Page 34 of Lie to Me

I let out a sigh and step aside so they can come in before closing the door behind them.

I chuckle the moment they realize what they’ve just walked in on, seeing the huge guy tied up and flailing around on the floor. They each turn to look at me with a mixture of looks ranging from curiosity to anger.

That anger obviously comes from Marco.

“What the hell is this?” he asks, and I roll my eyes.

“This dude’s been helping himself into my apartment all week, I just decided to be here this time so we could make friends. Isn’t that right, Reggie?” I direct my attention to the man on the floor before handing the phone to Izzy.

“Reggie here was hired online to deliver my little love letters. Any chance you can use that,” I nod towards the phone, “to figure out who hired him?”

Izzy smirks. “Of course I can.”

I nod my thanks before turning back towards Marco and Luca. “You don’t need to be here.”

“Yeah… I still feel bad about what happened at the hospital, so how about I take care of him for you?” Luca asks.

I raise my brow at him. “So you should. Didn’t Daddy Romano ever teach you not to put your hands on women without consent?”

The air in the room shifts and Luca’s eyes dart towards his brother.

“What thefuckis she talking about, Luca?” Marco asks, his tone cold as ice.

Luca raises his hands in a surrendering gesture before muttering, “It was a misunderstanding, is all. Believe me, your girl put me in my place.”

Marco turns to me and I give him a nod.

“Who would have thought that out of the three of us, Enzo would be the one to fall for someone normal?” Luca asks with a chuckle before gesturing to Reggie. “Mia regina,can you grab his legs for me? Let’s get him out of here so these two can… talk.”

I go to intervene, but Marco’s hand on my arm paired with a sharp glare has me deciding against it.

I let out a huff. “Fine. But you better give him a good death, he’s my new friend,” I say with a pout. Izzy cackles while Luca and Marco share a look I can’t quite interpret.

Look at me, moving back to the city and making friends.

Chapter Sixteen

Marco

Present

Iwatch as Luca and Izzy haul the asshole who’s been leaving the notes for Sloane into the elevator before closing the door and spinning around to face her. I would have offered to help, but I have more important things to deal with. That, and my shoulder still stings from being shot.

The panic I felt when Izzy climbed into the car and told me to get to Sloane’s apartment quickly instead of taking them home was unmatched. The scenarios that ran through my mind ranged from a new note being delivered to her bleeding out on the floor.

I certainly didn’t anticipate her purposely lying to me all week while she’s been getting new notes every day and then deciding to ambush the guy.

“What the fuck were you thinking, Sloane?”

“I was thinking that I’m sick of all of the big bad men in my life thinking they have to protect me. I can look out for myself, Marco. I’ve been doing it for the last ten years,” she mutters, and the fact that I have no idea what’s been going on in her life for the past decade is a bitter pill to swallow.

“You could have been hurt,” I grunt.

“But I wasn’t,” she defends. “I took him down within two minutes of him being in my apartment. I’m a grown woman, I can damn well take care of myself.”

“You don’thave totake care of yourself when I’m here to help you!” I yell.

“I’m notyours,Marco. I’m not sure I ever really was! You don’t get to come back into my life and take over. I’ve been doing just fine on my own!” she yells back at me.

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