Page 20 of Venus

“I’ll get to that. First, though, I have some things to confess to you. You’re going to listen to everything, then we’re gonna discuss it. Then, we’re gonna get our asses back to Grim Road.”

“You said Gio told us to go to Bane.”

“I did. But I’m not ready for that, and I want Crush and Byte involved in this.”

“What about Wylde? He’s just as good and has been helping us already so he knows what to look for.”

“Giovanni thinks there’s safety in numbers.”

Her gaze slid away from me, her brow furrowing in concentration. “You said Victor is tracking me.”

“According to Giovanni, yes.”

“Again… Giovanni knows this how?” Yeah, this was gonna be bad. The expression on her face said she was angry, but not exactly surprised.

“Don’t know how long he’s known or how he knows, but that’s what the man said, and he refused to elaborate. At least not over the phone.”

“I have satphone. Should be secure since it’s Gio’s.”

“Mine is too, baby. He still refused to tell me.”

“So you know him too.” It wasn’t a question.

“I do. He hired me a long time ago. I wouldn’t say we were friends, but we’re more than acquaintances.”

“Hired you to do what?”

“To keep an eye on you.”

Chapter Nine

Venus

I felt blood drain from my face, then flush in absolutefury. “Keep eye on me.”

“Yes.”

“How long, Piston?” I clenched my hands into fists, my nails digging into my palms. The pain grounded me as points pierced my flesh.

“Since the day you first met Giovanni.”

“Blyad!” I shoved away, needing to put space between us. I felt like when I had to get on airplane. Panic seized me, making it hard to breathe. Only this was much, much worse. “Was all this” -- I waved my hand back and forth between us -- ”Just so you could stay in my life? Did you think I’d roll over, let you do whatever Giovanni told you to with me? Did you --” I had to gasp for breath and loathed myself for it. This was weakness I could not afford to show. “Was this all honey trap?”

Piston gave a humorless laugh. “Baby, the only person trapped in this relationship is me. I was trapped from the day I first laid eyes on you. Anything I did earlier was more for me than you because I’ve been in love with you for a fuckin’decade.”

I gasped in another much-needed breath, not sure if I could believe him, but wanting to with all my heart. And that was a problem. My sisters were only people I could honestly say I loved. Everyone in MCs I worked with I considered mine to protect, but I wasn’t certain I could honestly say I loved any of them. Maybe. If push came to shove, though, I could sacrifice them all.Maybe. But Piston? I’d gone from him being annoyance to getting used to him. Somewhere along way I’d grown to rely on him. He had my back even if I felt need to push him away. I knew he wasn’t going anywhere so I felt safe doing so. After what he’d done to me few hours before, I realized I might possibly feel more for him than I should. With my stomach rebelling now, I knew I was fucked.

I was in love with Piston. And everything I thought I knew about him was possibly lies.

“Ulyana…” Piston didn’t move closer to me, but he was watching me like hawk. Probably afraid I was going to eviscerate him. Or run. While I wanted badly to do former, I was afraid I was going to do latter. And that just pissed me off.

“It was Giovanni, wasn’t it? He told you my name.” I remembered him using it before and knew something was off.

“He did.”

“How much did he tell you about me?”

“He kept the personal stuff to a minimum. Honestly, I don’t think he considers anything personal to be important unless it directly affects the situation at hand. If he knew a situation would have an adverse effect on you he wasn’t certain you could power through, he’d tell me, but otherwise, the only thing personal I really know is that you had a rough plane ride escaping Victor with Millie and that you have issues flying now.”

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