Page 72 of Blood and Lies (A Twisted Duet 1)

I stared at her. She was shaking, her left eye bruised and cut, blood trickling down her cheek. All this time, I saw her as vulnerable, trapped between these four walls. I was so wrong. She was never vulnerable, just scared, yet strong. But right now, this woman in front of me,shewas vulnerable. Seconds from being raped then having a man’s brain matter all over her face, I saw that all her strength had finally left her, leaving her helpless, defenseless, but not weak. Never weak.

I pulled my shirt over my head and gently wiped her face clean. “This is probably the world’s most fucked-up question right now, but are you okay?”

She didn’t stop shaking. “Yes.”

“Liar.” I tilted her chin to lift her face toward mine. “When will you accept the fact that your body can’t lie to me?” Softly, I traced my thumb across the bruised skin next to her eye. Fuck, if I could kill that son of a bitch again, I would.

“What the fuck?”

I closed my eyes when I heard his voice and knew that we were screwed.

“Castello, is that…is that Nicollo?”

I turned to face Vico, who was standing by the door, staring at Nicollo’s corpse.

“Yes.” I moved in front of Tatum.

Vico’s shocked face turned pale. “What happened?” Confused eyes found mine.

Oh, boy. Here we go.“He was trying to rape Tatum. So I had no choice.”

He narrowed his eyes. “You shot him?”

“Yes. Like I said, I had no choice.” I straightened, my instincts expecting the worst.

“What the fuck, Castello? Why would you fucking shoot him?”

I slowly eased my arm back, curving it around Tatum’s hip—my number one concern, protecting her.

“I told you, he was trying to rape Tatum. So I had to act.”

Vico pushed both hands through his hair, looking back down at Nicollo’s dead body. “Holy shit. You fucking killed him.”

When Vico looked up at me with sudden wicked resolve in his eyes, I knew the shit was about to hit the fucking fan.

“You killed Nicollo because he wanted to rape that slut? She’s going to die anyway, Castello. Why the fuck protect her by killing your own goddamn cousin?”

“Vico, I need you to stop.” I stepped back, forcing Tatum to move. I wanted her protected between me and the wall. “What Nicollo was trying to do was wrong.”

A manic laugh rumbled from the back of his throat. “Wrong? Who the fuck made you judge and jury?”

“I’m the Boss, Vico. Nicollo was sticking his nose into shit where it didn’t belong.”

“By wanting to fuck her? He wasn’t hurting anyone.”

“He was hurting her!”

The second the words left my mouth, Vico’s eyes grew wide, and I knew he had figured it out.

“She’s hooked her claws into you too, hasn’t she?”

My heart raced, my mind spinning, trying to figure out how to get Tatum out of here.

“It’s not that simple, Vico.”

“Not that simple? I’m pretty fucking sure the fact that you blew half of Nicollo’s head off simplifies this quite a lot.”

“Things changed.”

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