“Don’t play your games with me right now,” she bites back.
I look at the knife in my hand. “I stopped playing games with you a long time ago, Lily.”
The steel of the blade glints in the flashing lights. I pocket it, knowing that despite whatever threats I’ll make toward Vince, I won’t do anything in front of her. I lost it when it came to her father, but I know she holds love for her brother. And I can’t take a second family member from her. It turns out even a man like me has his limits when it comes to the woman he loves.
“Maybe you should be honest with her for once,” I encourage Vince. “Either you tell her or I will.”
Her gaze narrows on me, a wild storm swirling within those magnificent blue eyes. I’ve struggled falling asleep every single night, replaying and savoring the hours I've watched her from a distance.
I tell my boss I do it for him, but it’ll go to the grave with me that I’ve done all of this forher.
“Vince, what’s he talking about?” Lily demands, her gaze finally breaking from mine as she pins it on him. He bites his bottom lip, his gaze skittering around the floor.
“I made a mistake,” he confesses.
Her shoulders sag ever so slightly, as if bracing herself for the blow that’s about to come.
She deserves the truth, but I hate being the one to bring her the messenger. If I had it my own way, I would’ve buried this secret and simply made sure this debt was paid and that her brother did nothing to put her in harm's way again.
I’m uncomfortable with my newfound conscience, brought out by this one tiny woman who can so easily bring me to my knees.
37
LILY
“Imade a mistake.” The moment those words fall out of my brother’s mouth, I know I’m defeated.
I’m exhausted.
Exhausted from being lied to.
Exhausted from trying to keep this family together.
Exhausted from putting everyone else first.
“What did you do, Vince?” I ask carefully. I shake my head when he can’t even meet my gaze. I can’t believe this. Actually, yes, I can.
I scan the club. I’ve never been here, but it reeks of ill dealings and money as I stare at the gambling tables. My eyebrows furrow.
“What did you do with my money, Vince?” I ask, and when I focus back on him, he still won't raise his head to look at me. Slowly, I realize I’ve been conned by my own brother. I scoff in disbelief, finding it almost laughable.
“I’d say half of it is currently sitting on the roulette table where he bet it on black,” Lorenzo says. I face him, that buildup of rage and hate, yearning and love coming to the surface. All the things I feel for this man, and yet, it’s not his betrayal that hurtsme the most right now. It’s the fact that I have to hold myself back from running into his arms. It doesn’t make any fucking sense.
This gravitational pull toward him never has.
But I know it’s the one place I can fall apart and know I’ll still be safe.
“If my brother won’t answer me, then I demand you do.” I level Lorenzo with a glare. “Does my brother owe you money? Is that it?”
Lorenzo is watching me carefully, as if I’m the predator in the room. It’s his silence that grates on me most.
“Say something,” I grit out. “Someone needs to give me the truth.”
“Will you trust what comes out of my mouth?” Lorenzo asks carefully.
“Yes,” I reply. Because I do. I don’t know how or why, and it goes against all logic, but I do trust him.
“You can’t believe him, Lils. He’s a liar!” Vince yells from over my shoulder, and I whip my head toward him.
