Page 94 of Vengeful Lies

I sigh, crossing my ankles. “Because my asshole fiancé told them to watch me every waking hour, I’m not at home.”

“Oh wow. That’s pretty intense. But I guess you are marrying mafia royalty, so it makes sense.”

I give her an unimpressed look. It’s not that I’m offended that Tweedledee and Tweedledumb are following me; it’s more about the fact that they’renotfollowing Eli. I’m certain something has happened between them, but no one will tell me what. I don’t blame them, but it’s irritating. And Eli has been more intense lately. It almost makes me wonder if he knows the final order for the hit has been given. He’s acting abnormally attentive, making it harder for me to believe every sleepless night that this is a game.

I can’t endure the idea of telling him how I feel because I can’t even put it into words. The moment I do, I’ve lost and will most likely be killed. I’ve imagined that he’s finally got me, and when I admit I got the order for the hit, he’ll know his time is up, and he’ll kill me. Then he’ll most likely find another fiancée to replace me and wear the dress, all so he can claim his empire.

Huffing, I walk over to the twins, my hands on my hips.

With the generous tip, they leave every day; my boss doesn’t seem to care much when they sit here all day, leering at anyone who speaks to me. I’m almost certain Eli has bought this run-down restaurant only because I work here.

He tried to persuade me to quit altogether, but I refuse to be owned in any capacity. I don’t need this job, and at this point, I don’t need a cover anymore, either. But I cling to it like it’s my only salvation.

“Do you need a refill?” I ask Hawke, regarding his fourth soda of the day. Ford is taking a sip from his coffee and doesn’t bother to look up. I quite like Ford; he keeps to himself, orders our selection of sweets every day, and reads. If anything, it looks like he’s quite enjoying this change of pace. Hawke, however, is an attention whore, and I think that’s mostly because he’s bored.

“Remind me why you guys aren’t following your boss again?”

“Because he’s not talking to us,” Hawke replies sulkily. They still haven’t told me what happened, but I’m confident it hassomething to do with the night Eli vanished and came back with the busted lip. And I haven’t seen Dutton since before then, either.

“There you guys are!” Billie yells from the front door. She ignores Sage, who goes to greet them and walks over to us. Behind her are two other women. One is Hope Ivanov, who I officially met at the engagement party, though I knew who she was before that. The other woman I’m not familiar with. She has short blonde hair, blue eyes, and a curvaceous figure.

Hawke looks away as he asks, “Why are you here?”

“Because we haven’t gamed in so long, and you’re avoiding me!” she exclaims. “Hey, Jewels!” She beams as she pulls me in for a hug. “Oh, you know Hope.” She awkwardly waves at her. “And this is Ivy.” She points to the blonde-haired woman who looks to be the same age as the others. “Have you met Will and Alina Walker yet? She’s their daughter.”

“And a pain in the ass,” Hawke says under his breath.

My eyebrows shoot up. Will Walker’s daughter? I give her a quick once over. I knew the infamous tracker had a daughter, but I didn’t know what she looked like or where to find her. Apparently, Will is not only good at finding people but at hiding them too.

“It’s lovely to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you. Apologies. I was in Puerto Rico with my family during your engagement party. Congratulations.”

“Such formal language doesn’t sound right coming from your lips,” Ford says as he turns to the next page.

“Ha. Ha,” she snarks as they cram themselves into the booth.

“What are you doing? No one invited you,” Hawke says as he’s squished against his brother. I inwardly roll my eyes. How did I end up with the majority of the group here?

“Why aren’t Dutton and Eli speaking? Dutton’s been sulking all week,” Billie presses, and Hawke sighs.

He goes to speak but is dissuaded by Ford, who glares at him over his book. “I don’t know. We’re just making sure little miss makes it down the aisle.”

Billie laughs. “I almost feel sorry for you, Jewel. I’ve never seen Eli so possessive.”

I offer an awkward smile. Because the casual way they speak to me is starting to feel too friendly. Too fun. Like I’m part of their world. They don’t know me, and yet they’ve already started hanging out at my place of work. It’s showing me a world and existence that I’ve never known was possible for me. And it’s not right because I don’t belong here. I only have a few more days to deliberate over my decision, but the closer the deadline comes, the more I wonder how I could kill Eli, knowing it would impact all of them.

“Jewels, are you okay?” Ford asks me quietly. The rest stop squabbling between themselves and look at me then. What kind of face was I showing just now?

“Yeah. I’ll just go grab some more menus for you,” I say with a tight smile before I turn and walk straight to the bathroom as an insufferable amount of emotion crashes over me. I feel like I’m going to have a heart attack.

I close the bathroom stall and sit on the closed toilet lid. I don’t get anxiety. Well, I’ve never had anxiety before, but right now, I have a disastrous number of feelings that I don’t want to address. That I can’t address because admitting them is going to break me.

One man is breaking me from the inside out, and I don’t know what I should do.

Three days, and then I have to offer his head to my client.

And I’m supposed to marry him in ten days.

Tonight, I’ll lie in bed with him again.

---