It’s been tough keeping everyone in line while trying to take care of my girl. If anyone does dare challenge me, I’ll bring them down just like I did with Giorgio Ciccone, Nolan Farrell and all the rest of their underlings.
This is my empire now, and I intend to rule as I see fit.
After everything Victoria’s been through, I hate to pull the rug out from underneath her feet again, but it must be done. She’s been asking about her father, and I can’t keep stalling and lying to her.
She deserves to know the truth. Abouteverything.
I’ve been dreading having this conversation, but tonight is the night that I will lay it all out on the line and pray and hope that she can forgive me.
After dinner, we sit in companionable silence at the table, drinking wine. When Victoria begins to worry her bottom lip with her teeth, I know something is on her mind.
“Penny for your thoughts?” I offer.
She stares down at her knotted hands in her lap before looking up at me through her long lashes. “Where is my father?” she asks in almost a whisper.
“He’s dead,” I tell her without hesitation.
Tears well up in her eyes as she gives me a nod of understanding. “How…how did it happen?”
This gives me reason to pause. What I’m about to tell her will change everything. Nothing will ever be the same after tonight, and I hate the fact that she might run from me when I need her the most.
“He asked me to come here,” I start. “We talked about rescuing you. He gave me his empire and the name of the man he sold my sister to…and then I ended his life.”
My words take a while to sink in, but I can see the myriad of emotions running across her pretty face as the realization of what I’ve done finally hits her. “You…killed my father?”
“He was dying, Victoria. He would have been suffering from the cancer eating away at his body.” She glares at me like I’m a worthless piece of shit, and it pisses me off. “He deserved to die for what he did to my family,” I tell her, pushing the bitter words out through clenched teeth.
“I know he wasn’t a good man, but he was the only family I had left!” she exclaims. “You know what it felt like when you lost yours. And now you’ve taken my father away from me!”
Her words are like a dagger straight to my heart. All this time I had been so focused on my vengeance that I never ever considered that I would be taking away Victoria’s last and only family member…even if he did deserve to die.
Shaking my head, I tell myself that it’s too late to talk aboutwhat ifsandcould have beens. What’s done is done. Nothing will bring any of our loved ones back.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her. It’s the only thing I can say at this point. “I’m not sorry for what I have done, but I’m sorry that you have to suffer because of my actions.”
She shakes her head and stands up from the table. “So all of this is yours now?” she asks, waving her hand around the room. “It’s what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it? And now you have it.” Glowering at me, she says, “And I’m supposed to be what, your live-in maid or something?”
I scoff at her words. How can she even think I would treat her any less after everything we’ve been through? “Victoria, you are my queen. I want you to rule beside me, not underneath me.”
“How can you possibly ask that of me after what you’ve done?” she exclaims, her voice on borderline hysterics. “You shot me! You killed my father! What else have you lied to me about? What else are you keeping from me?” She paces the room, muttering under her breath and shaking her head. Suddenly, she stops, and her blue eyes meet mine. “The man in the park who attacked me. Tell me that was really one of Nolan’s guys and thatyoudidn’t hire him.”
Fuck.
“You were pulling away from me. I needed some way to get you back before it was too late,” I blurt out. And it’s after the words leave my mouth that I realize I said the wrong thing. I want to take back everything I just said, but it’s too late now. The damage is already done.
Victoria takes a step backwards. Her hand is trembling as she lifts it up to her lips and gasps, “No.” Shaking her head vehemently, she whispers, “No, no, no.”
“Victoria, let me explain –.”
“I think you’ve done enough explaining, Damon.” She throws her hands up in the air and lets them drop to her sides. “Oh my god, I’m so stupid!” she cries out before slapping her palm to her forehead. “You were there at just the right time…” Tears track down her pretty cheeks right before she delivers the final nail in my coffin. “I willneverforgive you,” she whispers before turning on her heel and storming out of the room.
I remain seated until her footsteps disappear up the steps and then I hear her bedroom door slam.
And the sound of that door closing signals so much more than her shutting me out of her room.
She’s shut me completely out of her heart. And deep down I know there’s no way for me to fix this.
CHAPTER 21
