Page 71 of Filthy Little Regrets

“Is he broken?” Melody asks Cassia.

Every muscle is coiled tight, and my lungs burn, begging for air, but I’m worried if I breathe, all my rage will come barreling out of me. Cassia’s touch is too soft. Too gentle. I rip my hand from hers and storm out of the room, hearing my sister’s dramatic sigh and her apology to my wife for my temper.

With fists clenched tight, I go in search of the man responsiblefor all of this.

Sitting behind the grand mahogany desk in the second floor’s office, Dad barely glances up from the paperwork in front of him when I shove the door open. The handle cracks against the drywall.

I slap my palms on the top of his desk. “What the fuck are you playing at?”

He sighs and sits back. The black eye I gave him has turned a nasty shade of blue. “Look at you,” he says. “All that rage and nowhere to go.”

“I have a wife. Why are the Marinos and Grecos coming over?” It’s a stupid question. We both know why. He’s punishing me for attacking him, using my sisters to get to me because he knows whatever he does to me won’t matter.

Dad glances toward the door. “Melody has a big mouth.”

“Don’t blame her for this. I would have found out, eventually.” Now the late nights make sense. Dad left me in charge of getting everything together for themergerin four days’ time, a nearly impossible task without burning the midnight oil. If I had been home, I would have seen who was coming and going.

“How is your wife? I can’t wait to meet her.”

There’s a threat in those words I don’t entertain. If he so much as touches her, he’s dead. The riot of protest in my mind quiets, replaced with the familiar silence that fills my head when I face an opponent in a fight. “If you’re scheming to marry the girls to one of the families?—”

“There’s a cage fight in three weeks. Two million on the line. Win the fight, and your sisters are safe.”

I straighten, jaw grinding. That’s what this was about?Some type of fucked-up manipulation? He knows I’d do anything to protect them, including going back into the ring I swore I was done with. “Do you even care about them?”

How could he not? As annoying as my sisters can be, they’re amazing. I fucking love them. I hate that they don’t have a better dad. That they’re stuck with this piece of shit. I can’t change that, but I can break the cycle.I’ll be a better father, a better husband, a better fucking human.

Smirking, he stands and buttons his suit jacket. “Three weeks. Wolf’s comeback.”

That answer speaks volumes. I lock down my emotions, keeping them from screaming across my face. We’ve only ever been pawns. There’s no love lost between me and him, but my sisters...he’s at least pretended to treat them better.

His eyes are pitch black, soulless, and the violence living within him surfaces with a demented twitch of his lips. “You’re one of my greatest creations.” The pride in his voice is disgusting. “We should join the women. Dinner is almost ready.” He edges around the desk, eyes trained on me. “Three weeks.”

“I heard you.”

“We all have to pay our dues,” he says, shrugging like him auctioning my sisters off to the highest bidder isn’t a big deal. I watch him leave, rooting myself to the spot to keep from lunging at him and breaking his neck.

He’ll get the death he deserves soon enough, but I can’t be linked to it in any way.

It has to look like an accident. Then, when I take control of the estate, I’ll find a way to get the mafia to back off.

twenty

CASSIA

Between the tiny servings and the unease floating around the crystal vases on the table, dinner is awkward as fuck. Melody is quiet. The conversation was so easy between us when we shared a drink, but there, we were alone. Darius Astor, a man with graying hair and a clear god complex, sits at the head of the table. He’s not untouchable, though, because he’s wearing a wicked shiner.Who gave him that pretty present?

Mace’s sisters and mother all seem to move with caution, carrying a mindless conversation to keep him at ease. Mace reappeared right as we were getting ready to take our seats, his gaze devoid of any type of life and jaw set tight. I haven’t been able to get a read on what’s going on the few times we’ve made eye contact. My pulse is a butterfly in a windstorm, struggling to stay aloft.

“So, Cassia, what do you do?” Elaine asks. She’s as put together as she was the other day on the porch. Hair carefully styled. A sheath dress. Pearls.

Does she clutch those bad boys?

“I do freelance tech support,” I lie, ignoring the tang of guilt coating my throat. I don’t want to give Darius a reason to think of me as a threat, especially if I end up at Rex Technologies to try and get information. I have spyware ready to install and test on Mace’s work computer. All I need is an opportunity to plant it.

Adalie and Melody perk up at that, but Darius scoffs and their smiles fade. Elaine flicks her gaze to Darius, a single crease cutting across her forehead, but otherwise, the pleasant expression she’s wearing is firmly in place. She’s the peacekeeper, I realize.

“That sounds interesting. Maybe you can come work for Rex.”

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