I backed away, unable to bear her tearful, wide-eyed gaze on me for one more agonizing second. Dawning realization of the depth of my sin bore down on my shoulders, crushing me. I turned away from them with another bellow, and animal sound of rage and pain. I stormed away from them, knowing that Luca would hold her close in my absence. He would comfort her, soothe her. She would melt in his arms and accept his kiss.
Not mine. She’d never been mine.
And she never would be.
If what Luca said was true, I didn’t deserve her.
No. He was lying. He had to be.
Because after all the terrible things I’d done, the alternative was unbearable.
I couldn’t torture Luca—Nora wouldn’t let me—but there was another way to extract the truth.
Reality blurred around the edges as I tore through the house, smashing priceless art as I ran toward the garage. The ATV roared to life beneath me, and I raced out into the woods. The headlights cut through the darkness, illuminating my path to the small outbuilding where I’d been keeping my hostages.
The two guards at the door straightened when I skidded to a halt, both of them drawing their weapons as they anticipated an encroaching threat.
“Give me your gun,” I snarled at the one closest to me.
He handed it over immediately, obeying without question. The familiar weight of a weapon in my hand did little to calm my roiling mind. My careful control was completely shredded, my churning emotions making me more volatile than ever. Violence was in my nature, but I never unleashed it without cause, no matter how brutal my retribution could be.
Clinging to sanity by a thread, I burst into the cramped prison where I’d been keeping my enemies.
Gabriele and Lorenzo stared at me with twin grimaces of defiance, their burly bodies swelling in response to my violent entry. Bars separated them from me, confining them, but I could easily kill them where they stood.
I trained the gun on Gabriele’s heart, and Lorenzo stepped in front of his brother, ready to stop the bullet that he thought I was about to fire.
“You want to save your brother?” I seethed, voice so rough that it was barely intelligible. “Tell me what happened to Francesco.”
Gabriele shoved Lorenzo to the side, cursing him for putting his life at risk.
“Francesco died in the raid against your father,” he retorted, lifting his chin in defiance of death. “Everyone knows that.”
“Who killed him?” I demanded.
Lorenzo’s eyes narrowed at me. “How the fuck should we know? We weren’t there.”
I shook my head slightly, struggling for clarity. No, the brothers hadn’t been there. They’d been a couple years too young to go on a raid. Luca’s father had made an exception for him, expecting him to fight for his birthright despite his youth.
But they were Luca’s best friends. They would know he was guilty.
“Luca murdered him!” I thundered, fifteen years of rage ripping through my body. “Tell me.”
“Is that what this is all about?” Gabriele shouted right back at me. “Revenge? I thought you were just a power-hungry bastard. My brother almost died trying to save Nora from you, and you’ve been holding her and our best friend captive for weeks. Fuck knows what you’ve done to them. I will find a way to kill you for this, you sadistic asshole.”
“Tell me!” I roared again, something like desperation clawing at my insides.
Lorenzo glowered at me. “You must already know the truth, psycho. You can kill us if you want, but that won’t change the fact that Luca is innocent. Francesco’s death has haunted him for years. Even if he wasn’t in love with your brother, he cared about him. His sacrifice shredded Luca.”
“I’ll shoot your brother right now,” I warned, but my hand shook.
“Go ahead,” Gabriele challenged, chin tipped back in defiance. “Because if I find a way out of here, I will make you scream for what you’ve done to my friend. Francesco died for Luca, and you’ve dedicated yourself to destroying him. You’ve betrayed your brother’s dying wish. I hope knowing that makes you fucking suffer.”
My feral roar clashed with the deafening bang of the gun as I fired into the ceiling. The brothers jolted with identical curses, but their defiant faces blurred before me.
The truth settled over me like a lead weight on my soul, crushing me.
I turned on my heel and stormed out into the night. The ATV tore through the woods, dangerously fast. Time fell away, and suddenly, I was back at the house, stumbling down the corridor to my study. I lurched into the room and found my whisky. Grabbing the bottle, I knocked it back, as though the burn of the liquor would somehow grant me absolution. Or at the very least, oblivion.
