Page 89 of Sins and Secrets

“I went to an Ivy League school.”

“You failed and didn’t graduate.” There’s a gasp from Carol. Oops. I guess they didn’t know.

“I have a successful job.”

“He makes $250 an hour,” I counter.

“I fucking saved you from his shit,” Adam says, and my stomach sinks to my feet. No. No. Oh, no. I shake my head, silently begging him to stop talking. “I found his pathetic little journal and threw it out before you wasted your life on him, a loser who draws on junkies.”

Strike three.

“You threw out the journal?” Lukas says in a hushed tone.

“OH, SHIT!” Darren yells from the back of the room.

There are general whispers of ‘What journal?’ coming from the crowd of people.

Adam shakes his head. “I tried being nice about this.” He pulls out a glock from his inside pocket. The room gasps but I’m unphased, even as he points the gun at my head.

Lukas grabs me and pushes me behind him. I’m vaguely aware of the movement around the room, but time stops as I duck under Lukas’s arm and step forward. “You won’t shoot me. You might shoot him, not me.” My voice is icy and cool.

He’s jumpy, edgy, the last braincells of rational thinking imploded a while ago “What the fuck do you know?”

“There’s a million things I know. For instance, you don’t have the balls to be a killer.”

There’s a blur of motion. Adam’s arm snaps back and the gun arcs behind him in the air. A pair of hands catch the gun, drop the bullets from the magazine, then tosses the gun to the man next to him who pops the bullet out of the chamber. Uri and Dimitri are standing behind the spot where Adam once stood threatening my life. Alana has his arm twisted behind him, her knee on his back and his face pressed into the carpet.

“My friends were trained by the KGB,” I add, because it sounds fucking cool.

Uri glances at Adam and sneers, “I literally hate everything Waverly said before Alana kicked your ass.” My old friend looks up at me, sad and pained. “Wave, you should’ve come to us.”

Dimitri’s hand is on Uri’s arm. “Now is not the time. We have other matters to attend to.”

Alana calls out, “Darren, secure the room,” and he starts to usher the family away from the scene and pushes them out toward the hallway.

Lukas stands by me, refusing to leave. Alana tsks her tongue. “Some boyfriend you are. Can’t even disarm an assailant with a gun.”

“I didn’t read that in the boyfriend handbook.”

“Which edition did you read?” Alana asks, but turns her attention to Adam on the floor. “Sooo, how long have you been The Deviant’s little bitch?”

“Fuck you.”

Uri shakes his head, “Wrong answer,” as he stomps on the back of Adam’s leg.

Adam yells and cries, “A while.”

“What did he ask you to do?” Dimitri asks as Alana pulls Adam’s arm back, and there’s an audible pop before he bellows.

“I owe him money, a lot. I wasn’t really going to do it. I swear. I tried to buy time by mortgaging my parents’ house. I’m so close to paying him off.”

Uri grabs one of Adam’s fingers and says, “You’re not answering the question.” There’s another snap of bone.

“He wanted Waverly.”

The color drains from my face. Me? But I’m not a part of the Four Families. There’s an unspoken conversation happening between Alana, Dimtiri and Uri but Lukas wraps me into his chest and holds me.

Uri pulls his phone out and starts talking. “Yeah. No, we got him. We’re going to bring him back soon.” He looks over at me and drops his eyes. “Tell Thiago he was right about Wave… on both things,” he says darkly. “And she has a new guy.” Uri squints at Lukas and then punches Dimitri in the arm. “You know that’s the guy you were supposed to put a hit on. What the fuck happened?”

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