Page 145 of Phantom Mine

So she’s a cartel princess.

That explains why she was treated with such deference last night. It also explains why she can fight, why she’s been comfortable around theFamigliaand its dangers from the start, and why she’s not afraid of blood and gore.

“So the brother you spoke about from your stories when you were younger, the one who started the mono rumor, the one you beat up in a pillow fight…that was Thiagomotherfuckingda Silva?”

“Yes.”

The relief hearing that he’s not her lover, that she doesn’t love him, at least not inthatway, is so monumental that my knees almost give out.

“Why would he send his own sister to infiltrateFirenzeafter what happened to Adriana?”

Valentina shakes her head again. “He wouldn’t and he didn’t. Yesterday was the first time we've seen each other in months. We’ve barely even texted since the day I walked through that alley door, save for his attempts at…bossing me around.”

“None of what’s been happening is technically a coincidence,” she continues. “Both of our actions have been driven by the same objective—getting justice for Adriana—but he has no idea what I’ve been up to since that Saturday in the alley.” She pushes a loose strand of hair behind her ear and explains, “Before you and I met again, I spent almost every day of those eighteen months changing everything about myself. Learning to defend myself, training to fight, and joining the cartel so that if I was ever put in a situation similar to the one that happened the night ofCarnivale, I could do it differently this time. I was driven by bloodlust, by a need for revenge. Other than my remaining family, that’s the only thing that was keeping me alive.”

“Then my brother got engaged, and subsequently distracted, by his runaway fiancée, now turned bride. I’m sure you’ve heard.” I have, the entire Underworld is aware of the lengths he went to for his wife. “I saw my opportunity when he left London and I took it. I’d learned that a Leone high up in the hierarchy was responsible so I made your family my targets.” Bleeding eyes meet mine, urging me to understand. “I’m sorry I lied, but I’m not sorry for doing it. I can’t apologize for that, because it turned out to be true. Your brother, well, he either murdered my sister or he sold her into sex trafficking. We can talk about thatdevelopment later—or I-I…I can send you a text about it if you never want to see me again—and your father must have known about it if my brother decided to kill him and start a war with you in the process.”

Valentina pauses, her chest rising and falling. The words tumbled out of her so quickly that she’s out of breath.

“Impulsiveness and stubbornness drove me toFirenze, that’s it. I wasn’t sent there by anyone. No one knows about us, that we’ve been…together. When my family learns what I’ve been up to, they’re probably going to lock me away for the rest of my life to ‘protect’ me,” she adds with air quotes and an eye roll. “I lied about who I am and I betrayed you, but I always told you the truth about one thing.” She closes the distance between us and reaches up. Gently, she wipes the blood off my neck with her sleeve. She sniffles, her eyes fragile and glassy as she stares at the punctured skin. “You’re the last man I kissed, the last one I touched, and the only one I want. Now you know everything. I’m so sor—”

“Valentina is your real name,” I interject.

She blinks at me, surprised that that’s the first thing I choose to say after her confession. “Yes.”

“When I asked you back then, you said it wasn’t, but it was. You told me your real name,” I continue. “Why?”

She blows out a heavy breath and twists her hands together. “Because, to answer your question, no.” Her words hang in the air like unfinished sheet music as she glances back up at me. “None of it was fake between us. It was all real. Every single moment, every conversation, every touch. Every part of you and me. All of it. I was meant to hate you, to destroy you. I wasn’t supposed to like you. Andyou, you weren’t supposed to stubbornly thwart every attempt I made at pushing you away.” A tremulous smile grows tentatively on her lips, caught somewhere between relief and sadness. “I made mistake aftermistake where you were concerned and it unraveled everything. But I haven’t regretted a single one except betraying you.”

“Your brother didn’t send you toFirenze?” I clarify.

She shakes her head viciously, leaving little doubt as to the veracity of her answer. “No.”

“He didn’t ask you to spy on me specifically?”

“No, you…It became obvious pretty quickly to me that you had nothing to do with Adri’s disappearance.”

“Thiago doesn’t even know where you are? That you work atFirenze? That he almost fuckingdiedtoday because I thought he was your boyfriend and not your brother?”

“No!” she exclaims.

I nod, humming thoughtfully.

“So how exactly have you betrayed me?”

Valentina blinks at me in confusion. “What do you mean? I lied to y—”

“I already knew that.”

“I-I spied on your brother.”

“Knew that too.”

She blows out a heavy breath. “I don’t know the Italians’ stance on adoption, but the Mendoza name means nothing to me. I’m a da Silva, Matteo. Tomás is my father. Thiago, my brother. Adriana, my sister. That cartel is myfamily.”

“Have you fucked anyone else since we kissed?”

She rips in a shocked, angry breath and recoils. “No.Dios mío, did you not listen to a word I just said?”

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