Page 82 of Beautiful Liar

“I should’ve killed her sooner for what she did to you.”

Luca walked in saving me from the emotion threatening to take over me. He’d washed off the paint and changed into a new shirt. Rummaging in the kitchen, he came back with glasses and a bottle of bourbon. He poured me a full glass.

Enzo didn’t seem to mind.

I didn’t reach for it. “Drink,” Luca ordered.

“No, thank you. I don’t plan on being drugged this time,” I glared at Enzo.

His suspiciousness lifted and he smirked. “There you are,” he said. “I love that fire underneath.” He leaned forward and put his glass on the table in front of him. “It’s why I just couldn’t wait until you came of age.”

“You’re sick.”

He cocked his head. “You have quite a dirty mind, young man. I don’t have to force myself on anyone. As a matter of fact, you should thank me for protecting you from the monster that was your mother. I paid her—them—good money for you.”

Daniel and Dad. I swallowed the bile in my throat.

“And you thrived,” he said, with pride. “You were my best pupil. You could’ve gone far in theatre but chose the gang life.”

“I chose my family.”

“Who discarded you in the first place.”

“Fuck you!” It was true. All of it was true.

Luca watched me like a snake. His body so still. I wondered if he set me up. If it was wrong to trust him.

Fight to survive, Tomás.

I’d never thought about why I fought. For la Sagrada Sangre, for Dad, Daniel. I fought because it was something that had been embedded inside me. I fought when I felt wronged. When an internal part of me, a good part—I hoped—woke up and demanded that I do something.

I played the only card I had. “Is that why you married Maddox? Because he reminded you of me.”

Enzo chuckled. “Youremind me ofhim,” he corrected, confirming what I already knew to be true. Enzo had chosen me because of Maddox.

“He’s going to kill you when he finds out you hurt me.”

Enzo sipped his drink, cold eyes on me.Yeah. He knew. “It won’t be hard to convince him you were the aggressor.”

I snorted. After what Luca had done to me, after he made me realize that I really hadn’t wanted Enzo, Enzo had lost his power over me. I didn’t feel guilty anymore. I felt pissed. Violated. “Yeah, keep telling yourself those lies.”

“But Maddox will never learn of it. Not if you want to keep your precious Kieran breathing.”

The mention of Kieran drew fire into my veins. “You can’t touch him.”

“No, but I know he killed Cillian. I have proof. Just a whisper and I wouldn’t have to touch him.”

For me. Kieran had risked everything for me.

Enzo leaned forward. “I told you no one will ever have you. You aremine.”

I launched myself at Enzo, picking up the bottle of liquor, intending to smash it over his head. I didn’t even come close when Luca slammed into me. Enzo got to his feet laughing as Luca cursed at me for being a fool while slamming me into thefloor until I stopped fighting.

“Should I bind him?” he asked Enzo.

“No, sit him down.”

Luca was stronger than I thought. He hauled me to my feet and forced my ass into the chair again. This time, he stood next to me, facing the floor-to-ceiling windows too. I didn’t look out the window for fear that Enzo would catch me, would see something in my expression that would suggest a threat. Keiran was out there. He said he’d come for me, and I trusted him.

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