Page 92 of Deadly Wrath

“Leah Morano is the reason my dad’s locked up.”

The room spins for a second. My mom didn’t try to take Uncle Tito down. She had nothing to do with him going to jail. She saw something she wasn’t supposed to, something involving the Commission. Uncle Tito isn’t even part of the Commission.

Dad told her we’d be safe. That if we stayed inside, nothing would happen. He was supposed to make sure we were okay. But we weren’t, and he couldn’t keep us safe anymore. That’s why Clover came. That’s why we ran.

Ezra watches me carefully, probably reading the confusion across my face. Then his smirk widens. “You don’t even know what she did, do you?”

I swallow hard. “No, she—”

“She’s the reason I lost everything,” he snaps, cutting me off before I can say anything.

“My mother was—”

“A fucking snitch!” He says the word like it physically burns his throat to say it.

The nausea is instant, curling in my stomach like spoiled milk. “Liar,” I whisper low enough that I’m barely able to hear my voice. I don’t know if I believe it or if I need him to stop talking.

Ezra throws his head back in an over-exaggerated laugh. “You have no idea what she got tangled in. What she cost me… cost us.”

He leans in so close I can smell the gin wafting from his nasty mouth, making me want to gag. “You think Alessio’s gonna save you?” He mocks me like I’m some idiot who actually believes in fairytales.

My pulse races, but I keep my face blank, shifting my focus to the blood splattered on my white shirt, literally anywhere from the man in front of me.

“Look at me,” he demands. “Do you even realize how much my dad made your mom suffer when he caught her?”

“He—,” I can’t even get the words out before my throat tightens. “She didn’t deserve that,” I force out.

Ezra snorts. “Yeah? She went crying to your dad that she didn’t want you growing up around people like me, like dad, like the guy you’re fucking. And when dad told her to shut the fuck up and mind her business, she ran to the cops.”

I feel the vomit threatening to come up. “She probably did what she had to do,” I say, but tears sting my eyes, threatening to fall.

Ezra’s soaking in the way his words are breaking me down.

“It’s funny what a man in prison can do with so much free time,” he muses. “My dad’s been setting this place up for failure since the day Alessio bought it,” he waves his hand around. “Having his contacts bring underage girls in here, just like old times, then reporting it all to get him taken down.” He shrugs. “So, I guess you couldsay your mom’s death is your fault. And Alessio’s downfall, well, that’ll be on you too.”

The air rushes from my lungs, and my body is starting to feel ice cold, even under the lava lights.

Ezra’s watching me, waiting for the moment I break. “He doesn’t give a shit about you. He’s using you. Just like your mother used everyone else.”

“You don’t know shit!” I snap, but I hear the panic creeping into my voice. And the worst part is that he’s right. Alessio doesn’t care about me. He made that clear this morning when he pushed me away.

“Oh, but I do. Your mother was a liability. And now look at you.” Ezra leans back, like the smug bastard he is. “This is the life you’re destined for, Liv. You can’t escape it because you’re just like her.”

“You’re a joke,” he says quietly, like we’re whispering some dirty little secret. “And you’re gonna be the one who pays the price.”

My pulse hammers in my chest, but I don’t let him see it. I force myself to meet his eyes, to pull every last ounce of fight I have left. “You think you have all the power here?” My throat is dry as hell, but I’m trying to sound like a confident badass. “But you’re wrong. And when I find out the truth,” I lean forward, pushingagainst the ropes, making sure he hears every damn word. “You’ll wish you never fucking crossed me.”

For a second, just a split second, his smirk drops.

But then it comes back, stretching wider and meaner, like he’s savoring this moment like some sick fucking game.

His hand moves, and my brain barely has time to catch up before his fist connects with my face. Blinding pain explodes across my face, and a scream rips out of me. My ears are ringing, and tears sting my eyes. I don’t know if I’m crying from pain or straight-up fear.

And then he reaches into his jacket.

My stomach turns, and I gag, swallowing down the bile that hits the back of my throat. The knife he pulls out is massive and not the kind that’s just for scaring people.

I’m too focused on the burning in my fucking face and the massive knife Ezra’s dangling like it’s a damn toy to make sense of what he’s yelling. Then two gunshots go off, then another two.

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