Page 31 of Merciless Attraction

“What now?” I ask.

“Natalie’s home and said there’s a package waiting for me. It says it’s from my old New York address, but she doesn’t want to open it.”

“Well, if you’re going to work, we can swing by and pick it up before I drop you off,” I tell her.

She agrees and we finish up breakfast to head over to her apartment. When we arrive, Damian pulls the door open before Gemma can put her key into the lock.

“Jeezus, Damian, don’t do that.” Gemma shrieks before shoving him out of the way.

I hold my hand out to shake his, but he’s standoffish at best, seething with fury at worst. He grips me by the arm to stop me from following Gemma into her apartment.

“I don’t care what you’ve done for Bash, if you hurt Gemma-- “

This time I stop him, snatching my arm out of his grasp. “I’ve been putting my body through every kind of hurt to keep her safe. I’ve mutilated a corpse and as of this morning, I just quit my job to be here for her. I have no intention of hurting her, Damian.”

I stop just shy of telling him that I’ve always loved her. Well, not always, but from the moment we shared a kiss so many years ago, she’s the only woman I’ve thought about. Bash was happy to get rid of me, shipping me off to the west coast to distance myself from the New York faction of the Marzano organization. I couldn’t say no because of all that they’ve done for me.

So, I left.

Now that I have Gemma in my life,and in my bed, I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her there.

“NO!” Gemma shouts from inside her apartment.

Damian follows me as I rush inside to see Gemma sitting on her loveseat with her knees pulled into her chest. There’s a bullet on the table beside the package that’s barely big enough to hold a deck of cards.

I kneel down to look at it, not wanting to put my prints on something that could be tied to a murder or any other crime.

“Someone knows what we did to Frankie. They saw me or heard me talking about those stupid bullet holes,” Gemma rambles.

I shake my head as I pick up the package since it’s clearly marked with actual postage. There’s no telling how many sets of prints are on it. There’s still something inside of it, and I shake it loose onto the coffee table.

A rose-gold cross on a broken rosary gleams in the sunlight streaming through her living room window blinds. Gemma’s eyes grow wide, letting her feet move back to the floor and inching closer to the rosary beads like it’s calling her.

“That’s impossible. Someone’s fucking with me,” Gemma says, shaking her head in disbelief.

“What’s impossible, Gemma?” I ask her. “Where is this from?”

“It’s mine. It’s the rosary beads that Mom gave me after I graduated, before they left for Sicily. The last time I wore them,” she pauses and touches her neck as if the memory is embedded in the soft skin under her trembling jaw. “The last time I wore them was the night I killed Steve.”

“WHAT?” Damian and I exclaim simultaneously.

“Who the fuck is Steve?” I ask her.

Damian storms into her kitchen, turns on the water and grabs a sponge. He starts rubbing aggressive circles along the countertop while shaking his head.

“I knew that asshole was trouble. Didn’t I tell you that he was a piece of shit?” Damian grinds out every word through clenching teeth.

“Shit, why is he cleaning now?” Natalie asks as she comes down to join us in Gemma’s living room.

“Because I told them about Steve,” Gemma replies.

“You are the worst person at keeping secrets,” Natalie huffs with a shake of her head.

“Who is Steve and why is he dead?” I ask the question again.

“The thing I ran from back in New York, Antonio. Steve used me to get close to my brothers. At least, he tried.” Gemma admits. “When Bash, Casper, and Damian decided to ignore him, Steve broke up with me and then broke into our house.”

Damian stops scrubbing to look up. “Wait a minute. That’s not what you told us. You said you came home, and someone broke in, but no one was there. What the fuck happened, Gem?”

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