Page 73 of Hell Hath No Fury

“Says the man who also got himself Darius’d at his own wedding and had to be rescued from being incinerated alive.”

I turn my narrowed eyes on Nettie, who gives me a close-lipped smile and waggles her brows. “Touché,” is all I say in response.

“Oh,” Nettie says nonchalantly. “And Dmitri escaped.”

My blood instantly runs cold. “Hewhat?”

“He escaped,” Nettie repeats as if she didn’t detect the rhetorical sarcasm in my tone. “When we first arrived, we were made aware of some uninvited guests. By the time we investigated and made it back, he was gone.”

Again, I groan, this time pressing my fingers against my temples and forcing myself to take some calming breaths. “So, not only do we have to go in and rescue Lilith and Antonio, but we have to do so while watching our backs.”

“I don’t think he’ll be a problem.”

My wide eyes fly to Nettie, who’s looking out the window as if she didn’t just say the dumbest fucking thing ever. “Are you for real right now?”

She turns her head toward me. “What?”

“He won’t be a problem? Is that what you just said to us?”

“He promised he’d never hurt me again,” she explains with a shrug. “That means he won’t do anything to anyone else if it would also hurt me.”

“What the fuck, Antoinette?” Darius growls, his hands fisting in his lap.

Nettie turns her focus to Darius, glaring as she responds, “Don’t you fucking start.”

“I will fucking start.”

She rolls her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. “You don’t get to have an opinion on something you know nothing about.”

Darius stares at her, wild-eyed, but then his expression shifts, and he turns his gaze out the window. His hands relax, and he rubs his palms on the tops of his thighs almost nervously. He looks off, a disorganized alternate-universe version of Darius that I am not at all comfortable with.

Nettie continues to stare straight ahead, her arms crossed over her chest, her jaw set in a stubborn line I know all too well.Rolling my own eyes, I nudge her side with my elbow. Her head turns, eyebrows lifted in question as if she doesn’t know why I’m nudging her. I meet her gaze, then give a very pointed look toward Darius before meeting her eyes once more.

Shaking her head slightly, she squints, her lips twisting as she quite obviously ignores my pointed look. So, I poke her a few times in the side. “Don’t think you can ignore me, Nettie.”

“You’re being an asshole, Tony,” she mutters as she slaps my hands away.

I lean in close and whisper, “And you’re being a bitch.”

She gasps in outrage. “How dare you—“

“Nope,” I interrupt heatedly. “I love you both, and I’m not the type of guy who sits back and lets anyone shit all over someone he loves. So, stop being a stubborn pain in the ass and fix this.’

“I’m not—“

“Yes, you fucking are,” I interrupt again, this time a bit more loudly than intended. I stop speaking for a moment, forcing myself to rein in my anger, and then I add quietly, “You’re hurting him, and you’re hurting yourself. And if you can’t see that, then you came back from wherever the fuck you were a lot dumber than you left.”

She gapes at me, eyes sparking with anger. For a moment, I second-guess myself and consider toning it down and attempting to soften the blow. But then, she blinks, revealing that glimmer of uncertainty, that speck of fear she’s trying to bury beneath obstinance.

Agatha watches me from the front, turned toward me in the typical conspicuous Agatha fashion. She gives me a short nod, so I turn back to Nettie and say, “I won’t pretend to know how you feel. I won’t pretend to have firsthand experience on how fucked up you’re likely feeling right now, but let’s not forget that I’m married to a woman who knows. I’m married to a woman who knows and shares and allows me the honor of helping her in anycapacity available to me because that’s what we do for the people we cherish. We listen.

“Now, I won’t insult you by trying to downplay what you went through. But I will remind you that you’re not the only one who suffered and that regardless of how fucked over you’ve felt over the past few months, you’re not fucking alone now. You do not have to carry this on your own anymore, so what you’re choosing to do right now is exactly that: a choice.”

She’s glaring at me now, but I don’t give a fuck. Darius is still staring out the window, doing a shit job of pretending he can’t hear every word I’ve said. He’s wearing that annoying ambivalent mask that he honed over decades, and I want to leap over Nettie and wipe it off his face with my fists.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish with this bullshit lecture, but—“

“Fucking stop it, Nettie. Just stop it right now. Stop trying to pretend everything is alright. Stop trying to carry on as if nothing has changed because everything has fucking changed, but we don’t have to let it fucking win. And for the love of fuck, stop torturing Darius for sport. You’ve been a lot of things in your life, but you’ve never been unnecessarily cruel, so stop lying to yourself, stop lying to us, and be for fucking real right now.”

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