Page 123 of Wicked Ruin

“You had a chance. You betrayed the McCarthy family,” Kyla says.

Valentina’s eyes are wild.

“Bronwyn, dear, lock the door, will you?” Caitlin asks sweetly. Caitlin turns and faces the Espositos. “Please forgive us,” she says. “The only way we could verify that our theory was correct was to bring Valentina's family into town, wasn’t it?”

The younger man quickly translates for his father.

“Stop calling her Valentina,” he says. “This isn’t my sister.”

Valentina doesn’t wait. As soon as she hears his words, she moves, grabs a candlestick, and brandishes it like a weapon. “Get them out of here,” she says, her lips thinning. “And no one gets hurt.”

“Now you can use your weapon,” Seamus tells Esposito. He draws his gun, and Valentina lunges, not toward the door—she goes straight for Bridget.

I watch the second that calculation shifts behind her eyes. A knife comes from somewhere inside her jacket. One second, the room is moving, and the next, Bridget's wrist is in her hand, and nobody gets there in time.

The room goes still.

I go still.

I could end this, but she has positioned herself perfectly, the knife angled. If I make a move toward her, Bridget gets hurt.

“Nobody moves.”

Bridget’s eyes find mine. I can see she’s frightened, but she isn’t panicking, even now.

“You let me go,” she says to me. “Or she⁠—”

I nod to Bridget. She squirms and steps on Valentina’s foot, giving me enough time to draw my gun. I don’t think—I don’t plan. I pull the trigger and hit the shoulder of her knife hand. With a scream, she goes down, and Esposito’s instantly on her. Bridget pulls herself free and stumbles forward. I’m across the room in three steps, and I have her in both arms, pulling her into me. I don't care who sees. I don't care what it costs. I have her.

“Who is she?” Esposito asks the room as Seamus orders restraints brought forward. He’s got her face down, a knee in her back, and a gun to her head. “And where is my sister?”

I shake my head. “Let me make a call.”

All eyes turn to me. Bridget’s still breathing heavily, tucked under my arm.

I take out my phone as the imposter squirms and fumes on the floor. Lorenzo is careful not to let her get up.

“FaceTime John Doe.” No one needs to know who my contact in Boston is. “Brother, keep your video off,” I tell him as he answers.

“What is it?”

“We have an impostor here pretending to be Valentina Esposito. We need you to identify her so we can find the real Valentina.”

“Of course,” he says. “Let me see her.”

“Let me help,” Bronwyn says as she walks over to Valentina, who's practically spitting fire at this point.

“Careful, bella,” Esposito says to Bronwyn. “Snake bites are venomous.” He pins Valentina down by the neck as Bronwyn reaches for her scalp and yanks off her wig.

Valentina screams in rage as long, thick black hair spills out onto her shoulders. Her vibrant blue eyes flash.

“Told you,” Bronwyn says to no one in particular before her voice goes hard. “Take out the contacts.”

Valentina glares.

Bronwyn shakes her head. “For fuck's sake. You know you have contacts in. Nobody’s eyes are that blue, bitch.”

“This one's easy, brother,” says the voice on the other end. “Will send you the name.”