.”
She stands up straight, flipping her hair over her shoulder and pushing her trench coat down her shoulder enough so that I can see the red lace beneath. It’s clear she’s wearing nothing but lingerie under that trench coat, and my stomach roils.
Winking at me, she smooths her hands over her ass as she saunters back through the door at the back of the plane. I wonder if Matti is going to spank her, too.
I give Olivia a look. “See? I’m not his girlfriend.”
She shakes her head at me emphatically. “No. She’s a lying snake, trust me. She’s hired help, nothing more. If she isheaded to Matti’s, it’s for a job, that’s all. She does tech stuff, hacker type stuff. No way Matti would stick his dick in that cunt again.”
Again?Jesus Christ.
I catch my reflection in the window, dressed in Olivia’s clothes that are too tight on me, no makeup, my eye swollen, cuts and bruises and bandages all over me, hair a mess. If Matti has options like her—and of course he does because he’s fucking gorgeous—there’s no way he would choose someone like me. No way that anything that happened between us was real. He belongs with someone like her.
As I hand my glass to Kayla, she smiles at me with pity in her eyes. Even she knows the truth.
Fuck, why am I such an idiot?
I sit tall in the chair and huff out a breath as we start to land.
Fuck this and fuck Matti. I’m done with this bullshit.
**
