Page 90 of Beautiful Liar

Rage settled somewhere over my heart, protecting me from a deeper pain. I had been fucking wrong about Tristan. I had wanted him to be the father I never had and I’d been sofucking wrong. I managed to land a few punches as I pinned him to the wall. Surprisingly, Liam hadn’t moved to protect his brother. But Tristan was a dirty motherfucker, just like me. He swung too. My ribs. I sucked in a painful breath. He kicked my legs out from under me. I didn’t fall to the floor. Instead, he spun me into a chokehold.

“Calm the fuck down,” he said, oozing a tempered violence. Fuck, he sounded like me with Tomás.

He shoved me forward and I wanted to rush him again. I didn’t care about the pain, the flesh wounds. The scars he’d already left on me were too deep to ever fucking heal. I spat a glob on the floor at Liam’s feet. He glared at me. I ignored him.

“You used me. Ever since I was fucking born, I was nothing but a tool for you!”

“That’s not true.”

“Bullshit! You used me as a way to get away from this life. You used me as a way to justify keeping your fucking little boy safe! You fronted me like a fucking thing and I thought…” Fuck. I sucked it all in.I thought he could be the father I never had.Those words remained behind my tight lips. Instead, I straightened my jacket. “Doesn’t fucking matter. Thank you for reminding me of my place.” I thought he was going to say something else but fuck him. I was wrong to trust him. So, fucking wrong. “You’re so smart, yet you never once considered what a sick motherfucker Alessandro was before you agreed to uniting our families.” Fuck. I saidours.

He clenched his teeth. I chuckled. “Oh, fuck, you did. You knew about his proclivities.”

“Yes. The reason Maddox agreed to marry him so Imogen wouldn’t. We knew his interest in mentoring young girls. We did a deep dive but he never hurt them.”

“He didn’t hurt thegirls,” I said.

Tristan cocked his head. The fucker didn’t know aboutTomás. “I guess you don’t know everything.”

“What don’t I know.”

“It’s not for me to say.”

“No, I guess not.” He looked at Liam. “Go get him.”

“Just for the record,” Liam said to me. “I was against this part.”

Liam walked out. My brain buzzed like a predator in a cage while Tristan watched me. “Why didn’t you kill me when you got your fifty one percent?”

“I’m not going to fucking kill you. Why don’t you get that through your thick fucking head?”

I believed him. And that was a problem. “And you’re not going to touch my friends.”

“No, so long as they don’t risk us. Though John is going to have to go.”

I snorted. “If he has you this riled up, you may want to reconsider. He’s good at what he does.”

Tristan let out a defeated sigh. Yeah, he knew it too.

“What’s going to happen with Arcas International?” I asked.

“What do you want to happen with Arcas International?”

“A merger. Whether you believe me or not, I came to tell you what I did because I know you want to go legit. But my boys need Restitution Securities.”

“For their vengeance plans.”

“Justice.”

“Believe it or not, I’m not opposed to the idea,” Tristan said. “Believe it or not, I do this to protect you.”

At that moment the door swung open, and Liam walked inside, Tomás behind him, and Jacob behind Tomás. Tomás’s bottom lip was busted and he had a bruise forming around his eye. Jacob had a bruise on his chin and a busted lip too. Jacob pushed a bound Tomás into a chair before giving me a sneeras he took his place to Tristan’s left. Liam stood standing near the bookcase watching us. Tomás’s brown eyes met mine and instead of fear, I saw anger there.

“Mr. Moya,” Tristan said. “Thank you for joining us.”

Chapter Thirty-Six

Tomás

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