Page 92 of Fortress of the King

My head pounds. He glances at me, but I show no emotion, even though something has caved in my chest, I show him absolutely nothing. I never display weakness to any of my men, but Enzo knows me well.

My eyes drop to the opposite side of the wall. “All for intel?”

A few silent moments pass. “No.”

“What else.”

“You know what it means, it goes way past intel.”

“I want you to say it.” The pounding in my head just gets worse every passing second.

Fuck. Me. Dead.

“Angelo…”

“Fucking say it!” I yell at him.

He winces and says, “She’s supposed to kill you.”

The words come out, but they make no sense.

My beautiful, sexy, strong woman is my silent assassin?

I couldn’t even write this script, it’s absurd. My mind races to every moment we shared like it’s passing in slow motion.

“I don’t believe it.”

“I assure you, it’s all true. And I’m gonna make it my mission in life to make them all pay, Angelo.”

“Rombaldi’s ilk?” I can see he doesn’t know yet, but I still have to ask him.

“I’ve got one of Vaughn’s guys on it,” he says. “We’re doing all we can to track them down.”

“Why didn't you use Vaughn? Everything goes through him.”

“Because I suspected something was a little off, and after I followed her home and did a trace on her address; I found out who she really was. Vaughn would have gone straight to you, but I needed more information. I didn’t know the target wasyou. She only just told me the truth tonight, after much coaxing. She’s scared shitless.”

I stare at him.

So, this whole time she’s been trying to get close to me for information to give to her kidnapped sister’s captors? I guess that makes sense why she was so edgy around the subject and tried to blatantly lie to me, saying her whole family had all died in that crash. But it doesn’t explain what has been going on betweenus; the fire and the passion, was it all a lie? To fucking mess with my head? Obviously, that answer is yes.

The simple fact is, she’s been lying to me this whole time. She lied straight to my face and has been digging ever since. Something ruptures in my heart, and my black soul begins to take over. I didn’t even see it coming, what does that make me? A fucking pussy, that’s what.

“Angelo, tell me what you’re thinking,” Enzo goes on when I don’t answer.

I stare over at him, except for the first time in a long time I don’t know what I’m thinking. I take a few moments to feel the numbness of it, of knowing things were too good to be true, and why I even care. I meet a hundred broads every week. Why was she any different?

Because she was.

I commit the feeling of her to memory, because that’s all she’s going to be—a distant memory.

She wants me fucking dead.

I’m pissed at myself more than anything, for wanting her, for wanting more. For opening myself up like a fucking pussy.

“I’ve no fucking idea,” I say blankly. “Do you know anything about her sister’s location?”

“Not yet, she’s expecting an email with the details. We’re hoping to get a hit with the IP address, the phone tracking is taking a lot longer than normal. The encryption so far has been intense.”

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