Page 103 of Vengeful Lies

I’m raging inside, but I smile. I am a proud man, but I am nothing without any of the people behind me. I’ll kneel for only one person, and that is my fiancée.

I slide from the chair, and she curses under her breath. “What are you doing?”

“Doing what I’m told for once.” I wink at her. I know I’m an idiot. I should’ve, at the very least, told my father about the situation I’d gotten myself into. Instead, I came barreling over here. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Jewel stands in front of me as if protecting me from the man watching me fall to my knees. Had she a gun, I imagine she would’ve pulled it on him already.

“Jewel, get out of the way,” I growl.

“No,” she replies fiercely. “I know exactly what you’re doing, and you’re not sacrificing yourself for me or making yourself seem smaller because of the shit I got us into.”

The man stands now, studying her. “Mr. Monti was correct about one thing. I was always using you as bait to bring him to me. Dead or alive, I didn’t care. That goes for both of you. Although, my bet was on him.”

Her knuckles turn white as she curls her hands into fists.

“What I want from Mr. Monti is not something you can provide, so step aside,” he says to her. “I plan on tying him to that chair and using him for ransom. His father and I go way back.”

I should’ve known it would be something like this. The show of making me kneel was a power play more against my father. I easily rise and sit back on the chair.

“Stand behind me,amore mio,” I say to Jewel. “Please. Trust me.”

Torture and ransom, I can survive. But I can’t survive her being hurt.

“I’ll let you tie me up and use me against my father as you please, as long as you let her go.”

“No,” she hisses defiantly.

“You trust me, right?” I say to her. So much emotion runs through her features, and she bites her lip as she steps to my side obediently.

I sit still while one of his men ties me up as the boss says, “Well, I never said either of you would make it out alive. Sometimes vengeful lies are the best type of motivation compared to ransom.”

My heart falters as the man signals to his men to point their guns. I’m trying to tear loose from the restraints, trying my hardest to shield Jewel, but I can’t stand up.

It all happens too quickly. Before I can get to my feet, Jewel throws herself against my chest as if to shield me. “What the fuck are you doing?!” I yell, panicked, as gunshots ring through the empty space. “Get behind me!” I scream wildly and furiously as I fight against my bonds.

“I love you!” she whispers into my ear as she curls herself around me. I buck and pull at the ropes, a storm raging within me. Pure panic and dread grip me with the thought that I’ll lose the only person who has become the sanctuary for my inner beast.

My heart is pounding, and it’s only when I realize in the now total silence that any type of reality seeps back in. Tears run down Jewel’s face as she slowly pulls away from me. She looks around, confused, and then we both look over her shoulder at the man who has signaled for the men to stop shooting.

I frown, only realizing then that the guns were pointed up at the ceiling instead of at us.

“I’ll ask for your apology while you’re still tied up,” the boss says as he removes his mask.

“What the fuck?!” I demand as my father reveals himself.

“Crue Monti?” Jewel exclaims, shocked.

My father brushes off a piece of non-existent dust as he takes his seat again.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I demand, wanting to break from these restraints and snap my father’s neck.

“It was a calculated gamble,” my father says calmly. I should’ve known the old fucker was far from done playing games. “You might consider this as a pairing or matchmaking of sorts.” He waves his finger from Jewel to me.

“What?” My heart is racing, and the pump of adrenaline is doing nothing to let through any rational thinking. I thought only a moment ago that I was about to lose Jewel. That I’d made a miscalculation ending with my greatest loss.

“You wouldn’t take a wife, so I chose one for you. When I was informed that a hitwoman had arrived in New York, I was curious. I met your father once, Jewel, and I hated everything about him. He was righteous, worked legitimately, and by a code. Opposite to everything I’d built my own business on. But he was a hell of a shot,” he says, which is high praise coming from my father.

“When I discovered you’d taken a different path with a nature that much mirrored my son’s, I considered it was a likely pairing. So I offered you money to toy with Eli. I gathered you’d either intrigue him or he’d kill you. What I didn’t expect was my son to take matters into his own hands and use you as a fake fiancée, which I now know is anything but fake.”

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