Page 63 of Trouble

“Is it that easy for you?” I blurted. “Killing?” I didn’t know why, but the thought made me so angry. Or, strike that, I did know why. The two of them—they’d always seemed so full oflife.The thought of them taking one without an ounce of mercy made the sense of betrayal flare up again. How much had been a lie? All ofit?

“It’s never easy.” Liam’s voice was soft. “Never. But sometimes, there’s no other way. This is one of those times. If we don’t, we will sign over our own lives, our brothers’. Their wives, and Blaine’skid.”

“Yours,” Louis whispered, regret plain as day on his beautifulface.

My stomach lurched.“Mine?But I—” I was about to say I wasn’t involved in any of this, but then I remembered the two men who’d watched my windows late at night. I wasn’t hiding out in the wilderness for no reason. I took in a deep breath to calm myself. I’d asked to know everything, and throwing a tantrum would just convince them I wasn’t strong enough to handle thetruth.

“Have you killed before?” I asked. It was the one thing that’d looped in my mind over and over since they’d told me what theywere.

“Yes.” The pain on Louis’ face was mirrored in histwin.

“The night I came to you, I had to kill a man.” Liam’s voice was so hollow, it made my chest ache. I’d never thought I could pity a killer before, but I remembered what night he meant. I’d never seen so much agony as I had on his face when he cried in my arms that night. They weren’t cold-blooded killers, that much was certain. Something I hadn’t realized had been coiled tight in my chest eased as I looked at the sorrow written across both men sat in front of me. They might have been mafia, but they weren’t ruthless. They were criminals, but they werestill…

Still what, Audrey? Still the men who tricked you into falling in love with alie?

“Why did you trick me?” I hadn’t meant to ask. I’d promised myself I wouldn’t give them another chance to lie to me, but seeing them like this… so open and vulnerable… it pulled on me with an urgency I could hardly grasp. Ineededto know—I needed to understand how everything I’d felt for them could have been such a massivelie.

Liam looked to his side, at Louis, his brow arched inchallenge.

His twin looked sick, but he raised his gaze to face me. “I was scared,” hewhispered.

“Scared?” Somehow that confession made the rage I’d felt when I’d first realized they’d tricked me come roaring up from the depths of my very core. That part of me who’d felt the betrayal the deepest cried out, and I scrambled to my feet. “You werescared?What the fuck kind of explanation isthat?”

“Let me finish,” he said. His voice was still low, but there was firmness in it. He glanced at his brother, then returned his focus to me. “Please.”

I clamped my jaw shut, glaring at him, but managed a shortnod.

“Our father had someone watching us. He saw Liam with you, and I… The way Liam was acting, going to see your parents, behaving like a smitten teenager, I was afraid what would happen if our father threatened you. Our brother Marcus nearly got himself killed defending his girl, and I couldn’t…” Louis drew in a deep breath and shook his head as if to clear it of horrible images. “I couldn’t bear it if Liam got hurt because of somegirl.”

It hurt, hearing him call me that—“some girl.”I tried to ignore the irrational emotion as I stared at Louis. This wasn’t even the man I’d fallen in love with, not at first. Why did I care if he called me “somegirl”?

But that night on the cathedral balcony… that had been Louis. Not Liam. That night had changedeverything.

Who was I even in love with? The shock of that thought hit me like a ton of bricks. I didn’t know which of them my stupid heart ached for, because I’d fallen in love with both of them, thinking they were oneman.

“I decided to show him you were nothing special—just another girl,” Louis continued. “So I went to you and pretended to behim.”

“When?” I rasped out. “How long did youpretend?”

“Since Liam broke up with you. I was the one who convinced you to give me another chance. It’s been mesince.”

I shook my head at the onslaught of emotion. Somehow knowing was even worse. “Why? Why the fuck did you do that? He’d already… heleftme. Why did you make me fall for you, too?” I faintly realized I was shouting, but I didn’t care. I stood over him, hands balled into fists, daring him to make excuses for what he’ddone.

“I wanted to make sure… If he wavered, I needed him to know what he thought he felt wasn’t real.” Louis’ voice was still quiet in the face of my anger, but he kept his gaze locked in mine despite his obviousregret.

“That’s so cruel.” I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. They fell down my cheeks, and I wiped at my face, as the hurt echoed through me. “I was so fuckingbroken,and you pretended to… You pretended to be him, to want to make amends, just to… Yousleptwith me and held me while I cried…” I shook my head, unable tocontinue.

“I know. And I am so sorry, Audrey,” he said, his voice finally raising from a whisper. “I was scared and I was cruel, and I am so fuckingsorry.”

“I didn’t know he was pretending to be me,” Liam said. “If I had, I’d have put a stop toit.”

I swung around to level my glare at him. “How fucking noble of you,” I hissed. “You dumped me with a one-line text after you promised… I thought you apologized to me and tried to make it up, but it was your brother. Your twin, who was just using me to protectyou,was the one to apologize for how absolutely fucking cruel thatwas!”

Liam paled in the face of my anger, but didn’t relent. He got to his feet too, towering over me. “I was trying to protect you! Dad had to believe you meant nothing to me, or you would’ve been indanger.”

“And I? Did I have to believe I meant nothing to you, too? Because that’s exactly what that stupid text made me feel.” He reached for me, but I pulled away. “You could have done it gently—you could even have bloody told me what was going on. But no, you broke my fucking heart, you absoluteprick!”

Despite my tears as I shouted at the man who’d hurt me so gruesomely, it felt good to finally get it all out. Even while I’d thought he’d come back to me, the lingering mistrust for what he’d done still festered in mychest.

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