Fuck.
Alessa shoots the big man a glare, causing the one with the wavy brown hair to chuckle. Gage Lawson. Twenty-four. He came into this life when his dad, Connor Lawson, was recruited when Gage was a kid. Now he stood side by side with Alessa in pictures, hiding behind the pretense that they are just spoiled, rich kids.
“He doesn’t look like either of the Perez brothers, asshole,” she spits out, causing the big guy to put his hands up. “I’m not a fucking idiot.”
“He didn’t say you were,” Ryder says gently. “We just need to figure out what to do now.”
Sensing I’m awake, her head slowly turns toward me, and she smiles. It’s not that sweet smile I got earlier. This one is full of malice and slightly unhinged. My brothers warned me going into this that all of them wouldn’t hesitate to shoot first and ask questions later. I figured I wouldn’t ever fall in love with her. It was supposed to be an easily executed plan, and we could all get what we wanted. I was wrong.
And I’m fucked.
“Look who decided to join us,” she purrs, twirling the knife she had pressed to my neck earlier. “You ready to fess up?”
I have two options.
Lie and die for it.
Tell the truth and die for it.
Either way, I’m dead.
I take a deep breath and decide on the truth. “My name is Leonardo Janelle Perez. Half-brother to Evander and Mateo Perez.Son of Frankie Perez,” I tell her while looking her straight in the eye. I see the hurt flash through those pretty eyes before she can cover it up. “That’s all I lied about,” I insist.
“That’s enough to lie about,” she barks. “You knew who I was, didn’t you?”
I shake my head. “Not the first night, and I didn’t find out until I showed Mateo a picture of you.”
That’s the truth, and that’s how we ended up with this half-cocked fucking plan. Bag the Poletti princess and call for a truce. I didn’t know who she was the first night I met her. All I saw was this gorgeous woman with a smile that lit up a room, blue eyes I wanted to get lost in, and hair black as night. My brothers wanted the truce after our father died but didn’t know how to do it. We didn’t want his lifelong blood feud to last any longer. The blood feud that scarred up Dexton’s face.
I didn’t expect to start having feelings for her. Just after four fucking months, she already had me wrapped around that tiny finger before we ever slept together. Now I’m gone for this girl, and she is, without a doubt, going to kill me. I don’t think now is a good time to mention that she lied to me too.
“How the hell did you not know who she is?” Gage scoffs, spinning a chair around to sit in it backward, two feet from where I’m currently tied up.
I look down at him and know why I’m cold. I’m in my boxer briefs, tied with my arms over my head, toes barely touching the ground. I’m in a concrete room, which they all seem familiar with.
“I’m new to the family,” I tell them honestly. “I didn’t even know who I was until a year ago. Dear old Dad paid my mom off to disappear when he knocked her up so his wife wouldn’t find out. Evander and Mateo found me and welcomed me into the family.”
“Why did you keep seeing me, then? I know your brothers told you about the family rivalry,” Alessa points out.
“We don’t want to be rivals anymore, and we wanted to find a way to end it when I ran into you.”
“You don’t believe this shit, do you?” Ryder asks, then looks at her face. “You’re fucking believing him right now!”
“Shut up,” she hisses at Ryder, then walks toward me, stopping to look up at me. “So, if I call for a meeting with the families, Evander and Mateo will confirm what you just said?” she asks, and I nod. “Keep in mind that if you’re lying, I won’t hesitate to start a war by killing all of you,” she warns.
I believe with one-hundred percent certainty that she will. Me getting caught wasn’t a part of the plan, but here we are.
I nod. “I get it.”
“Everyone out,” she orders.
Ryder bristles. “Les, I don’t…”
“Out!” she cuts him off; that one word rings through the room with authority.
They all make their way through the door to the right. Ryder gives her one last meaningful look before shutting the door.
She looks at me without the mask she’s been wearing while they were in here. “Was any of it real?” she asks softly.
