Page 242 of Safe Word

‘My old man’s fine. It wasn’t his finger,’ I divulged sourly.

I caught my reflection in the window, warping under the streetlight glare. Inside me, something darker grinned back.

If Ezio had died tonight, would I have mourned him – or mourned losing my only lead to the truth: my mother, and Salvatore?

I’d wanted to kick him out of my life – still did – but some stubborn part of me still needed him to find real facts.

Nonetheless, that reckoning would wait until after I got my woman safe.

And Vinnie…

Blame twisted through me – I’d ignored him all this time. Pushed him aside. Got used to him fixing my shit.

I took out the flier crumpled in my jacket. That fucking address. It hadn’t just been there for show. It was a lure – a stage set for me.

This was theatre – and Travis wanted me to perform. He didn’t want to take her and vanish. He wanted me to come after him.

Beast on beast.

But, Paula wasn’t the woman he knew. She’d changed. She was still her, but the fear had changed. It had an edge now. So did she.

I rubbed at my neck, where she’d bitten me a while back, under the guise of Scarlett. I hoped I’d done enough for her to wear pain like armour. But I hadn’t taught her how to survive someone like Travis.

Christ… Someone like me.

The belt. Her breath. Her cries.

A sick mirror of what we’d done just a few hours before.

I punished her. But did I push too far? Did I make her vanish behind it? Or did she understand what I was trying to teach?

Did she like it?

Could she forgive me?

Would I forgive myself if that had been the last time I ever touched her?

‘We’re almost there,’ Matt said, and I took a sharp inhale.

He glanced at me. Once. Twice. Then nodded towards the road. ‘She’ll be fine. She has to be.’

Yeah, she had to be fine. ‘She always was, wasn’t she?’ I hissed at him, but I realised what it was as soon as it tore out of me – just shifting the blame.

Matt just drew his brows together without retorting.

I knew he rode that thought. And I knew he loved her enough to feel the same thing.

I tapped at the side of my seat, noticing a hollow square shape in the distance – like a grave too large to fit in hell. There wasn’t a fucking thing in the vicinity, just dust and trees.

He was there with her.

Travis should never have been released.

Sentences like his didn’t just dissolve. Someone had helped him. Pointed straight at her.

How else would he have found her?

He’d crawled back out of the dark for her. And I hadn’t killed him when I had the chance – back when I’d watched him standing in front of my burning building. Back when I’d chased him out of her flat.