Page 67 of Filthy Liar

“If Dante was dead, he would’ve bragged about it,” Ander mused, seeming to relax.

“That doesn’t mean he’s not hurt though, right?” Reid asked, making him cringe.

“Stefano doesn’t handle betrayal well, especially not from his heir. He’s definitely being punished. Hopefully, he just thinks Dante was here to talk me into following orders, and not that Dante has also turned on him. If that’s the case, he’ll smack him around a little as punishment for leaving Italy, then send him on a plane home.”

“No offense, but I don’t give a fuck about your brother right now,” Rory said flatly, her eyes on me. “You have no idea what he meant about you being sorry? Could it just be the rape and murder?”

“I honestly don’t know. He didn’t like me telling him I wasn’t interested in his deal, and when he pistol whipped me, I blacked out for a second. He was gone when I came to,” I mumbled, glancing towards the door as it opened and Beckett wandered in with Skeeter.

He was covered in sweat and blood, his chest heaving as he assessed us.

“What’s going on in here?”

“Line up for Red. Raven’s next,” Rory warned, motioning to the red-headed woman. “Raven, this is Jade. She’s Harley and Alex’s wife. If you need medical patch jobs, she’s your girl.”

Jade glanced over her shoulder with a warm smile, and I was pretty sure I’d seen her at Harley’s Bar before.

“Landon’s mom, right?” I asked, her eyes narrowing slightly.

“You’re friends with my son?”

“No. I’ve just met him a couple of times at the track and the bar. He’s nice,” I shrugged, her shoulders visibly relaxing.

“Yeah, he’s a good kid. I feel like I’ve barely seen him lately. If he’s not working, he’s been out with friends.”

“At least you know your kid isn’t out committing murder or some other felony. Most of mine come home with problems I have to fix,” Rory grumbled, giving Beckett a dirty look.

Beckett grinned, not at all bothered by her mother calling her out. “I get it from you.”

“You get it from Skeet,” she corrected with amusement. “We have bigger problems than you right now though. Stefano’s making moves.”

Skeeter grunted, his eyes on me. “He hit you?”

“Pistol whipped. Didn’t like me telling him no,” I replied, reaching up to touch the cut. “That shit hurts.”

“Toughen up, Princess,” Beckett joked, moving closer to sit beside me.

“Not all of us like getting beat up, Donovan.”

“That’s why you gotta swing first. Knock them out before they can knock you out.”

“Noted.”

Maddox hopped off the desk, Beckett’s eyes instantly raking over him.

“You’re up,” Jade said to me, motioning to Maddox’s vacated spot, and I slid off the desk I was on and moved over to the other one.

“I don’t get why your man’s too chicken shit to just hand himself over to his daddy to keep you safe,” Beckett said randomly, lighting a cigarette.

“Why didn’t you hand Maddox over to the Demons when they came after everyone?” I replied bluntly, her eyes snapping to mine.

“That’s different.”

“How so? They only went to war with you guys because of Maddox, right? You could’ve stopped a lot of problems if you’d just sacrificed him.”

Beckett stood, and I was pretty sure she was going to come over and punch me, but Maddox grabbed the back of her neck and hauled her back like she was a rag doll.

“Sit the fuck down. She’s right, you know? Things might have been a lot different if you’d done that.”

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