Page 82 of Filthy Little Games

“Fuck,” he grumbles and scrubs his palm down his face, taking the news about as well as I expected.

“Now, I hope you three don’t have any plans tonight. I need your help pulling off something important. Tristan and Dre will need to come with me while Lorenzo stays here with Zara. That is, if you don’t walk out after you are all up to speed…”

“Well, don’t keep us in suspense. What’s the super-secret mission going on tonight?” Tristan asks.

“That’s what I’m wondering too,” Lorenzo replies. “And why do I have to stay here again and babysit?”

“Because I said so,” I snap at him. “But, fine, I’ll start at the beginning. I didn’t give Zara any choice but to marry me. If she refused, I was going to kill her.”

“Huh?” Tristan mutters.

“You forced the woman to marry you by threatening her life?” Dre asks.

“Yes. And we didn’t date before the night you met her. I saw her for the first time the night Carmine died at The Vault. He encouraged me to talk to her, and he actually did tell me to toast him at our wedding…”

Lorenzo’s forehead wrinkles. “Why was Zara at The Vault that night? I don’t remember seeing her.”

Here we fucking go. “Zara was there at the club, giving Jasper a message — the warning for me.”

“Fucking hell,” Dre grumbles.

“And after the funeral, you tracked her down?” Lorenzo guesses. “Who put her up to that shit?”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I ask him, “Who do you think?”

“Izaiah isn’t really missing, is he?” Dre catches on quickly.

“In a sense, Izaiah is missing. I just might happen to know where he could potentially be found…”

“Jesus fuck, Creed!” Dre huffs.

“How?” Tristan remarks.

“I went to Zara’s apartment to confront her. While she was in the shower, I went through her phone and laptop. She really needs a better passcode. Anyway, I saw her texts about giving Jasper the message and even where I was standing in the club right before the raid. The texts were to and from Izaiah. They had a…relationship where he manipulated her into doing shit for him. So, I texted him to come over.”

“He showed up at her apartment, and you killed him, right then and there?” Lorenzo asks.

“I had to, for Carmine, and because he was going to slit Zara’s throat.”

“You mean he was going to slit the throat of a woman who set us up? Who got Carmine fucking killed?” Dre rages. “You went after her to kill her, right? And instead, you end up killing Emilio’s son and saving her life? No, not just saving her, but you strong-armed her into marrying you!”

“The only other choice I had was to let him kill her. But I…I couldn’t let him hurt her.”

“You love her,” Lorenzo declares, a statement not a question.

“I do,” I admit. “She holds the power to end me in her hands, and I love her. I have for a while now.”

“Why are you telling us all this now? It’s too late to ask our opinions, not that you would have heeded them,” Lorenzo remarks.

“I’ll still give you mine,” Dre grumbles. “She doesn’t deserve your forgiveness or ours.”

“I’m not asking you to forgive Zara. I’m coming clean with you three now because things are about to get worse with Emilio. I’m going to kill him too. Eventually.”

“Do you have proof he put Izaiah up to the raid?” Lorenzo asks.

“No, but I’m going to kill him either way.”

“Could you at least tell us why Emilio needs to die? Why you feel the need to potentially start a bloody war?” Lorenzo demands. “Just to prevent him from finding out you killed Izaiah?”

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