Page 103 of Titan

He nodded slowly.

“If she’s with you, she’s family, Gil. Just as Ari is, even though she’ll never take the Villetti name. If you trust Theia, then so do I.”

I knew all about Zayn’s aversion to marriage. I didn’t have the same feelings, but I’d also never put much thought into it either. It was a miracle I’d even found someone I was attracted to, so the idea of marriage hadn’t seemed relevant. My father would have probably started on at me once he’d married Zayn off if he had his way. His wants didn’t matter any longer. Mine did. All I knew was I wanted to be with Theia. The rest could come later.

“I do… trust her, that is.”

“I meant it when I said I’m happy for the both of you. She’s one of my best dancers, so you better not have any ideas about stopping her from working here.”

“I’m notPapá, Zayn. It’s her life. I would never stop her from doing what she wants.”

“Just making sure. And for the record, I don’t think you’re anything like our father.” He reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “You’re a better man than he’ll ever be. I’m proud of you, even if he never was.”

“Thank you,” I muttered, looking away as I was unsure how to feel about what he said.

“You’re welcome.”

Zayn dropped his hand. I slid the gun into my pocket, and to avoid thinking about what he’d said, I wondered what Theia would want me to do about her friend. She told me she wanted me to hurt the people who were after her. Did that include someone who had betrayed her? This was an act of betrayal in my eyes. It didn’t matter if it had been innocent or not. He’d put Theia in danger. I wasn’t going to allow it to stand. My girl had been through enough pain already.

Zayn looked at his watch before moving towards the door and opening it. He paused in the doorway to glance back at me.

“Coming?”

I nodded and followed him out.

“Will the room be ready yet?”

Zayn smiled at me.

“Liza is very efficient.”

He pushed open the double doors that led to the private rooms. The light above number five was red, indicating it was occupied. Zayn nodded at me before he opened the door and stepped in. I kept my surprise out of my expression when we were confronted with a redheaded man sitting in the middle of the plastic sheeting on a chair with his ankles and hands bound by cuffs. Zayn didn’t say a word as he shut the door behind us and turned to the man.

“Hello, Gael.”

The redheaded man looked nervous as he eyed the two of us. I wondered how Liza was able to get him to go along with this. She’d probably told him it was a client request.

“Um, hello, Zayn.”

My brother walked over to the drawers on one side of the room, squatted down, and pulled open a long, thin one at the bottom. There were various implements in it. Ones that had me wondering what kind of services they offered in this room. He selected a scalpel before rising and leaving the drawer open, the tools in full view.

“Can I ask what this is about?”

Zayn turned around and looked over the scalpel before his eyes went to Gael.

“This? Well, allow me to explain.” He stepped closer. “You see, there’s been threats made against one of the girls here, and I have reason to believe you are involved in whatever scheme these people have cooked up to get to her.”

Gael’s skin paled. His long hair was down, laying on his shoulders. He had a dark t-shirt with jeans on and looked like he hadn’t even yet changed for his shift.

“What? Me? Why would I be involved?”

Zayn walked right up to him and placed the scalpel against his neck.

“Let’s dispense with the ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about’ routine. We have footage of you delivering one of the threats, so you’re going to explain to me why, after everything we’ve done for you here, you would think this was a wise course of action.”

Gael swallowed and looked down at the knife in Zayn’s hand. I moved closer to them. Gael’s eyes went to me and narrowed.

“What is he doing here?”

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