Page 12 of Bloody Union

“What do you think of Dante?” I ask her, smoothing down my dress.

Her eyes widen, “Um…”

I laugh, “Kins, you’re my best friend. You know how to read people, you’ve been doing it since you were a child. What do you think of Dante?”

She sighs and takes a seat on the sofa, “Makenna, that man doesn’t know how to love…” hearing her say those words is like a punch in the gut. “From the little I’ve seen you interact, he’s not a maniac around you, the two of you could have a reasonable marriage but that’s about it.”

I close my eyes and sit beside her. “Do you think he’ll push me to tell him what happened?”

She nods, “Definitely. He’s possessive of you already. The hand to the waist, the smouldering looks. He’s going to want to know everything about you, including what happenedthatnight.”

“I can’t tell him everything,” I whisper, there’s no way I can.

She reaches for my hand and gives me a reassuring squeeze. “You need to set the boundaries, Kenna. Make him be truthful, that way, there’s no surprises. But if that happens, it means you have to be completely honest too.”

“Grr.” I cry, “Why do you have to be so wise?”

She laughs before sobering, “You need to decide what you want. You can keep him in the dark, but I know you, I know that if that happened, you’ll be miserable. If you’re honest, then make him be too.”

“Let’s see how tonight goes and then I’ll decide.” I still don’t think it’ll be wise telling him everything.

“Okay, but think about how it will impact your marriage if you don’t be honest with him.” She gives my hand one more squeeze before getting to her feet.

“Kins, he’ll want to know about you too.”

She nods, “Yeah, I know, I’m okay with that.”

I get to my feet. “You are?” Since fucking when? “You’ve made me keep this shit quiet for years, Kins, years! I could have had Da sort this out, hell, I would have done it.”

“It would have caused a war!” she whispers.

“And you don’t think telling Dante what’s going on, will cause one?”

“You won’t let it.”

I laugh, I can’t help it, she’s got an awful lot of faith in me. “I don’t see how that will happen. Anyone who finds out what’s happening isn’t going to sit back and let it continue.” I hate that it’s gone on for this long already. If I had a choice, I’d have made sure it ended from the get go.

She shrugs, “When my father dies, then I’ll be free.”

I shake my head. “Your dad is a piece of shit, Kins; he’s letting you get hurt and doesn’t give a shit.”

“I think that Stuart has something on him, that’s why he’s letting him do it.”

My anger is bubbling beneath the surface, we’ve spoken at length about this in the past and this is the first time that she’s telling me this. “It doesn’t matter if he has something on him. You don’t let your daughter be hurt! You just don’t fucking do it.”

“I think my father killed my grandfather.”

I suck in a sharp breath, Kinsley and I aren’t supposed to have secrets, but we do. We’ve both hidden things from one another in the past, this is one of them. “What makes you think that?”

She glances down at her hands and then back to me, “He was a bastard, Kenna. He really was, was worse than dad. He lashed out on Ace more than anyone, but then Ace got bigger and then he turned his attention on me.”

I know what happened, Ace came to me, hoping that I’d help him by asking my father for a favor. Ace believes that my da will call him when he needs a marker.

“What happened to him?” I never want anyone to know that I was the one that poisoned the bastards coke stash. If it comes out, then there will be war. The secrets I carry are there to stop the people I love from getting hurt.

She shrugs, “The cocaine he had was shit.” She shakes her head, a small smile playing on her lips. “He wasn’t found until morning.”

“Why are we even talking about this? The man’s been dead for almost six years, why bring it up?”

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