Page 66 of The Marriage Auction 2: Part 4

The man was evil incarnate. I’m not sure Angel or Diego planned for any of this—Angus and his daughter sitting down to have dinner with us. Why hadn’t they just captured them when they entered? I should have asked more questions.

“It didn’t ruin the fun when my beloved Dimitri sabotaged the small charter plane that took down Rachel and Lewis Myers and Valentino and Caterina Falco now did it?” Bianca cooed.

Both Christophe and I gasped in utter horror and shock, neither of us able to form a single word at hearing how our beloved friends had been ruthlessly murdered.

Angus sat back and rubbed his chin. “You are right, my dear, watching that happen was indeed fun.”

“Why?” I breathed, tears filling my eyes. “They didn’t do anything to you.”

He lifted his free hand and wiggled his pointer finger. “Ah, ah, ah, but they did. At least, Lewis and Rachel did. If you recall, Lewis was my client, and Rachel one of my candidates. They were your first big payout from the auction, were they not?”

Dread flooded my veins at the truth he spoke. “They were.”

“They were the catalyst to your success. Your first love match that came with a fat paycheck to fuel your business further. I considered that a personal slight. So when I spent ten years in prison, planning your demise, I had a lot of people to add to the list of suffering. When the Myers had children, well, you know how that went, seeing as both are now dead, along with Giovanni Falco. I consider him a bonus.” Angus smiled wickedly.

“You planted that bomb.” I gulped. “It wasn’t an accident,” I croaked. I knew Bianca had been responsible for the explosion in the office building, but I also knew that Angel and Diego were clever men. They’d have this place mic’d for sound. If Christo and I ended up dead, I wanted proof of all that Angus and Bianca had done in the hopes this conversation would make it back to the authorities.

“That was easy.” Bianca yawned as though bored of this conversation already. “Daddy had me well-trained for the job.”

“And you were the one that forged the legal documents for the Myers will and testament?” I asked.

“Guilty.” She winked. “Criminals these days don’t know how to play the long game. I’ve been trained to take over their empire since the age of ten. It was nothing to start with Giovanni, whom I knew was close to the Myers. He was a beautiful man and easy to wrap around my little finger.” Then her expression contorted into irritation. “Until I realized the asshole was in love with Julianne. The second he introduced me as his girlfriend to Julianne, I knew he had a thing for her. It was in every look he gave her, every smile, every longing glance when she left a room. Which was fine with me, because the man I was after was his best friend, Brenden. Obviously, the money was way better with the Falcos, but that didn’t fit into our plan, did it, Daddy?”

Angus pointed to her pregnant belly. “No, it didn’t. You needed to be pregnant with the rightful heir to the entire Myers estate for our revenge to be complete.”

“So the baby is…”

“Brenden’s, as planned,” Bianca confirmed, and my body lurched, the pain of knowing she carried my godson’s child was all encompassing.

“And you killed him. A man who was completely in love with you. Ruined his friendship with Gio, ruined his relationship with his sister… What kind of monster are you?” I growled, the pain of all she’d done to my chosen family shredding my heart into a million tiny pieces.

“Casualties of war, I’m afraid.” Bianca lifted her chin haughtily.

“This isn’t war. This is revenge. Against me. Yet you hurt innocent people to achieve what? What is the end goal?”

“Ultimately, I want to see you suffer the way I did,” Angus growled, pulled his hand out of his jacket, and pointed a gun at Christophe’s head. “But it’s not enough. I want to watch you as I destroy the one person you love above any other…”

“No!” I screamed at the top of my lungs as a shot rang out.

Episode 107

No More Secrets

GIOVANNI

The sun shimmered and reflected its glorious light across the top of the lake. I breathed in the crisp air, celebrating the fact that I could even do such a simple thing. A week ago, I’d been in an explosion. Not many people could claim such a thing and live to tell about it. The many wounds on my back and legs were proof of such a miracle. I should have died in that bombing. I’d been lucky.

The real miracle, though, was walking toward me. Her head tilted to the side, her long red hair flowing out behind her. She’d lost quite a bit of weight, which I hated. I loved her full-figure hourglass shape with curves for days. She still had them, but the strain and stress of everything that had happened over the past month had taken its toll in more ways than one.

“Hey.” I reached my arm out.

She took my hand. “Did Maggie give you the sign-off to walk around outside?”

“It’s more like shuffling slowly, but yes, she thought the fresh air would do me some good. Did she send you out here to check on me?”

Jules grinned and shook her head. “No, I came looking for you after I found something concerning in your office.”

My eyebrows rose of their own accord. “Oh?”

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