Page 144 of Phantom Mine

Valentina rises onto her toes and kisses me.

Fuck. Fuck. I let her.

Of course I let her.

She doesn’t linger, she barely even touches me. She simply presses her lips against mine, closes her eyes to savor it, then drops her heels slowly back down to the ground.

Panic tangles in my chest because it feels like a last kiss. It feels like she’s telling me goodbye.

The howling grows exponentially louder.

Why is it that even knowing the depth of her perfidy, I still find the thought of never seeing her again unbearable? I take a step towards her because, even after everything, I can’t face letting her go.

“You’re wrong about Thiago and I.”

“Valentina—” It’s my turn to say her name and hers to interrupt me.

“Thiago didn’t kill your father for me, Matteo,” she announces. “He killed him for Adriana.”

“V—” I stop. “Adriana? What does she have to do with any of this? Why would Thiago care about her?”

She doesn’t answer my question. Instead, she looks up into my eyes and murmurs, “I didn’t tell him I loved him.”

“Don't do that.” I shake my head, taking a warning step towards her and crowding her again. “I heard you. I fuckingheardyou say it.”

She meets my eyes squarely on, not withering beneath my scorching gaze. “You heard me tell a man who identified himself as “da Silva” that I love him. You assumed it was Thiago, but it wasn’t. It was someone else.Tomásda Silva.”

Confusion furrows my brow. Tomás da Silva is Thiago’s father and the founder of the Colombian cartel. He still lives over there, leaving his son to run their European expansion.

“So I should be happy you told another man you love him?”

“You should be happy I told myPapáI love him,” she clarifies. “Tomás da Silva is my father.”

Further words die on my tongue. Herfather?

My head spins. That doesn’t make any fucking sense.

“You told me your father was dead.”

“My biological father is dead, yes, but I told you Adriana brought me home. I was adopted, I didn’t grow up alone on the streets. I had a family.”

“How am I supposed to know that?” I demand, my hands fisting in frustration. “I have to forcefully extract every detail about your life from you.”

“That’s because I didn’t want you asking too many questions! How was I supposed to answer them when I was keeping my identity a secret from you? I was afraid one answer would accidentally reveal who I was.”

I pace back and forth, letting out an aggravated snarl. Realization makes me come to an abrupt halt before her.

“If you were adopted into that family, that means—”

“My name was Mendoza when I was born, but it’s been Valentina da Silva since I was four years old. Thiago isn’t my lover.” She shudders in disgust at that. “He’s my brother.”

I blink. The anger drains abruptly out of me.

“Your brother?”

“Yes. My older, very overbearing, oftentimes controlling, mostly awesome,brother.”

I scrub a suddenly weary hand down my face. “What the fuck…” I mutter.

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