Page 93 of Love Him Like Water

Even if he did, a bitter part of my brain thought, he would likely only want me back to save face in front of his family.

It wasn’t about me.

It was never about me.

I was just a willing participant in his scheme.

A woman eager to say I do.

A body in his bed that happily responded to his touch when he needed a release.

Even a mouth willing to relieve his stress.

Not an actual wife.

Not, really, even a person.

And no amount of hopeless devotion on my part was going to change the reality of the situation.

No amount of loving him could make him love me back.

As much as I wanted to deny it, though, I still did.

Love him.

I loved him like water, like air, like something necessary for survival. A part of myself that couldn’t be extracted.

Pressing my hands to my aching, swollen eyes, I willed myself to stop thinking of it, of him, of the pain that seemed sharper with each passing moment.

To just… drift away.

Into the nothingness of sleep.

Away from this reality I wanted so badly to escape.

Only to wake up to his voice.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Renzo

We finally had a fucking lead.

Dav had just so happened to be in one of our local stores, picking up a drink, when someone came in saying they were there to pick up for the Lombardis.

Thankfully, I’d already spoken to him about how I was going to be the only bagman for a while, so it would be easier for us to find out who was trying to fuck me, and all of us, over.

He’d dragged the guy into the bathroom, then called me.

I grabbed Rico, then we were off, ready to finally get some goddamn answers.

Despite running this area, dragging an unwilling man out of a building, into a car, and then out onto the street again wasn’t exactly easy.

This area was full of tourists or non-locals who might not know who I was, who didn’t know enough to mind their own goddamn business.

It was risky as fuck to pull the zip-tied and duct taped man out of the backseat right there in the broad daylight.

And this particular fuck had a lot of fight in him, wrenching back and forth between Dav and Rico as I followed behind, all of us heading into the same room I’d used to beat the shit out off the guy who’d put his hands on Lore.

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