Page 65 of Mercy in Betrayal

“Don’t call me that. Don’t ever call me that again. You don’t care about me. Everything you’ve ever said or done has been nothing more than lies and machinations.”

“That’s not true. I—”

“I don’t want to see you again.” I force myself to meet each of their gazes. “I don’t want to see any of you.”

Turning on my heel, I walk out of the apartment and make my way to the elevator. I feel Enzo behind me, feel his heat and sheer strength of will reaching for me. I break into a jog.

“Let her go, Enzo. Give her some space to think,” Evie calls. Glancing over my shoulder, I see her grab at his arm. It forces him to pause for a brief second while he extricates himself without pissing Cassidy off.

“Fuck space. I’ve given her space ever since I married her; tried to give her time to come to terms with how things were going to be. That ends now.”

What?

I move faster, slipping into the elevator. Vivi is punching the button before I cross the threshold, seeing from the panic on my face what I need.

“Rowan!” His roar fills the corridor.

The doors close, blotting out his fury-filled face, and I slide to the floor, my knees suddenly weak. I look up into Vivi’s sympathy-filled face.

“Can Clem and I stay at your place tonight?”

Chapter 23

Enzo

“What are you doing?” Tom barks down the cell line. I angle my head, looking up at the Marzano mansion several yards distant on the busy New York street. Passers-by stroll past with their ear buds and packages, oblivious to the drama unfolding before them.

The building sits squarely between several high-rise buildings, not as tall but no less grand with its white stone facade. It’s a beautiful, stately building, art deco in style, that has been a fixture of New York for well over a century.

Its loss would be a loss for the city, not just for the Marzano family.

“What needs to be done.” I had looked at Tom as a father, and he had withheld information from me. He’s inside the Marzano edifice somewhere, doing something while he speaks to me.

“You have to look at this reasonably, Enzo.”

I scoff at that. “Reason. You knew he took part in the death of my brother.”

I expect Tom to capitulate and admit he was fucking wrong, but that’s not what happens. “He worked the Pits, as lots of men did. People fought. Only one survived.”

“That’s a cop out, and you know it,” I reply and glance up at Marzano home. Sirens wail somewhere distant, a prescient backdrop to my planning. “What are you doing at the moment, Tom?”

It sounds like he’s moving when he responds. “I know you're angry…”

I cut him off. “No, I'm not angry, Tom. I've gone beyond anger.”

“If I had told you, you would have gone on a killing spree. I mean, when your father died, I would have thought it was you who’d killed him, only you weren’t in the country.”

“You should have told me,” I say, ready to hang up.

“Where are you?” Tom asks, his voice calmer.

“Where I need to be,” I say, and this time I do hang up.

I slip the phone into my pocket and walk to the front of the Marzano mansion, up a set of broadly-spaced marble steps. Two guards stop me at the door. I smile at them. “I’m here to see Tom.”

One of the security guards lifts his wrist that has a small intercom on it and speaks into it while keeping his gaze fixed on me.

I lose the smile as I wait. I’m not feeling very patient, but it doesn’t take long for Tom to come through the double front doors. His skin goes pale when he sees me.

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