Page 114 of Deadly Wrath

“I was stuck there, unable to do a damn thing. Her sisters were screaming, people were panicking, and I couldn’t fucking breathe. I finally got off that stupid fucking platform and ran to her, but it was too late.”

I pause, swallowing hard. “She was already gone.”

Liv whispers, “Alessio, I’m so sorry.”

I nod, even though I don’t want her sympathy, I don’t deserve it.

“After what felt like forever, the ambulance finally arrived and rushed her to the hospital, but she was pronounced dead on arrival. They questioned the mountain guides, checked the ropes, and investigated everything. At first, it looked like a tragic accident. But the truth always comes out.”

I drag in a breath. My hands shake slightly as I grip the steering wheel.

“Her father found out about our arrangement; he had people spying on her and learned that we weren’t really a couple. That she was still seeing women behind his back. So, the sick fuck paid off a few pricks to pose as zip-line guides and they tampered with her rope.”

I heave a sigh. “The dumb bastard thought I wouldn’t come after him because he technically didn’t touch her.”

Liv’s breath hitches. “Her own father? Because he didn’t like her lifestyle?”

I nod slowly, feeling the rage bubble inside me all over again.

“What… what happened to him?” But she already knows the answer.

“Oh, I took care of him,” I say darkly. “But first, I made my father publicly turn his back on him, since he reported directly to him. Humiliated him in front of everyone he spent his whole life trying to impress. He lost everything.And then, when he had nothing, I made him suffer,” I tell her.

“I kept him in a cell and cemented his feet to the ground. Then I built bricks around him, up to his neck, so that he couldn’t sit, couldn’t sleep, and couldn’t move. You’d be surprised how fucking excruciating it is to be forced to stand for days on end; sleep deprivation messes with your head more than anything. He startedhallucinating, calling Bria’s name like she’d come save him from me.”

A bitter laugh escapes me. “So, after eight days of torture, I finally put a bullet in his head.” I exhale slowly through my nose, trying to remain calm. “He deserved everything he got. And I’ll never forgive myself for not killing him the first time he laid a fucking hand on her.”

Liv shudders, but she doesn’t look away.

“It’s my fault she’s not here,” I admit. “I didn’t keep her safe, and it’s something I live with every day. After that, I vowed that I would never go easy on anyone like him ever again.”

“It’s not your fault, Alessio. How could you have known what he would do?” Liv says. Her eyes are glossy with unshed tears.

I should’ve known. Men like him are all the same. But I don’t tell her that.

I exhale, forcing the built-up tension out of my body. “So, yeah. I never really dated. Just fake-dated my gay best-friend and fucked around a lot.” I spew out.

Liv stares at me for a beat, then snorts. “Is this how you had so many threesomes?”

“What?” I ask, caught off guard.

She shakes her head, trying to hold in her giggles. “This is how, isn’t it?”

I let out a short laugh. “It wasn’t that many, and most of the time, I was more of a third wheel than anything. Trust me, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”

She laughs, like full-on, can’t-hold-it-in laughing, and I stare at her, but there’s no heat behind it. “You’re lucky you’re still healing. Otherwise, I’d have to punish you for laughing at me.”

After a minute, her laughter slows, and she wipes a tear from her eye. “Bria sounds like an amazing woman,” she says quietly. “I think we would’ve gotten along.”

I nod because I know she’s right; they would have been the best of friends.

“Thank you for sharing that with me,” Liv says softly.

Something about how she says it, so sincere and open, makes my chest tighten. I need her to understand that my heart is open to her and only her.

“I loved Bria, but as a sister. She was my best friend, but she wasn’t my future.”

I look Olivia in the eyes, making sure she hears every word andbelievesit.

---