Page 69 of Twisted Games of Revenge

“Yeah, the good ones, anyway.” Ricky nods, before dropping his hold on me, and he moves in front of the doctor, moving swiftly with another right hook to his face. “That’s for my brother who had to grow up without his beautiful mother because of you.”

“I didn’t. I didn’t kill her,” he spits back at him. But his words are wasted on us.

Maddox gets up in his face again, anger radiating off him like I have never seen. “Yeah, then who did?”

“Enzo,” he splutters, the words catching in his throat like he has been holding them in for way too long.

Alessandro walks around the back of his chair, and the doctor looks over his shoulder, waiting for him to punch him as well. But he doesn’t. Instead, he places his hands in his pockets and walks back around the other side of the chair. “Why?” he asks.

“He… He didn’t want her to have a chance to tell the truth,” he stutters, watching Alex like a hawk.

A low growl escapes Maddox’s lips. “What truth?” he demands, his voice bellowing off the walls.

“He never wanted her to keep the baby, to keep you. But when she found out she was expecting, she couldn’t give you up. No matter how she came to be with child. At the time I didn’t know her story, I was just doing my job.”

“Why would he demand his sister not have her baby? Yes, she was young, but she had family who could support her, money, that doesn’t make any sense,” I ask when the boys go quiet.

The doctor’s face turns ashen. He knows he’s fucked. “It does if he’s the father.”

I feel the bile rise in my throat, and I swallow it down. My eyes rise to meet Maddox, and I see the utter devastation written all over his face. None of us were expecting him to say such a horrible, unthinkable thing.

“What the fuck are you saying? He was her brother?” Alex roars, losing his temper, the sound echoing through the room, his body shaking with rage. I know he has lost all respect for his papa already, but to hear what he is truly capable of must be heartbreaking in a totally new way.

The doctor’s head drops. “Enzo raped her. That’s how she ended up pregnant. And when she took off, trying to protect the baby, he tracked her down and killed her. Just hours after she gave birth to a healthy baby boy.”

We all go silent, trying to process the reality of his words. I didn’t think I could hate Enzo any more than I already do. But this, this is horrendous. I look toward Maddox, wanting to run to him and comfort him. He’s moved toward the glass viewing panel and is looking out over the people below. His shoulders are tight with tension, his hands balled into fists.

“How did he kill her?” Maddox gets out, his words strained with so much pent-up aggression I’m worried he’s going to snap before we can make this work my way. I didn’t expect this. How could everyone ever think this would be his mother’s horrible reality?

The doctor’s eyes flick between the boys. “He strangled her with his bare hands.”

I feel like my heart is about to stop it’s thumping so damn hard. I run a hand over my thigh, feeling where my knife sits. A fresh wave of adrenaline courses through me. I move in closer. “And you have been reaping the rewards ever since. Because you let him in the room and watched while he stole her life away, leaving Maddox to be raised without his mother. You make me just as sick as he does. You fucking let this happen to her,” I remind him and all the boys. This piece of shit is no better.

“I know, alright. I’m fucking pathetic, and I should have stopped him. I should have, but I was a coward. But you all fucking know, even back then, Enzo had too much power. If I refused him, I would have ended up dead. You have to understand, I had a young family to protect. I did what I had to for them.” He whimpers through the tears now leaking from his eyes.

I believe him. We saw just this week what happens to men who go against Enzo. He bought himself time with his family, stolen time from another. And now he has to pay for that decision. From the desk, I take a notepad and pen.

I approach the trembling man now slouched in his chair, defeated. He’s a crying, slobbering mess. I hand him the notepad and pen. “Here’s what you’re going to do. You will write a note to your family explaining to them how sorry you are for the pathetic man you turned into. You will come clean on every little detail you just told us. Your involvement and Enzo’s, so the world can see what a fucking monster he is.”

I turn from him and go to Maddox, my fingers tracing the line of his arm before settling in his soft hair as I gaze into his sad, hazel eyes. My poor broken man. The devastation in his features hearing why his mother was killed and how. I wish I could take away his pain. But because I can’t, this man will suffer instead. I tug Maddox toward me, feeling the warmth of his skin against mine before I kiss his lips. He drags me closer, so close I can feel his heart beating fast against mine. I know he needs this moment of calm, just like I do. I don’t give two fucks everyone is waiting on my next words.

When I pull back from him, I walk back over to the doctor. “And now the boys will escort you out the back of the building and you will take your gun, the one tucked into the back of your pants right now, and shoot yourself in the head, with your little suicide note left in your pocket for the authorities to find.”

From the corner of my eyes, I see Maddox’s lip twitch up at the side. I know I did well tonight. I can’t bring his mother back. I can’t give him the childhood he had stolen from him. But I can hopefully give him some closure and take away one more of the evil monsters who have been ruling over this town for too long.

I turn back to the groveling piece of shit in front of me. “Maybe make it look like he’s been in a little fight first, you know, because now he owes his loan shark a shit ton of money.”

Chapter 29

Too afraid to leavethe safety of my bedroom I pace back and forth instead. How the fuck did this happen? My mind races, thinking back over the last couple of months.Too much fucking sex, Harley, you idiot!You know how this fucking happened; they taught you at school. But I have the implant in my arm, I should have been covered.

Sweat drips down my spine, and I stare at the pink plastic strip in my hand for the millionth time. Those two blue lines staring back at me like fucking neon lights.You’re fucked, they flash. You have a Moretti or D’Amico baby growing inside of you.

Nausea rolls through me, making my skin all prickly, and I run toward the ensuite, toss the test down on the vanity, and throw up the remains of the morning coffee Maddox brought in for me.

Oh God. This isn’t happening. Not now when we’re so close to finally taking all control back and destroying Enzo for good. But I know it is. For three days I have been holed up in my bedroom, telling the boys I have the flu, every day trying to convince myself that’s what’s wrong with me. But this morning I just knewI was lying to myself, and something more sinister was going on. I woke up in a hot sweat after having a dream where I had twins, both boys, their dark curls and olive complexion glowing as they ran rings around me. They couldn’t have been any more than three, and as adorable as they were, I knew they were mine, and it freaked me the hell out. That’s when I broke into my bathroom vanity and found the pregnancy tests I stashed there when I moved into this place.

When I finally muster the energy to get up off the cold tile floor, I pull myself up to standing and wash my face, the icy water slowly bringing me back to life. I brush my teeth to get rid of the horrible taste in the hope I won’t have to vomit again. Staring at my reflection in the mirror, my normally porcelain skin is extra pale and blotchy. I look as terrible as I feel.

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