Page 136 of Phantom Mine

Matteo’s unexpected appearance doesn’t just blow that plan. It blows my entire cover.

He’s seen me with Thiago now.

Based on the furious look in his eye, he put two and two together that he’s my brother.

That we’re the modern dayCapuletsandMontagues.

This isn’t how I wanted him to find out about my betrayal. I wanted to tell him myself one day, once we were over, when it no longer mattered. I wanted to own the things I’d lied to him about once and for all. This isn’t that.

I know he won’t hurt me. He’s had more than enough valid reasons to and he never has, not even when he should have.

But doesn’t mean he won’thurtme.

This is officially going to be the end of us. Throwing me aside will hurt me more than killing me, but he has no way of knowing that.

Why would I tell him when it won’t change our outcome?

I emerge into a hallway bathed in darkness. The other end is completely lit so I head that way and stumble into a corner, gluing myself to the wall to hopefully disappear into the shadows as I catch my breath. My heart pumps the blood through my veins at a crazed pace.

After a few minutes, I continue down the hallway in search of a bathroom and run inside the first one I find, slamming the door shut behind me. I slide down the wooden panel with my eyes squeezed shut, hoping the door and my weight against it will be enough of a barrier between Matteo and I.

“We have to stop meeting like this.”

I crack an eye open and find a woman with a startling grey gaze washing her hands at the sink. “Dagny?”

“You remember me,” she says delightedly, drying her hands on a guest towel.

I do. Just like I remember the way we met. Another fateful encounter on a pivotal night.

Guilt of a different kind eats at me. “I never called.”

“You sound like my ex.” She laughs, waving my words away with ease. “I assumed life got in the way.”

I scoff. “You have no idea.” She crosses over to where I’m sitting and presses both palms firmly into the door above me, assuming a split stance and determined expression. “What are you doing?”

“Helping you keep the door closed.” She glances down at me. “I figure with the way you ran in here, you might need reinforcements.”

I blink. “So you thought you’d help?”

“Well I’m on this side of the door with you so I figured, why not give this a try. Not like I have fifteen other activities to pick from.”

I laugh then immediately stifle the sound by slapping my palms over my mouth.

“Wow, that bad?” Dagny questions. “You know there are some really terrible people here tonight, right? People from the Underworld. I’m only here because some of them are my clients, but you should be careful.”

There’s a very real hint of concern for me in her voice. I wonder what she’d do if she found out who I am.

Who my brother is.

“What if I told you I’m running from a Made man?”

Dagny sighs then turns and drops down next to me.

We must make quite the picture—both of us dressed in tens of thousands of pounds worth of gowns and jewels, sitting on the bathroom floor of a near stranger’s mansion.

“That’s more or less what my best friend is going through as well.” She pauses, her features turning pensive. “Although I guess these days she’s more so runningtowardshim. I’m pretty sure she’s falling in love with the criminal.”

“Does he feel the same?”

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