Page 56 of The Devil We Know

His lips curve up a little more, and there is a sparkle in his eye as he says, “Someday. But I don’t know when that someday is, and it’s not fair of me to expect you to take part in what’s going to happen. So, if you change your mind and want to go, I’ll make that work.”

“But you didn’t answer me when I said what about you?”

“Then I take the hit,” he replies calmly. “There will be hell to pay, but it won’t be the first time I’ve had to pay it and likely won’t be the last.”

I stare back at him, sure the indecision is evident on my face, but I’m able to keep my true feelings hidden as I think about Antoinette. Carolina. Even Issa.

Antoinette grew up in this life. She knows the ins and outs more clearly than anyone.

Carolina had it shoved down her throat from the time she could even be considered an adult.

And Issa. Lord knows we’ve had our trials, but I know at the end of the day, if she had to choose between her own well-being and her husband’s, she would choose Declan every time.

I take a hard look at him, staring directly into his eyes, and even though I have no idea what exactly I’m looking for, I see everything he wants me to see and likely even the things he doesn’t.

Matt has always come across as easygoing—or the boy scout, as the guys like to call him. And I probably fell into this thought process as well, always assuming he was a stand-up guy who managed to toe the line between good and evil while always coming out on the side of good.

But my experiences in the entertainment industry, never mind my previous life as the daughter of a criminal overlord, taught me that sometimes, the fine line between good and evil is so blurred that people lose sight of the so-called bad deeds that must be done for the greater good.

I raise my hands, cupping both sides of his face as I whisper, “I can do it.”

His eyes snap shut, and he expels a shuddering breath so forcefully that I laugh. Emotion wells in my chest, my eyes burn, and I know when he looks at me again, he’ll see the glassiness, even as I attempt to blink it away.

I rise up on my toes, pressing my lips against his softly and then a bit more firmly as he returns my kiss.

Then I drop my hands and step back as I ask, “Now what?”

He inhales deeply through his nose and exhales out his mouth and then motions to the bed as he replies, “Now, we get dressed and get ready for the shitshow.”

“Shitshow? Any chance whatsoever that it could end up not being a shitshow?”

“No,” he replies, shaking his head. “Given the circumstances, it will definitely be a huge shitshow. They’re going to pull out all the stops. They will demand a full show as proof that we’re not trying to pull one over on them.”

He reaches for a tiny plastic item on the bed and holds it out to me. I take it from him, examining it as I ask, “What is this?”

He rummages through the rest of the items on the bed, turning back to me with a needle in his hand. I frown, and then he replies, “That’s for your blood.”

My eyebrows rise practically into my hairline as I parrot, “My blood?”

He nods and then shrugs, “You’re the one that lied about being a virgin.”

“What the fuck does that have to do with anything?”

He gives me an incredulous look and then says, “I thought you said you knew how this worked.”

“Knew how what worked?”

“The ceremonies? The idiotic, ritualistic bullshit hoops they can insist on.”

I frown, my arms crossing over my chest defensively as I whisper, “Well, I knew about a lot of them, but really, some of them seem a bit over the top.”

“There’s a high likelihood they wouldn’t demand it if you hadn’t said you’re a virgin, but Matteo’s family is definitely going to require proof of it because if he could kill you over anything right now, he would totally do it.”

“You’re saying that proof of virginity shit is still enforced?”

And now he’s looking at me like I’m a complete fucking moron, which is fine with me because I feel like a complete fucking moron. So, I sputter, “I was kind of hoping that wasjust a bunch of outrageous folklore parents used to keep their daughters from sleeping around.”

He laughs bitterly as he says, “Well, quite often, there’s a little truth in folklore.”

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