Page 29 of Cruel Devil

“I know you don’t want me involved,” she whispers. “It’s dangerous. I could get hurt. Bla-fucking-bla.”

“Killed,” I slip in smoothly between her sentences.

“But there’s no fucking way you or any of your guys are getting in there without being seen. They’ll spot your tan a mile away.”

“Are you saying I’m too Colombian for your Irish fuckbuddy’s club?”

Color stains her cheeks. “Ease up on the whole ‘my wife got fucked by an Irish gangster’ thing, okay? Liam made sure that never happened.” She twists her hands, pulling out of my grip so easily it’s obvious she let me hold onto her. “And while you’re at it, don’t ever start up with Liam again. He’s been my only friend for years.”

She sits back, arms crossed, like our conversation is done.

“You do realize your friend told O’Brien where to find your sisters?”

Her chin quivers. “No.”

“Nyx, it’s the only?—“

“Not Liam,” she spits out, jaw bunching as she wages a visible battle to control herself. “It must have been his dad.”

“Does it matter? The Brennan’s betrayed you.”

“Of course it fucking matters!” She faces me in a rush, fists slamming down on the console between us with a loud thump. “I’ve trusted Liam from the moment I met him, Caesar, and if I was wrong about that too…if he sold me out, my sisters…” Her blue eyes fill with tears that she blinks back fervently. “Then my whole life’s a fucking lie.”

I let out a soft sigh through my nose. Cupping her face, I smudge a tear against her cheek that escaped her fluttering lashes.

“Everyone’s life is a lie. Day in, day out, we’re all pretending to be someone else.”

She studies me for a moment, then drops her gaze. “Then what’s the fucking point?”

I guide the SUV back onto the road, shaking my head.

“If you ever figure it out, let me know.”

Chapter 10

Savage

“The fuck took you so long?” Vito calls from across the room when I open the door to the cottage. “I called you like an hour ago.”

He swaggers up to meet us. His glassy eyes suggest the tumbler of whisky dangling from his side isn’t the first drink he’s had tonight.

“We were kinda busy,” Nyx mutters. She stands off to the side, peering around the room as if she’s never been inside a cottage with a bound captive before.

“Too busy to spend some quality time with your family?” Vito slings his arm over my shoulder and urges me closer to the woman we dragged in here earlier today.

Fuck. Guess I’ll have to add ‘kidnap and interrogate sister-in-law’ to my list of things that weren’t on my bingo card for this week. Might as well toss the thing out at this stage, because it’s obvious it’s not a winner.

Andy tugs restlessly at the ropes binding her in place. Besides the touch of red in said captive’s hair—and I’m convinced Viv either wears a wig or dyes her hair—I don’t see any resemblance to my father’s girlfriend.

It’s a very niche lie, easily disapproved, but suspicion is encouraged in a cartel.

I take a seat on the coffee table in front of Andy, and she eyes me just as suspiciously, although fuck knows why. I’m not even holding a knife. Vito brings me and Nyx a tumbler of whiskey. I take my glass and immediately set it down beside me.

I need a clear head right now.

“You didn’t think to tell us who you were when we saw you at Gomez’s house? We could have put a bullet in you.”

“Why? Who is she?” Nyx says as Vito settles beside her. She throws back her whisky, and he gives her a grim look when she holds out her empty glass in his direction.

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