Eve
My laughter is too shallow for my liking, but Wade doesn’t notice. He just throws his head back and laughs with me, his beer slamming down on the table in front of him as he shakes his head. “I knew your plan would work. You had your hooks in him before you walked out the door.”
I tip my beer in his direction, “A woman knows her strengths, Wade.”
He smiles, his eyes crinkling at the edges and somehow making him seem less of a villain than I know him to be. “Oh, Evangeline. I’ll be honest, I was a little worried I may not be able to bring you back to my side. I feared he had his hooks in you, too.”
I take a large drink and set my beer down, pushing the empty bottle away from me and watching as Poppy, one of Wade’s hired maids, replaces it with a fresh one.
“You know how manipulative those Italians can be. I can’t thank you enough for saving me from a lifetime of being lied to.” The words taste like ash in my mouth,but I act like the words I say are the sweetest truth I’ve ever spoken. I have to.
When Wade took me a week ago and told me what happened to his mother, I almost felt bad for him. Who wouldn’t be completely broken after a childhood filled with abuse and hatred? Who wouldn’t want revenge on the people responsible for his mother’s murder?
Unfortunately for him, it’s my family he came after. Not the man who is truly responsible for his anguish.
Aldo.
“I do apologize for lying to you, Evie. I may have had the best intentions but,” Wade shrugs, “You know what they say. The highway to hell…”
I wave him off with my hand, “It’s already forgotten.”
It’s not, but I’ll pretend it is. This entire week, I’ve been working to earn his trust back. My mouth is numb from the false smiles and my tongue is exhausted from the lies I spill, but it’s a necessity. I see the madness warring behind his eyes. I see the desperation.
Somehow, the same obsession I see in Kortez’s eyes when he looks at me is the same look Wade gives me when he thinks I’m not looking. I don’t know when it happened, but Wade wants me by his side for more than a partner in crime. He wants me as his.
It’s another avenue I don’t want to follow, but I must. He’s been allowing me to join him for meals, a time I spend with a fake smile plastered to my face while he drones on and on about what he plans to do to the Valente family. I hate the pretense, but it gives me time to learn the ins and outs of the place he’s set up.
What I thought was a horribly decorated mansion is actually a warehouse. Wade has tried his best tocover the blood stains and the chains hanging from the rafters with plush rugs and fancy furniture but he can’t hide the truth. The windows in my room are blocked by blacked out curtains so I could never see the outside until I ventured out to lunch with Wade by my side on my fourth day here. What greeted me out the windows was a busted-up parking lot with more factories and warehouses lined up in the distance.
I can taste the sea air anytime a door opens, but I’m not stupid enough to think I’ll make it far. There are always half a dozen guards on the main floor where we eat and I’ve counted the same number passing by the windows at alternating ten-minute intervals. Each guard has a pistol tucked into a holster at their waist and a rifle strapped across their back.
Wade always carries a gun, too. My eyes drift to where it lay beside his plate. His hand is only an inch away, too close for me to try and take it without him getting to it first.
He’s being careful even if he wants to trust me because he knows all I need is a second. Over the years, he’s heard of my training with Wylder. Hell, he even sat in on a few of them to make sure I was advanced enough to survive. He knows I could be dangerous. He knows Iamdangerous.
It's why when he walked into my room this morning and announced that he was letting me roam out of my cage that I couldn’t help my mouth from dropping open. Within half an hour, the cage was unassembled and carried out of my room while Wade watched me with a smile. He placed a kiss on my cheek and left only moments later.
I searched for an exit, coming up short when every window was nailed shut and every door locked from the outside. The only upside to this new gilded cagewas that I couldn’t find any cameras. It gave me at least a semblance of privacy.
Being let out of my cage followed by a chaste kiss is all I needed to know that I was in. He was beginning to trust me.
“Wade,” I reach over, laying my hand on top of his. “I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for me – the help you’ve given me.”
He licks his lips as I bring myself a little closer, his eyes darting down to the top of my breasts peaking out from my top. The room he gave me was not only completely furnished but held a closet full of clothes in exactly my size. This is the lowest cut shirt I could find, and it looks like he’s enjoying it.
I match his movement and lick my lips to bring his eyes back up to my face. “I want…”
The warehouse door slides open and I turn to see the sun glinting off bright red hair. Vivianne marches through the door, not bothering to close it behind her as she approaches the table with a murderous look on her face.
“What the fuck, Wade? You’re having dinner with her?” She comes to a stop beside the table and shoots me a glare. “You can’t trust her.”
Wade sighs, leaning back in his chair to look up at his sister. “Vivianne, you know better than to show up here during the day. Someone could have seen you.”
She snorts. “You’re about to rule the entire East coast, Wade. I don’t give a fuck who sees me.”
“You should. We haven’t won yet.” His face hardens and I take the chance to reach over and grab his hand, squeezing until he looks back at me.
“You will, Wade. I have no doubt.”
