Page 110 of The Merciless King

“She fucking knows.” I snort, annoyed that he lied.

I really thought he’d be honest with me, but I guess all gangsters are fucking liars.

“At best, she thinks it's weapons or drugs. Not...this.”

He can’t even say the damn words. But I don’t care about that. I’m stuck on what he just told me: not this.

This.

Does she really not know? Not know that the food she eats, the house over her head, the designer clothes she wears, and the yoga fucking teacher she meets with have all been paid for by money earned from human trafficking.

From selling them into slavery in some of the most dangerous and poor corners of the world.

What reason would Dante have to lie to me?

Zero.

In fact, it makes sense. Mafia women are historically kept in the dark.

But I asked her.

Fuck.

Fuck! She doesn’t know. How could she?

I was so damn angry with her all day. Our last day together. What a fucking waste.

I shake my head and remind myself it doesn’t matter.

I am not the man she loves.

I am Braxton Ashford, a United States Marine.

Soon, she’ll learn who I really am—or know that I’m a traitor—and hate me for what I’ve done. That’s the tough pill I’ll have to swallow.

I turn back to Dante, thinking how messed up this undercover gig is. It takes strength to keep your values hidden when confronted with them.

I don’t like this guy, and he’s dangerous as hell, but he’s taken a moment to protect Gianna—the woman I love—so I respect that.

“I’m leaving tonight,” I tell him. “Do me a favor.”

Dante nods.

“Keep an eye on her. Gianna is not as happy and carefree as she pretends to be.”

His dark eyes study me, a hand on the door handle. He could take my words to mean many things, which was a big risk for me to take.

“You love her,” he states.

It’s not a question. It’s a shared moment with two men who appear to be in the same situation, even though we are worlds apart.

In love with women we cannot have.

There is something about shared pain that seems to bond us. At least in this moment.

“Yes,” I say, then climb out of the SUV and send out a wish to the universe than I don’t pay with my life for admitting that.

Or that I have to kill him.

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