Page 116 of Pretty Little Lies

“Then I’m gonna give her to Ramsey and pray to God that he doesn’t tear her apart in the process.”

Reeve jolts upward from his resting place, introducing his Glock to the back of Emilio’s head from a few feet away. “You force her into marrying anyone, Wildes, and I’m gonna blow your head off right here.”

I run my hand across my neck, the universal sign forstop,but Reeve’s already got that look in his eye that he’s one bad word away from making Emilio’s brain scatter along my polished floors.

“Fuck you,” Reeve signs with one hand, glowering at me because I’m not taking this seriously enough.

I mean, I wasn’t.

Until he brought my big brother into the mix.

“If you want her to sit in your spot,” I tell Emilio, “giving her to Ramsey isn’t going to make her last the next year.”

“Then you’re to blame for her death, since you can’t keep your morals out of the way,” he professes.

“How about we just finish you right here?” Reeve provokes. “I got no problem facing the consequences.”

I motion with my hands as subtly as I can. “Chill out.”

“You’re not marrying her.”

“I know.”

“Stop with the signing bullshit and say what you got to say, Stanton,” Emilio snaps, glimpsing over his shoulder at the man who’s about to blow him away. He’s seen enough and too many times that Cairo and Reeve learned to sign so they could communicate with me in secret.

And, if Emilio was smart, he would’ve picked it up to make sure I wasn’t plotting behind his back.

Which I am.

“I’ve claimed Bay,” Reeve professes. “I saved her that night. I?—”

“No Stanton boy is gonna be marrying my only daughter,” Emilio returns, turning his body back straight. “Especially one who enjoys incest.”

“Watch it,” I warn, more to Emilio than Reeve. “Talkin’ shit in our place of business isn’t going to bode well.”

“I’m telling you what’s not going to happen,” he retorts evenly. “His father was a waste of space. Pulling from the Titans when Penn got locked up. Afraid of having to fight?—”

“Did you have something to do with my father’s disappearance?” Reeve snarls.

“No,” Emilio asserts, sounding almost bored. “And don’t ask me why you should believe me. He showed me how weak he was when he yanked out of the Titans, then he was no use to me.”

“Sounds an awful like a yes.”

“Sounds awfully like a waste of my time.” Emilio jerks his head toward the door. “Get him out of here so he can go cry somewhere else. I’m not about to listen to advice from a little shithead who likes to get his dick hard while raping some innocent—” The distinct click of a hammer sounds and I’ve heard it a million times in my lifetime. The bullet that lies behindit where Emilio is still treading that line of finally getting fucked up.

Reeve isn’t going to let this go and I don’t blame him.

I’m not either.

He’s like a fucking pitbull, and he’s already latched onto Bay. He’s never letting her go.

“Boy,” Emilio warns, his blue eyes directed furiously at me. “If you don’t get that damn gun off me, I’ll kill you for it later.”

Reeve steps closer, gaze fixated on the back of Emilio’s head. “You’re not about to use my girl…for some fucked-up fantasy that you have to keep your old ass in power.” He shoves the barrel of the Glock into the back of Emilio’s skull, causing his head to lean forward. “Torin already told you no. I said no. The answer…it’s fucking no.”

“Torin…you better get your boy, or you’re not gonna have him much longer in this world.”

I lift a brow. “Is that another threat, old man? I don’t like those.”

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