Page 112 of Coercion

She sinks onto the edge of the bed and, as she places her hand on my arm, I jerk away.

“Don’t you dare fucking touch me.” I hiss.

“I see you’ve picked up his foul language then.” She mutters.

“Along with a few other things.” Jett adds.

“Like what?” I spit.

“Like your husband’s blind loyalty for Nico Morelli.” Jett replies.

“What does that have to do with anything?” I ask. “At least he knows what the word means.”

My mother shakes her head, scoffing. “You stupid girl.” She says. “You have no idea, do you?”

“No idea about what?” There are more secrets? More revelations they want to just drop on me?

“Nico Morelli is the reason all this happened.” Jett states. “He’s the reason our father got killed. He’s the reason Levi has gotten away with it so long.”

I blink, staring at her for a second before I start laughing. They’re mad. They have to be.

My mother leans over and slaps me hard across the face. I gasp out feeling like my brain slams into my skull. My cheek is still heavily bruised from what Preston did. How I don’t collide with the wall I don’t know.

“You didn’t have to do that.” Jett says quietly.

“Yes, I did.” She snaps back. “If Ruby won’t act like an adult...”

“An adult?” I repeat, scowling.

“Nico had the power to stop everything.” My mother says. “He knew what Levi was going to do. I told him. And instead of helping us, he sat by and watched it happen.”

I narrow my eyes, not believing a word of it. Besides, even if he did know, it wasn’t Nico’s place to step in. He had no links to our family, he bore us no allegiance.

Rival families rarely got involved when an internal war broke out. It was always safer to stay out of it and wait for the victor to emerge.

“And when it was all over he washed his hands.” She adds. “He didn’t try to help. He did nothing to save you.”

“Why would he?” I ask. She’s making him the villain when the reality is, she’s the one who let me down. She’s the one who left me. Her own flesh and blood.

“He’s your godfather, Ruby.” She says, jabbing her finger right in my face. “He swore to your father that he’d look after you. Look after us.”

“What?”

“They had a pact, the pair of them. He’d be your godfather but when you came of age he was meant to marry you.”

My eyes widen. Nico Morelli? I was meant to marry him? My stomach churns, not because the man is disgusting but the thought of it, of being with someone other than Preston makes me feel physically sick.

“And then Levi came along and offered him a juicy carrot. A nice way to soothe his conscience after the deed was done.”

“They had an alliance.” I say.

My mother laughs, she throws her head back and laughs like this is all just a big joke. “Levi needed Morelli more. We’ve been taking back everything he stole. The mines, the businesses, he’s haemorrhaging funds just to keep himself afloat. That’s why he had you sold off, he knew we were getting close so he made sure you were placed well out of our reach.”

“He’s dead. Levi is dead.” I say. “He had a stroke.”

They look at each other in shock. Apparently, that’s news to them.

“So it’s over.” My mother grins. “The bastard bowed out before I could gut him.”

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