Page 86 of Little Nightmare

“Yes,” snapped Louis. “And I would know he was dead since I’m the one who pulled the trigger.”

I snorted. “So you’re the good guy, now? You killed him for what? Working for the enemy? I don’t buy it.”

“No.” His glare said everything and nothing all at once. “I put a bullet in his head because he touched what was mine.”

All the blood felt like it just left my body at once. “What?”

He looked around the room. Raven was silent behind me. I needed to see her, to touch her, to gauge her reaction to the news. Was she softly crying? Was she regretting this afternoon?

We didn’t use protection.

We were lost in each other.

I told her I loved her.

I had everything in those moments.

And now it felt like everything the universe promised me I could keep—was getting ripped away.

Louis bit down on his lower lip and put his hands on his hips. He was wearing a black cap, similar to the one I saw on the guy who was tailing us last year. He had a black T-shirt on and fitted jeans, his blond hair poked out from under his hat. He looked identical to the guy who’d died. “La Nebbia instructed us to infiltrate the family. We’d been instructed, picked up off the streets at ten and trained for a special mission. Early on we thought we were working for the government to get rid of the hold the crime families had in Sicily and in the States. It seemed legit at first, obviously, until we realized that the goal wasn’t to take you down, it was to take control.” He locked eyes with me. “I wasn’t willing to do what it took to get close, they wanted a hold in the Alfero family by any means possible.”

My stomach recoiled. “Get her pregnant.”

“Get her pregnant,” he repeated as Dante’s grip on my arms tightened. “But I was falling in love with her and it felt wrong, sleeping with her should be because of our feelings not because I was betraying her with each kiss—since I refused to do it, I was taken out and Lucian took my place. I escaped and killed him, and I’ve had a price on my head ever since.”

I cursed. “So now you’re trustworthy?”

“I’m trying to make things right. An old contact is making a move. I came here to warn you and to,” His eyes flickered past my body. “To apologize to the only girl who ever made me laugh.”

I’ll make him laugh or at least myself smile by punching him repeatedly in the face. I can suddenly feel the eyes of the room on me, every single individual like they’re waiting for me to fight, waiting for me to rage and lose my shit. I can’t decide if the feeling I have in my chest is absolute hatred or terror, maybe it’s a mixture of both.

I took a deep breath and exhaled roughly. “She’s mine.”

“She should be able to choose who she loves—don’t you agree?” His eyes narrowed. “After all, you covered for her—claimed the baby was yours when you hadn’t even touched her, what an easy way to infiltrate.” He took a few steps toward me and held up his phone. “After all, you learned from the best.”

“What the fuc?—”

I stopped short.

It was her.

My ex.

Sienna.

The woman who told me she loved me only to want my name and power. I was trained long before her.

“So?” I sneered. “A picture of the woman who betrayed me and stabbed me repeatedly in the chest—who cares!”

Louis tugged his shirt down.

He had similar knife marks. “It’s what she does—to her favorites.”

“No.” I shook my head. “No—we were in a relationship. Together. I was going to leave this life, and she got pissed and nearly killed me.”

Louis rolled his eyes. “Likely story—she aways gives us different ones since she’s the boss of La Nebbia Syndicate. Then again, you knew that, right?”

My memories came slamming back into the present.

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