Page 55 of Seeking Vengeance

“Cole,” Anissa warns. “Calm down.”

His nostrils flare as he glares. “Who is he? Tell me his name.”

My heart lodges in my throat. “It wasn’t him.”

“Bullshit.”

I swallow, caught between wanting to scream and needing to crumple. “You think I’d be walking around with the giddy smile Keira mentioned if the man I was interested in hit me?”

“I don’t know, Lay. Especially not when you married a man you didn’t love and watched him fuck around on you for years.”

My face drains of warmth, all the blood seeping from my cheeks.

He knew.

Of course he did. It was stupid to assume otherwise.

I guess it was even more idiotic to assume my brother would care enough to do something about my husband’s indiscretions. But it’s the humiliation that stings. They won’t understand why I ignored the existence of Benji’s mistresses. They’ll assume I have no self-respect.

“Careful,” Luca warns. “Benji isn’t here to defend himself.”

“This isn’t about your brother,” Cole snarls.

My pulse increases, pounding in my throat.

Usually I can understand Cole’s protective nature. I don’t always like it, but there has always been an understanding of why he is the way he is.

Now is different, though. This isn’t merely protection. There’s resentment in the mix. Disgust, too. Both byproducts that stem from the bad decisions I made in the past. Decisions he refuses to stop holding against me.

“Fine.” I speak through clenched teeth. “I was mugged. That’s why I needed to cancel the credit card. My purse was stolen and I got shoved into a wall. I’m not being abused. I haven’t made any more bad choices. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Silence descends before the most out-of-place chuckle carries from outside as the kids remain oblivious to our argument.

“Why didn’t you say something?” Hunter mutters. “If you’re in a position where you’re getting mugged, you need to—”

“What?” I fix my brother’s enforcer with a scowl. “I need to do what, Hunter? Quit leaving the house? Lock myself inside? Go back to living a non-existent life just so you think I’m perfectly managed?”

“Watch your mouth,” Cole warns.

“No. I won’t.” I glare. “I didn’t tell you—Icouldn’ttell you—because I knew how you’d react. You always fly off the handle. You’ve spied on me like I’m a goddamn traitor since Benji died.”

“You can’t deny your track record of making smart decisions is lacking.”

His verbal strike hacks at my confidence. “You’re never going to let me forget my mistakes, are you?”

I never should’ve given my father information on Cole. I’d naively thought I’d been looking out for my family because, back then, my brother was a hothead who enjoyed spilling the blood of anyone who glanced sideways at him.

There were whispers he’d start a drug war for frivolous reasons.

For pride. Or spite. Or even arrogance.

So I kept my father updated on his son. I gave him insight when he couldn’t seek it for himself because he’d fled the country. And I convinced Benji to do the same.

It was for the family’s safety.

For our future.

Back then, I hadn’t known who my father was.Whathe was. I would’ve killed him myself if I’d known about the sex trafficking.

---