Page 80 of Malevolent Secrets

Even if it kills me, and it just might, I wasn't lying when I promised her that I wouldn't touch her unless she asked me to. She releases a shaky breath and steps back.

“Sorry, I…” She shakes her head.

“There's a lot of things happening, a lot of things that I clearly don't know about. With Renee, and Massimo…”

“Ask me what you want to know.”

She stares at me for a while, eyes dancing.

“Do you know who I am?”

“Yes.”

She gasps and takes another step back. I can only imagine what she is feeling right now.

“All this time, I thought I was lying to you, I thought I was getting closer to outsmarting you and figuring out the truth, and…you were just letting me?”

“Daniella…”

“Did you really think that little of me? Tiny little Daniella, there's fuck-all she can do even if she finds out the truth, is that what you thought?”

“Daniella…”

There's tears in her eyes again and it feels like a punch in my chest when they spill over onto her cheeks.

“Y-you slept with me, I'm having your baby and all this time you knew that I was Jeremy’s fiancé?”

“Yes.”

“Why?” The question explodes from her, and I swallow. It’s the one thing I cannot answer because…

“I don't know.”

She steps up to me again, so close that I can feel her body heat.

“Were you going to kill me?”

“No. Never. Daniella, I…”

She moves away from me again before I can finish speaking. She’s like an elusive dream.

“Did you kill him?”

“Would you believe me if I said no?”

“No. Because it’s what you do, it’s who you are. All around you is chaos and destruction. You lie, you deceive, and you use people to your own ends, for your own gain, not caring what it does to them. I know you're capable of every vile thing without remorse.”

I school my face into a blank expression, but hearing her speak this way is the closest thing to pain I've felt since the day I got the call that my mother had cancer and she would not survive. Dani’s words are rapid-fire shots straight to my heart.

I've heard these words before, from the mouths of people facing the barrel of my gun, from men I work with, even women I’ve fucked have said all of this to me. Never, never has it ever hit me as hard as hearing her say these words.

She shakes her head and turns her back to me. I think she’s crying but doesn’t want me to see. When she turns back to me, her eyes are red.

“I want to go home.”

“I’m afraid that can’t happen.”

“So I am a prisoner here.”

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