Page 54 of Deceit
I still didn’t reply, because again, the answer was easy. Of course I wouldn’tblame Theo. I wouldn’t have blamed him, and I would only ever have wanted him to be happy.
Kai got to his feet, brushing his sweats down.“Your silence speaks athousand words, Miles. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m going back to bed. You can sit here for the rest of the night and hold your pity party, or you can acceptthatTheo would want you to be happy and start living your fucking life. I know what I would do.”
Withthat, he strolled away, disappearing into the darkness of the trees andleaving me to ponder his questions.
Chapter 17
Sofia
To absolutely no one’s surprise, Miles avoided me for a few days afterwe danced at the club. Despite telling myselfthatI didn’t care, his rejection still stung.
I hatedthathe hated me, especially when I wanted him so damn much. Notjustphysically, either, my attraction went far deeper thanthat. He’d been nothing but a cold asshole to me, yet I couldn’t help how I felt.
He was an enigma, a puzzlethatI had pieces of but was missing parts, sothatIcouldn’t see the final picture.
I thought it was because I’d seen firsthand how devoted he was to his family,the lengths he’d gone through to help Kai and Riley, and his unwavering loyalty to Theo,evenat the jeopardy of his own happiness.Aside from Rafe, I’d never had someone show methatkind of loyalty. Thekind where someone was by your side no matter what. The kind where they were prepared to lay down their life to protect you.
I wantedthat, and I wanted it with Miles, but he was determined to keep hiswalls up, and no matter how hard I tried to smash my way through them, they wouldn’t crumble.
While Miles was playing his disappearing game, I spent more time withRiley. A little while ago, she and a friend, Kimmy, had opened a rape crisis center, and Riley had invited me to help out.
It was thanks to KimmythatI hadn’t been sexually assaulted when I waskidnapped. I’d been thrown in a cell, surprised to see a young woman with bruises and dried blood coating her face and body, curled in the corner.
Before Ievenknew her name, she’d gotten in between me and mykidnapper, squaring up to him to prevent him from attacking me, despite the injuries she’d sustained.
When he went to attack me, she managed to knee him in the balls, stoppinghim in his tracks. Furious, he smacked her in the face, almost knocking her out, before storming out of the cell.
Shortly after, Miles and Rafe rescued us from the cell.Thatwas when Ifound out her name was Kimmy, and she hadn’t been as lucky as I was to avoid being raped. She was still processing what had happened to her by working at the crisis center, and I had nothing but the utmost respect for her. She’d suffered something horrendous, yet she was using her experience to help others.
I didn’t have the first clue how to help rape survivors, but Riley insisted Icould help, bethatby looking after kids while their parents attended therapy sessions with the counselors employed by the center, orevenjusthelping out with admin tasks.
I’d only volunteered there for two days, but I couldn’t wait to go back. Notonly did it get me out of the house, but finally, it felt like I had a purpose. I wasn’tjustthe daughter of a mafia boss whose sole purpose in life was to strengthen her father’s organization; I was helping people when they needed it the most.Evenif I was only making coffee.
On the third morning after the night at the club, I woke to find the houseempty, as usual. But the pang of loneliness didn’t hit me like it had done previously. Instead, excitement rolled through me for the day ahead.
I was meeting Rafe.
We hadn’t seen each other since the morning after the wedding, and althoughwe’d exchanged texts almost daily, he’dseemeddistracted. I suspected Papa was keeping him on his toes.
He’d messaged the day before to ask if I was free to meet him for a walk inHollows Park, and I’d barely managed to hold my squeal of happiness in.
I showered and dressed in record time before meeting Connor and Rob bythe car. I’d attempted to get to know my appointed bodyguards since they’d been driving me to the crisis center, but they hardly spoke. If I hoped to develop a friendship like I’d had with Gus, I was sorely mistaken.
We drove through the city with the usual entourage: an SUV in front, andone behind, both containing another four men who were armed. It was taking some getting used to having the extra security, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me feeljustthatlittle bit safer. Papa had always insisted I only needed Gus to keep me safe, but look howthatturned out.
When Connor took a roadthatled us away from the city and into the hills ofHollows Bay, I gaped out the window from the backseat, the scenery looking vaguely familiar.
As we turned a corner, the reason the area looked familiar became clear.Standing alone on the other side of the road was a huge, single-storey building with large darkened windows, two muscular men standing by the closed front doors, and a sign above the entrance reading,‘Exotique.’
My stomach dipped as we passed by, and the memory of Miles fucking awoman on the stage flashed in front of my eyes. I turned my head away, heat creeping up my cheeks.
Not for the first time, I wondered if Miles still went to the club and if heparticipated in the activitiesthatwent on inside. My good mood soured. Maybethatwas why he was so good at keeping his walls up; he was getting laid elsewhere, he didn’t need to touch me.
I sucked in a deep breath, Connor’s eyes flashing to me in the mirror, and thepity reflected in them didn’t help to stop the voice in my head telling methatevery night Miles was away from home, he was at the club, fucking as many women as possible.
Ugh.
Well, fuck Miles.
