Page 61 of Savage Rule

He laughs and I don’t like the sound of it one bit. “I didn’t have you followed, you jackass, because if you were up to no good, I didn’t want anyone else finding out.Isaw her going intoyour place with my own eyes. She’s probably there as we speak, isn’t she?”

I stare at him, searching for any hint of a reasonable man. Something that says he’ll behave like the brother he’s been to me if I confide in him. “Why didn’t you say something before?”

“Because I wanted to give you a chance to tell me yourself.” He lets out a breath, his shoulders dropping slightly. “Are you sleeping with her?”

I lean forward and pinch the bridge of my nose. There’s no point in denying it. “Yes.”

“I should never have let you go to New Orleans.”

“It would have happened anyway,” I confess.

Disappointment fills his gaze and he lets out a sarcastic huff. “Of course it would have, you were so fucking eager to go after her. But instead of getting Sofia’s location, you decided to fuck her!”

“I tried to get the damn location, Luca. She doesn’t know.”

“She tell you that before or after she got in your pants?”

“Fuck! She. Doesn’t. Know,” I repeat, this time punctuating the words so they hit home.

They don’t.

“You’re pussy whipped if you believe a murderer,” he hisses.

“Scarlet isn’t a murderer. She was doing what her boss ordered her to, just like I have.”

He glares at me. “I never ordered you to kill anyone in cold blood.”

“She didn’t do that, Luca. You saw Sergio’s photos yourself. She didn’t go through with the kill because itwouldhave been in cold blood.”

“And what about Carina?” he demands. “She killed her sister.”

I think of her for a moment. “Alma wasn’t the intended target. It was an accident.”

“An accident that took innocent blood,” he retorts.

“It was an acci…” I trail off as what he’s just said hits me.Innocent blood.I now know who the innocent blood that weighs so heavily on her soul belongs to. “It’s Alma,” I whisper.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

I remain quiet for a beat, my mind reeling from the sudden realization I’ve just had.

“Scarlet isn’t who you think she is,” I finally say.

“She’s the bad guy,” he tells me.

“So are we,” I remind him.

“She’s Gideon’s minion. Why are you defending her?”

“Because I fucking love her!” I blurt out before I can stop it.

“You love her?” His brows shoot up his forehead and his eyes bulge. But the shock doesn’t last long, replaced by a weariness that’s palpable. “You can’t love her, Gunn. She will turn on you. It’s only a matter of time.”

I shake my head. “She loves me too.”

“So that’s it? We say let bygones be bygones and accept her into our lives?”

“That is what family does,” I say.

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