Page 165 of Poison Aches

“Different?” he offers with a smile that could charm the pants off of any red-blooded human being. “I’m glad you think so. I can’t maintain that frosty attitude of his all day.”

I don’t know why I laugh at this, but I do.

The pressure in my chest eases slightly as I picture Emmett’s broody but oh-so ridiculously handsome face that I can’t stand sometimes.

“He’s uptight, gloomy, and doesn’t care for anything,” Vaughn continues. “Which has me wondering how you two know each other.”

“We don’t!” I quickly assert.

“Hmm, someone who keeps an emergency inhaler on them when they don’t have asthma might say otherwise.”

I pause, thinking back to the way Emmett just pulled an inhaler out of nowhere.

I could’ve sworn only Grammy and Samuel know that I have asthma, which developed the night I met Emmett Easton.

The crimes and sins Emmett has committed against me and my family are too many, and yet my heart fluttered.

“If indeed he’s your cousin, then you must know that he’s an asshole who knows everything about everyone and exploits their weaknesses.”

At that, Vaughn throws his head back and laughs.

Like a rich-baritone, toe-curling laugh that I strangely enjoy.

“I like you,” he suddenly says. “You have a spine, won’t be bullied, but most of all, you’re not scared.”

“Does it look like I’m not scared?” I mumble, watching him. “Because it’s not every day I meet members of the freaking Mafia!”

When those words blurt out of my mouth, a shiver goes through me.

Emmett’s family is the mafia!

The mafia is Emmett!

All these years, that hidden side of him… was the freaking mafia!

And Emmett has Italian roots? How the hell did I not know that?

“Ahh, it seems you don’t know everything about the boy you grew up with,” Vaughn says softly, his intelligent gaze studying me.

“Wait, how did you know that?”

How the hell does he know I grew up with Emmett?

This night is revealing how much of a fool I am as compared to everyone else.

Even the girl I thought contacted me as my half-sister turned out to not only be my sister, but a twin sister who has been raised perfectly well by the man I thought I’d meet and the woman I thought I’d find somewhere else, living a horrible life.

After all, why else wouldn’t Beverly come back home to see her parents unless she was in a position where she couldn’t?

But not only is she perfectly well, she’s married to the governor of New York, living the life of the rich debutant, political wife!

A throbbing pain blooms behind my eyes.

“How about I give you a ride back to the city so we can talk?” Vaughn asks, his voice now a bit softer than before. “You don’t look so good.”

“I wonder what gave that away,” I mutter just as a black SUV pulls up.

The rear door is opened, and I’m ushered in gently, none of the manhandling Emmett did earlier.

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