Page 114 of My Everything

“A group of assholes. Hellbent on bringing us down.”

“Us?”

He shrugged. “My brother. Me. We’re all the same to them.”

“They’re who came after us? Who shot at us when we were on the road?” Kaylie asked, and I tried not to shudder at the memory of the men blocking the car on that lone forest road.The thud as the car hit them. The fucking bullet tearing into my arm.It was the beginning of this hell.

“Yeah.”

“What do they want?” I asked.

Dominic chuckled, shaking his head at me as if to say,do you have to ask.

“Kaylie?” I said, and it wasn’t a question. But he nodded to confirm, and I cursed under my breath. “Why?”

“Leverage, what else? She was under my brother’s protection. That made her a juicy bone.”

I gritted my teeth at the reference. “And now she’s under yours.” It was not hard to piece it together. “What happens when we leave? They’ll come after her?”

Kaylie tensed at my side, and I instinctively pulled her to me.

Dominic flashed me a twisted grin. “It’s me they want.”

“They target everything we love,” Izzy added. “What we protect. Just to fuck with us.”

Like Julie… the thought crossed my mind, needing to be voiced. But I couldn’t. Not in front of Kaylie.

“And if they come after her?” I asked instead.

“Then it’s damn good she has a bodyguard boyfriend,” Dominic said, and I scoffed. I never signed up for this. I couldn’t be involved with the fucking mob. Yet deep down I had a weird feeling that somehow, I already was. Long before Kaylie.

I pinned my gaze on Dominic. “I need to talk to you.” I gestured toward the door with a jerk of my head. “Alone.”

Izzy sucked in a whistle, then walked up to Kaylie, slung an arm around her shoulders, and pulled her down onto a couch. Roni joined them, making me more than hesitant to leave.

Throwing her one long look, I followed Dominic. Crossing the foyer and the main hall attached to it, I was surprised to find it buzzing with activity. Men I never saw before stalked the stone floor. It wasn't until two men came down the stairs, carrying something wrapped in black plastic, that I got it. They werecleaningup. I scoffed at the efficiency, not for a second doubting those who died in the attack would never be found again as they left this house.

Dominic nodded toward the guard perched by the front door as we passed. He took me to the sitting room, steering me toward a mini bar carved into the stone wall. Filling a glass of bourbon, he handed one to me before filing one for himself.

His silence crawled under my skin as I pulled out one of the heavy leather chairs and sat, following his every move across the polished stone table.

“Juliette Evergreen,” I forced myself to break the silence. To not let my voice crack and give me away as I said her name after keeping it locked in my soul. “Does it mean anything to you?”

Dominic tensed, looking over his shoulder at me. Then he turned back to the bar, took a long swallow, refilled, and finally spoke as he came to join me at the table. Bottle in hand. “Yeah, why? What do you know about her?”

I couldn’t stop the gasp.Fuck. It was worse than I thought. Dominic wasnotsupposed to know her name. She was just a waitress from Michigan. A sweet girl I met while staying with Johnny on location for a film. But she was not, though… The grim look on Dominic’s face said it all.

“You first,” I growled.

He gave me a sardonic sneer, but nodded. “She was Max’s sister.” He shifted in the chair, leaning back, and I caught a flicker of discomfort on his face before it settled into that cold dead nothingness that he normally sported. The level of detachment only increased the unease I felt around him. He was a fucking machine. Did he even feel pain like a normal human being? It sure as fuck didn’t look like it.

“It killed Max to stay away from her. But he did it to protect her. Even if that meant letting her believe he was dead.” He shook his head, locking those dark orbs on me. “What we sacrifice for—” he cut himself off. “We’re not bad people, Maddox. We may not follow the law, but we do justice.” He scoffed, downing the bourbon, and setting it aside with a force enough to crack the glass. “She’s dead. So is her baby. Max doesn’t know, and it will stay that way.”

He fixed me with a hard glare, as if intimidation worked on me. But he didn’t need to worry. I wasn’t going to tell Max. He spoke again, but I stopped listening. Asking about Julie was a fucking mistake when I wasn’t ready to hear the answers. What were the odds? How was it possible? Max’s sister.Fuck. No wonder the man looked familiar. He had her eyes. The same soft brown gaze. The same hair color. The same kind smile…

“She had a life.” Dominic’s voice was hard, cold, and that coldness seeped into me, making me shudder under his dead stare. “A good life. And they ruined it.”

“They?” I choked out, earning a strange look in return.

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