“Oh. Interesting. I figured itwasyour business, seeing as how you’ve been obsessively stalking her for the past three years.”
Lia’s eyes pop open. I sit up, my mind reeling both from the fact that he knows that, and that he’s just said it in front of her.
What the fuck is wrong with him?
“You’d better tell me what you’re getting at,” I choke out, rage strangling my chest. “You’d better fucking tell me, Damien, or I swear to god…”
“Fine. I guess what I’m telling you is that you’re not all that good of a stalker. Because I’ve been keeping an eye out too, not on your girl, because I’m not a sicko like you, but on Carmelo. And let me tell you something, Logan. Let me tell you something about your best friend.”
“He’s not my best friend,” I mutter. “Youare.”
Damien chuckles. “Guess that tracks, huh? Your best friends are an asshole who enjoys making girls eat shit, and… a rapist.”
I stare at him. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
17
Lia
Ican barely breathe, and I’m squeezing my hands together so hard it feels like I might crush them.
“A rapist,” repeats Damien, as if Logan hadn’t heard him the first time. “That’s what Carmelo Moretti is. Coltello just had to pay five girls half a million bucks to keep them from going to the police.”
Suddenly feeling a little woozy, I grab onto the car door handle. No. More than a little woozy. Thank god the bagel is still resting uneaten in my lap, or I’m pretty sure I’d be retching my guts out right now. Luckily, my stomach is empty, so all I can do is grip my knees. Many horrible thoughts have tortured my mind since it happened. But the idea that Carmelo could have hurt other girls the way he hurt me wasn’t one of them.
Fuck.Is it my fault? Am I the reason he hurt those other girls?
If I’d gone to the police… would they have been saved?
I never even thought of going to the police. And when papa found out, he didn’t suggest it.
Jealousy quickly takes the place of guilt. They get paid off by their rapist… but I’m forced to marry him?
Then self-loathing grips me, and I close my eyes, just tryingto shut it all down.
“Know anything about that, Lia?” Damien’s cruel, mocking voice cuts me. “Know anything about Carmelo being a rapist?”
I turn from them, resting my head against the car seat, thankful that Aurora is sound asleep.
I can’t handle Damien’s voice. Or Logan’s… silence.
“Are you okay, Lia?” says Everest from behind the steering wheel. “He didn’t do that to you—did he?”
I keep my eyes squeezed shut, folding my arms around my body. I’mnotokay. And hediddo that. And I’m pretty sure none of them give a shit.
I don’t even know why Damien brought it up. Maybe to show them just how repulsive I am. Make sure Logan doesn’t go soft. How can he possibly go soft now that he sees how filthy I am?
“What now, Logan?” asks Damien quietly.
I can’t feel Logan’s body beside me. I did, before, because this back seat is too small to fit us comfortably. But he must be leaning against the other side, contorting his body to keep it from touching mine.
That’s how much I disgust him.
I choke down a sob, but I can’t help the tear that breaks free. I don’t want to cry. Ireallydon’t want to fucking cry.
He’s going to gloat about it, and I just can’t fucking handle that.
“Well, Logan?” persists Damien. “What’s the plan?”
