“Then why—”
“Why did I let you in?” He takes another step closer.
Fuck. It doesn’t even matter what reason he has. I should pull the trigger, end this now while I still can.
But I’m frozen, paralyzed by the revelation and his scent flooding my senses, making it impossible to think straight.
“I wanted to see what you’d do. How far you’d go.” His gaze sweeps over me. “And because I understood.”
“Bullshit.”
“Viktor framed your brother,” he continues, ignoring my outburst. “And had him beaten to death before the trial could expose the truth.” Something flickers in his expression—something that almost looks like regret. “I didn’t order it. Didn’t even know until after.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
His eyes lock with mine, dark and steady and infuriatingly sincere. “Viktor acted without my consent. I found out after your brother was already dead.”
“Convenient,” I spit.
“It’s the truth.” He takes another step forward, and now he’s close enough that I can see the pulse beating in his throat. “I’ve been building a case against Viktor for months. Your brother’s death was the catalyst, but not the only crime. Viktor’s been stealing from the family, using our resources for his own operations and making deals behind my back.”
I want to believe him. God help me, I want to. But Marco died on someone’s orders. Even if Sokolov ordered the hit, someone higher up had to approve it. That’s how organizations like this work.
“Why should I believe you?” My voice cracks, and I hate myself for the weakness. “Why should I believe a single fucking word out of your mouth?”
“Because I could have had you killed the second you stepped into Eclipse, but I didn’t.” He moves closer still, his breath hot on my face with every word.
I instinctively take a step back.
“I gave you full access to my systems. Let you dig through my organization. Invited you into my home.” His voice drops lower, intimate, almost tender. “You think you hid that gun so well?”
His gaze flicks upward briefly, to the roofline on another building on the grounds.
“There are three guards with rifles trained on you right now. One word from me, and they put you down.”
My finger tightens on the trigger. “Then say it.”
“No.”
The word hangs between us, heavy with something I can’t name. Enzo is so close that the muzzle is pressed against his chest. Point-blank range. Impossible to miss. And yet my finger stays frozen on the trigger, like some part of me is waiting for permission I’ll never get.
“I understand your pain,” he says, and his voice rolls over me, landing somewhere deep, in a place I didn’t know was still soft. “If someone killed my family, I’d want blood too.”
His hand comes up to cup my cheek.
The moment his skin touches mine, everything goes wrong.
I feel my suppressants shatter like glass. One second I’m standing there with a gun pointed at Enzo’s chest, the next I’m doubling over as a cramp seizes my entire body so violently I nearly scream. It feels like someone’s driving a hot poker through my abdomen and twisting it. A wave of heat blasts through my bloodstream, burning me from the inside out, incinerating every last shred of control I have left.
The gun slips from my fingers and clatters on the stone terrace.
No.No, no, no, no, no.
This can’t be happening. Not here.Not now.
“Damn you—” The words dissolve into a choked gasp as pain whites out my vision.
