Page 16 of Come to Head

He didn’t care about the history he and Oliver shared. It wouldn’t matter.

“I think before we get into that there’s something else you both need to be aware of.” He lifted his lips as if to smile, before baring his teeth at them. “You two and Yara all ought to look into vetting your security teams better. I’m Emilio, but you also know me by the names of Milo or perhaps even Emil.”

They both opened their mouths in shock; Oliver’s face whitening, Maddox’s hold on Isa noticeably tightening.

“There is something else you need to get straight. Isa and I have history. She is, and always has been,mine.”

“This is what you were doing when I asked you to watch after her? Keep her safe from that asshole of a step-father? You were getting closer? Crawling your disgusting vines into her orbit? She is too good for you. You’re a fucking killer,” Oliver’s hushed whisper did nothing to dispel the obvious vitriol he spat at Emilio.

“Aren’t we all?” Emilio relaxed his shoulders, his head leaning back as he finally ripped his attention from Isa.

Everything Emilio touched turned into destruction. Bloody. Chaos.

That was why he told Isa he couldn’t be with her. Why he promised her a summer.

One summer.

But then she said those fucking words.

“She loves me.” Emilio didn’t bother to look at the men when he said it. Those words had shifted the course of his life, they had upended all of his previous plans, dissipated his need for revenge.

He knew Oliver and Maddox wouldn’t take it well, wouldn’t believe him. They would have to continue this conversation when Isa was awake to tell her side.

“Bullshit,” Oliver barked out. It was a harsh noise. Nails against a chalkboard.

Except, maybe it was just Oliver’s voice. ItirritatedEmilio. Because Emilio knew Oliver wasn’t a good man. Oliver hid behind his suits, his false smile, his pretty boy features. But Emilio knew the truth.

Had witnessed his depravity firsthand.

“I don’t care if you believe me or not, it’s the truth.” He finally looked to the men, his hands going to his knees, he tipped his head forward as if to share a secret. “And let’s get one thing straight here. You may not have known it was me, but I have been helping you ‘handle’ Isa’s issues for years. Or have you already forgotten? The ex-boyfriends? The cameras? The tracking? All of it. I am Milo, remember? I know your dirty fucking secrets, and maybe you told her part of it. But does she know the lengths you two went to? The men that you had removed from her life? That you set up each and every one of her relationships for failure? Sure, I was happyto help, but you two were the ones calling the shots. Are you going to tell her aboutHarry?”

The last decade had been exhausting. Living between New York and Florida. Keeping tabs on his family and Isa. But it had all been worth it.

He hadn’t managed to conquer the town, but he was already one step closer.

“Youwouldn’t, it would implicate you too.” Oliver’s eyes met Emilio’s.

Bright blue, like a robin’s fucking egg. He was the boy next door, an assuming assailant. It pissed off Emilio.

“And? I’m not the one that wrapped myself in a pretty package and called myself a good man. She knows who I am. She searched for me after we were separated, discovered my family’s connections andindiscretions. I told her as much when we were together. Yet she still fell into my arms after I found her on that roof, just like I had all those years ago.”

“The roof?” Maddox finally spoke up again.

Emilio surveyed them both.

They didn’t even know that much?

He bared his teeth, his nostrils flaring. “Does she even trust you two? Or have you forced her to? Isolated her from any otherhealthyrelationship. Do you think maybe without the two of you in her life she might have been happy?” Emilio was applying pressure to their nerves, doing his best to poke and prod at Oliver. He didn’t like this version, he wanted to see the one he had met all those years ago. The one coated in blood.

“And what about you? How long have you been watching from the shadows like a fucking creep? Why didn’t you do something, say something? What were you waiting for?” Oliver’s voice was a knife scratching a plate.

Grima.Emilio had heard that word a lot growing up and it is what he felt now.Disgust.

Emilio heaved a sigh. They were almost to his home now, and he watched as the front gate swung open to allow them in. He always wondered if the gate was for his protection or for the rest of the town’s.

“I promised her 10 years. She had those years to find a healthier, easier,saferlife. But instead, she stayed in the lives of aprettymonster”–Emilio turned from Oliver and finally took in Maddox–“and a brute with a chip on his shoulder who has a death count longer than my own.”

Maddox narrowed his eyes. “It appears you did your homework on me. I’m guessing you know all of the bits and pieces of my despicable past. And I understand that you arethreateningus. I get it, but I am offering you this. I will trust you for Ellie’s sake, but the moment you hurt her–and I know youwillhurt her—you will see exactly why my death count is so high. Did your background check show how many of those were done with my bare hands? Do you know how to kill a man without your gun? Without a weapon? Don’t play with me,boy.” Maddox’s guttural voice was thick with rage.

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