Page 111 of Ruthless Oath

“You had one job, Ricardo.” I applied more pressure to his throat. “You were responsible for her. I told you how important it was to watch her and to make sure she didn’t do anything that could get her killed. Didn’t I?”

He nodded, struggling to breathe.

“We saw the footage,” I said. “Lissia walked off the property and approached a car. Do you have any idea how that could have happened? Being so close to the road was bad enough, but how would she have known someone was going to meet her there?”

“I’m sorry,” he gasped.

“Sorry for what?” I released his throat and stepped back. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t know she would leave. I thought she wanted to let her family know she was okay. She wanted to protect you.”

“How did she let her family know she was okay?” I clenched my fists. “She didn’t have a phone.”

“She used mine.”

I lunged at him and slammed my fist against the wall. “Are you out of your mind?”

I had been so careful not to let her have any contact with the outside world because she was too impulsive to be trusted. She had been trying to formulate a plan to help me for days. I knew she was going to get into trouble, but I left her anyway. And now she left me!

“Fuck!”

“I’m sorry,” Ricardo said.

“You’re sorry?” I drew my hand back.

When my fist connected with his jaw, he went down like a ton of bricks.

I grabbed his arm and pulled him into a standing position.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done? You sent her back to a man who will not protect her. A man who has no moral compass. She is nothing more than a negotiating tool for him.”

“I didn’t know. I wanted to help her. She was so concerned about you. It was tearing her apart.”

“Don’t stand in front of me and act like you know more about her than I do.” I shoved him. “You don’t know anything about her.”

“That’s not what I’m doing, but she confided in me, and I had to help her.”

I hit him again. This time, his head smacked the wall before he fell. When my foot connected with his ribs, images of Lissia flashed before me. She wasn’t smiling or laughing. She was crying and afraid. That only made me stomp on Ricardo harder.

He moaned and groaned each time my foot hit his solid body. He rolled over, trying to protect himself, but that only gave me access to his back.

“I’m going to fucking kill you.” I reached for my gun as I rammed my foot into him again. “You made her a target.”

“That’s enough.” Milo jerked me back before I could pull my weapon. “You’ve done enough.”

“I’m just getting started.” I shook out my sore hand. “We trusted him, and he failed us. He gave her to the enemy.”

“At her request,” Milo said. “You keep forgetting that.”

“You’re blaming her?” I glared at my brother.

“No, but you have to accept that she did what she did. She knew there was a risk if she contacted her father.” Milo helped Ricardo off the floor. “You have to put the Accetti family first.”

“I always put this family first, but I won’t let Lissia suffer for choosing us.”

Milo was right. The logical thing for me to do would be to let Lissia go and concentrate on our family. If Ricardo was telling the truth and she thought she was doing this for me, how could I ever trust someone so out of control? Loose cannons tended to get men in my business killed.

“I told you I don’t listen.”Her voice echoed in my head. I should have heard her when she told me that. Maybe I wouldn’t be in this situation if I had.

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