“They found him.”
An icy shiver runs over my skin and down my spine. I’m not sure if I’m going to puke or pass out. “Valentine is alive?” I whisper-cry, gripping hold of the windowsill, my knees buckling.
“No, he’s very dead. They found part of his skull washed up on a beach not too far from Ravens Hollow. Luckily, there was enough that the local authorities could identify him through his dental records. I wanted you to know first, before you hear a news story about it.”
My heart thumps out of my chest. I have waited for this moment for five years, wished for it, prayed for it. My husband is dead. The asshole who controlled my life and made it a living hell for five fucking years has gone to hell. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry tears of joy, but one thing is for sure, I will not mourn him for even one second. The memory of his rough hands and the pain that came with each touch will forever haunt me. That shit you never forget, but knowinghe’s dead before me, knowing someone got the revenge on him I was never able to, will ease my pain.
“Daisy, are you still there?” my brother calls down the line, sounding agitated.
“Yes,” I whisper. “Sorry, just processing. Why was there only part of his skull?” It’s the most random question for me to ask, but I want to know how he died. I need to know he suffered like he made me.
“The local authorities are still investigating the circumstances surrounding his death, but it’s obviously suspicious. Sounds to me like he upset the wrong person. With a list of enemies as long as his, it was only a matter of time.”
“What does this mean for me, Dante?”
“You’re free.” He sounds just as relieved as I feel, and I’m sure he is. When everyone had given up on me, even myself, he was still fighting to get me out of that marriage.
“Until Papa marries me off to someone new.” I can’t help the sigh that escapes my lips. I’m so elated, but fear also creeps its way back under my skin. I know that I will never be truly free, not while my papa is still a part of that world, still doing everything he can to work his way up the ranks in their underground operation. I am a pawn, a bargaining tool to help him. I worked that out the hard way. And now that I’m no longer the property of Valentine Moretti, I’m valuable again.
“He wants you to come home, Daisy.” My brother sounds just as defeated at the thought.
I watch the passersby on the street below and wonder what it would feel like to be truly free, my own person, not having to answer to anyone else. I wish I knew; wish I was born into another normal family not tied to the mafia. “He’s not using me to better his position again, Dante, I would prefer to be dead.”
“I can’t hold him off forever, it’s only a matter of time before he pays the right person and they track you down.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “He’s paying people to find me?”
He sighs, and I feel the weight I have left on his shoulders by running away. “You know what he gets like when he wants something.”
Obsessed. I glance at Cruz. He’s watching me keenly, listening to every detail of my conversation. He’s not even trying to hide it. He’s the strangest human I have ever met. Not worried about others social cues, he just does whatever the hell he wants. Then something clicks that makes me feel suddenly sick to the stomach. “Dante, why weren’t you worried about the random man who answered my phone just now?”
“Thought it must have been a friend of yours,” he responds a little too quickly.
My eyes narrow in on Cruz, feeling like something suspicious is going on here, my gut shouting it at me. “Or you knew who it was?”
A heavy silence falls over the line. “You need all the help you can get, Daisy. Papa is on the warpath, and he wants you home and married off. He has someone in mind already. I was trying to buy you time.”
My eyes narrow in on Cruz, hoping to God he gets this cue. I’m fucking fuming mad. “How? And don’t lie to me.”
He inhales deeply. “The Stryker brothers offered to help and watch over you until I came up with another solution.”
I shake my head, understanding why Jagger changed his tune so damn quickly the other day. It all makes so much sense now. A bitter laugh escapes my lips, not meant for my brother but for the asshole staring at me. “You’re paying them to babysit me!” I growl out, my eyes fixed on Cruz as so much finally clicks into place.
Cruz’s eyes are lit up with delight; he doesn’t even care that I know the truth. He takes pleasure in it. What the actual hell?
“Do you want your freedom or not?” my brother snips.
“Yes, but not like this.”
“This is the only way. I’ve got to go. Take care of yourself until I can call you again.”
Suddenly, I feel teary, a heaviness coming over me. Dante is the only one who has ever really cared about me, and right now, in this second, when everything feels so uncertain, I need him more than ever. “I love you, Dante,” I whisper-cry.
“Love you too, little sis.” Then he’s gone, and I’m left listening to silence. Tears slowly strolling down my cheeks. The past week all makes sense now. Well, maybe not all of it. I still can’t work out why Jagger was paying to fuck me. But the controlling shit, yeah, that all makes sense. I was a payday for them. Got to make sure I stay alive and in their care or they won’t get whatever compensation my brother is offering.
As I look up, I can make out Jagger and Asher in the doorway through my blurred vision. They’re both panting and roughed up, Jagger with a split lip and Ash with a busted cheek. Their clothes are in complete disarray.
“Little princess, what’s wrong?” Asher asks, sounding more concerned than he should, when I know how much I really mean to him. I’m just a paycheck to them, after all.
