Page 38 of Cruel Revenge

I resist the urge to throw the phone across the yard.

Though I don’t know what’s been going on with Aiden lately, Royce is right. He’s becoming more impossible to deal with than ever.

Joshua appears in front of me. “That sounded like it went well.”

I slide the phone into the back pocket of my shorts. “It didn’t. Thanks for helping. Is there anything else you need?”

“You need to calm down.” Joshua takes a large step back as if he’s anticipating the punch to the throat I’m seriously considering. “I mean that in a practical way and not a women should be less emotional kind of way. Be as emotional as you want, for all I care, but being wound like this right now isn’t going to help anyone.”

“But seriously, what are you even doing here?” I shoulder past him in search of Royce.

“I told you. I heard the supply I gave you burned. Wanted to see it for myself before giving you more at half the cost. Which is very kind of me, might I add.”

I whirl around to face him. “You really think that my family would try to scam you? We may be criminals, but we’re honest with our business partners.”

“And maybe I thought you could use someone who could see through your bullshit.” Joshua steps closer to me, looking down and stopping me in my tracks. “I can see how much this upsets you.”

“Of course, it does. I knew these people, and now I’m going to have to be the one going around to their families to tell them that the people they love are dead. It’s draining.”

“Why don’t you meet with the Rinaldos and arrange for a peace treaty?”

My eyes are on the verge of popping out of my head.

I shake my head. “You’re stepping into the middle of a war you know nothing about.”

Chapter Ten

JOSHUA

“I think you should consider divorce.”Grady clasps his hands together behind his back as we leave the garden and turn back toward the house.

“I came here to talk about business. I don’t want to talk about my marriage status because that isn’t changing. I love my wife and as great a woman as Emily might be, I won’t be leaving Skyla for her. Not now, not ever.”

He pulls a cigarette from his pocket and lights it, stuffing it between his lips. He holds the box out to me as he shakes his head. “I think you’re making a mistake.”

“I would respectfully disagree with you.”

“You’re young. You don’t know what a good marriage looks like. You don’t even know what a good woman looks like. At your age, I was confused too.”

“I’m thirty-six. I don’t think I’m confused about anything.”

Except whatever the hell Skyla is doing to me. And I might be hiding.

I stuff my hands in my pockets, fighting the desire to grab Grady by the neck and drown him in the pond to our left.

He’s pushing every single boundary I have, and he’s going to find himself on the wrong side of that fight if it comes down to it.

Killing my importer might be a mistake, but it would make me feel better.

I wouldn’t have to listen to him drone on and on about marrying his daughter. I wouldn’t have to pretend I care about Emily. As if I couldn’t live my entire life without ever thinking about her again.

The part I can’t quite figure out is what he stands to gain from this, beyond Emily getting off his back and onto mine.

My nails dig into my hands. “We’re having a wedding reception soon. We weren’t going to bother with one, but Skyla’s sisters were upset that we eloped without them.”

He opens the back door, and we step into the house. “Is that an invitation?”

“Of course. You’re my most important business contact and a good friend. It would be a shame to not see you and Emily there to celebrate with us.”

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