He averts his gaze. “No, absolutely not.”
I’m not gonna let this slide that easily. “Why?”
“You know why,” he rasps.
“Because you want him to suffer. Okay, I get it. But we both know that in the end, youwillactually kill him. It’s only a matter of time. So why not now? Hasn’t he suffered enough? You already cut off half his fingers.”
He throws me a damning look. “He willneversuffer enough for what he did to me.”
“And me? What do I deserve when I’ve been snatchedaway from my own damn life? What do I deserve?”
Matteo’s face darkens. “Tesoro, you’re mad at me, and I understand. And you are free to take out all of your anger on me whenever you want. I will not stop you.”
Is he actually telling me that if I tried killing him now, he’d let me?
“But …” I mutter.
“But what?” he says.
But I don’t want him dead. Even after everything he’s done to me, I can’t. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. Slowly but surely, I’ve fallen in love with the monster. And I don’t know how to stop it from ruining me.
Tears well up in my eyes, and his face immediately softens as regret seeps in. His hand reaches for my face, and he wipes away the single tear that rolls down my cheek.
He sighs again. “Tesoro, please don’t cry. There’s nothing I hate more than watching you cry.” He leans in to press a kiss to my forehead. And then he whispers, “Tell me why you want Lucio dead so badly.”
I sniff and wipe away another tear, then look down at the bed sheets, trying to gather my thoughts.
Should I tell him the truth? Or will it bite me in the ass?
I glance at him.
Can I trust this man? I have to. There’s no other way. I can make sure my mother is safe. This is the only way.
Two yearsago
“… cancer …”
It’s the only word in the sentence that the doctor spoke that I heard.
None of it matters.
Nothing he says.
Nothing changes the outcome.
Cancer.
My mother has cancer, and I’m going to lose her.
“There are treatments, right?” Mom asks the doctor, but my mind is completely fazed out of this world.
“Yes, but they are … expensive,” the doctor replies.
“We’ll make it work. Somehow.” Mom squeezes my hand. “I want to give it my all.”
She’s such a fighter. I just wish there was something I could do.
She doesn’t have health insurance and barely any money left after she divorced Dad. He took all the money with him years ago.
