CHAPTER 14
Cian
Elena—no,Ravenna—shuffles out of the SUV as I seethe. I should have known she was too good to be true. Once again, I was an idiot, taken in by a woman’s beauty and her deceitful tongue.Liar. Snake.
When I think of how she got me to open up and talk to her, how she seemed to care about me and my life experiences, my hopes and dreams, I feel sick. Devastated. Fucking stupid.
She fooled me good. If it weren’t for her sister’s sudden reappearance, I never would have found out I was living with a liar.
What was her end game? Did she really only take her sister’s place for the sake of the treaty? I don’t know many people who would sacrifice their life like that. It’s too selfless. I don’t believe it for a second.
She must have a more sinister reason. Is she a spy for the Italians after all? Or just a sick, twisted bitch with her own bloody agenda. Maybe she’s a damn psychopath. Who the fuck knows.
All I know is that I’m fortunate to escape now rather than later. Before it’s too late.
I probably should have killed her in this car. That’s what she deserves. It would put an end to this bullshit and I’d never have to worry about setting eyes on her again.
But for some reason I can’t bring myself to do it. Weakness. I’m a weak man, that’s why. Weak and stupid.
Just like my ex said.
The back door shuts. The finality of that sound shakes something loose in my chest.
Facing forward, I drive away with such haste that the tires screech. Burned rubber taints the air. I have a visceral need to get as far away from her as possible, as quickly as I’m able.
That snake in the grass. That’s what she is, my devious bride. She broke through my barriers so fast that she left my head spinning. No woman wants me just the way I am. She made me believe otherwise, but it’s all lies. Smoke and mirrors.
I should have seen all the warning signs along the way. Too sweet. Too innocent. Playing hard to get, only to make me come out of my shell and try harder to be close to her, to be what she needed. To make me think I was what she wanted.
She knew how to play me, like she’s a sports star and I’m the field.
I slam my fist against the steering wheel.So. Fucking. Stupid.
How did she know that her bull-headedness would intrigue me? That her boldness would turn me on? Or how her seemingly compassionate nature would get me to open up? Where did she get her information?
Fuck.
Someone has betrayed me to my enemy. Was it Wolfe? He knows me well. Too well. Did he sell out to the Italians? Or is it another within our ranks?
No, it can’t be Wolfe. He knows my history, he was there for all of it, but he wouldn’t do this to me, would he?
At least this time I learned the truth about the Italian bitch before she decided to carve me up like a Thanksgiving turkey, and finish the job my ex started all those years ago.
My ex is dead. My brother’s dead.I have to remind myself of these facts before I fall down a rabbit hole of paranoia. Even so, someone kidnapped Elena—my actual bride-to-be—with the intent of stopping the wedding. That person didn’t know she had an identical twin sister. A fact not a single fucking person mentioned when I looked into the Pontrelli family.
Why did her family hide the truth?
Subterfuge.
But what are they after?
At this point, I’m sure that the peace treaty between our people was never supposed to last. How could it?
Damn it, I should have kept Ravenna and interrogated her until she finally, for once, told me the fucking truth. I just let that opportunity slip through my fingers. What was I thinking?Idiot.
I drive for a while, as it helps me think. If I go back home, I know I’ll drag Wolfe in for questioning, along with half my men, and I can’t do that without a clear plan. I need to figure out their motivation for betraying me first. Besides, what if they’re loyal, and it was someone from my past who sold information to the Italians?
Another part of me wants to turn around and enter Lorenzo Pontrelli’s house with guns blazing. Kill all those fuckers. Be done with it. Including my beautiful wife, but not before I’ve taken my pound of flesh from her delicate skin.
