Page 56 of Cage of Thorns and Blood

Three pm, she stopped at Starbucks.

On and on it goes.

My stomach drops as if I'm freefalling. He's been spying on me. How long? With shaking fingers, I flick through the pages. The dates go back week after week, month after month.

Oh my God.

He's been planning this for ages. Things fall horribly into place.

He brought me here under false pretenses, and that's something I had already realized.

This, though, is another level of betrayal, and frankly it's sociopathic.

He doesn’t have any feelings for me at all. His spying on me proves nothing more than he's using me as a pawn in some sick and twisted game. I touch my still sore lips, chafed from how much kissing we've done. I let him in. I let him in my body, but worse—I let him in my mind, and if I'm being truly honest, in my heart.

I pause at a page while there isn't the usual mundane dates and times and lists of what I've been doing. Instead, it's a note, almost as if he's reminding himself of why he's doing this.

Sickness washes over me as I see the name Duncan.

The words fade in and out on the page.

Betrayed me with my best friend. Doesn’t whore around. Is flirtatious with lots of men but doesn’t fuck many. Did she enjoy her time with Duncan? I’ll make her forget his name.

Then he’s drawn a love heart around my name and a snake wrapped around it, eating the heart.

The drawing is quite good but terrifying.

Is he insane?

Holy fuck. This isn't just about business and destroying my family.

He wants to destroy me.

He's never forgiven me for what I did.

The urge to smash everything in this room is overwhelming, but I ruthlessly push it down. How dare he? He was the one who betrayed me. He laughed at me behind my back, and then he went and married a De Luca bitch and humiliated me.

His ego is so fragile that he can't bear the fact that I had a tiny bit of vengeance on him and spent one night with his friend. This is some serious dark triad shit. I lived with Nico and my mother, so I know what narcissistic behavior looks like. This is it. This is worse; this is unhinged on another level.

He lured me into his web and for what? To get his revenge on me for sleeping with Duncan? Is he even going to act on the information that I give my family? Perhaps it's nothing more than a test. Perhaps he will sit back and laugh when he sees that I've given them the false information he supplied. Maybe, it's nothing but a test and a game. He’ll screw me, see how far I’ll go for him, and then throw me away, ego repaired.

Once I’ve calmed down enough to commence breathing properly, I take out the first brown envelope and open the top. Reaching inside, my fingers touch glossy paper, and I pull it out. I gasp and step back as the photographs fall over the desk.

There is picture after picture of me. It's the most mundane things. Me going to the hair salon. Returning from the gym. Grabbing some groceries.

I clap my hand over my mouth and stare in horror at everything in front of me.

I will kill him.

Fuck him.

Raging, I sweep all the pictures up and slip them back into the envelope.

Then I dig further and find a checking account book. Nice. One thing I know is how to copy a signature. I got very good at it when I was young because I needed Babbo’s permission for various things, and he rarely granted it.

Rummaging around, I finally find what I want. A letter signed by Matteo. I spend my time copying his signature, until I think I have it exactly right. Then I write myself a check for two hundred thousand pounds, and date it and sign it. Of course, he might not have that much money in the account, but I’d bet he does.

Then another thought hits me. I bet he has money hidden in here. The kind of business he’s in? It isn’t all checks and bank transfers. A lot of his work will be cash only.

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