Page 155 of Grumpy Billionaire Bad Boy

My mind races, the memory flooding in without my consent. Chest tightening, I hate that Ricardo still has this effect on me, even in his death.

"How are you so strong?" Archer tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.

"I'm not strong."

"You lived your entire life with him. London, you're covered in scars, and I can only imagine the ones that don't show, the psychological warfare he put you through. It isn't right. I'm sorry you ever had to go through that." He pauses. "Never again. I promise you, never again."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Archer."

Archer runs his thumb over my cheek and cups my face in his hand. "If it's the last thing I do, London, I swear to you, I will not let your father haunt you.I will not let Vito take you. I will die before that happens."

"How are you going to keep your promise if you're dead?"

"Just trust me, please." Archer leans closer, putting his lips to my forehead, kissing softly, then pressing another on my nose, each cheek, and finally, my mouth. "Trust me, London. I've got you."

I kiss him back, knowing damn well I'm being selfish. Archer might think he can handle this situation but there's a reason the Joes and the Ricardos of the world get away with shit like this, and no matter what he does, the only way out of this is if someone dies.

I just haven't figured out which one of us that is yet.

Chapter 36

Archer

"Talk to me, give me good news," I say to Seven, hoping like hell he's going to give me some kind of leverage against Vito so this shitstorm can be behind us once and for all.

"I've got good news and I've got bad news," Seven tells me as he steps into my apartment. "The good news is that Joe Vito has a ton of enemies, the bad news is that it's pretty much everyone he comes into contact with. No one likes the guy. Literally. Not a single person he's in business with has a good thing to say about him. I wouldn't be surprised if the guy hates himself, too."

"Fuck," I blurt out and go back to my computer to keep combing through his financials, looking for anything I can use. Joe has terrible spending habits, that's for sure, but it's nothing out of the ordinary for your common criminal with money.

He blows money on drugs, escorts, bottle service, private jets—the typical shit that only raises the IRS's red flags, not mine.

"Where's London?" Seven asks me, my attention turning to him.

"Why?"

"I wanted to see if she's talked to Grace."

"Oh." I don't know what I expected him to say, but that checks out. "She's in the bedroom. Knock first."

Seven goes over, actually listening to me and alerting London before barging in. Whoever this person is that is possessing my psychotic little brother, I hope they stick around.

I lean back, trying to think of any possible angle I can use to my advantage, hating myself for taking so fucking long to come up with a solution that doesn't end in my entire family being murdered because I fell for the wrong girl.

There's that fucking thought again—love.

I don't want it to be, the last girl almost ruining me for good when she broke my heart, but how can I ignore the feelings that won't seem to stop growing? If I can just solve this fucking problem, then I could process what it is I feel for her and figure out what it is. Maybe we could go on a proper date and get to know each other for who we really are, not the select few parts of us we chose to share. For the brunt of our relationship, London was hiding her entire identity from me, and I wasn't exactly being truthful with her about who I was, either.

I want to start over, but how is that possible when so much has already happened?

How can we begin when we've already been sabotaged?

Another day goes by and I'm nowhere closer to figuring out how to fix what's been done.

I can't erase what I did to the Manor brothers, and there isn't anything I can offer Joe to get him to give up his pursuit to take what's mine. I even reached out to Silver, asking him to use his contacts out West to try to come up with something to help me save everyone.

That’s when it hits me, maybe I don't have to saveeveryone.

"Archer?" London says from the doorway of the bedroom in our apartment.

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