Page 102 of The Viper

“He’ll never get his hands on either one of you again.”

She takes a moment but finally nods. “When you find him, he’s going to want me back. Can you please kill me before he takes me?” My hands curl into fists. “I can’t live another day with him.”

I try to regulate the anger pulsating through my body. I don’t want to scare Eliza, by sounds of things she’s been through enough fear and trauma at the hands of my fucking brother. “No, I won’t kill you, because when I find him, he’s dead.”

She looks up at me, tears flowing and her chin quivering. “I don’t want to come between you and your brother, Dominic. Don’t kill him because of what he did to me.”

I choose my next words carefully, because I don’t want Eliza to feel like she’s responsible for what Ruben and I will do to him. “Adrian’s created problems for us. If anything happens to him, I can assure you he’s brought it upon himself.”

Eliza composes herself and slowly unwinds from the crumpled mess she was. She still won’t look me in the eyes though, but I suspect that has a lot to do with the way Adrian treated her. “You’re not like him,” she whispers as if she’s not sure if she should speak the words.

“No, I’m not.”

“I’m sorry, but I need to ask you something else,” she meekly says. She’s yet to lift her chin, but at least she’s finding the confidence to speak with me.

“What is it?”

“You don’t hurt my sister, do you?”

“Not now, not ever.”

Eliza swallows and her head moves in a small nod. “Rose is strong, stronger than I could ever be, but please don’t hurt her.” Eliza is much stronger than she believes.

“I won’t.” I keep my attention focused on Eliza, taking my cues from her.

“Did you know about our parents?”

“They died before you married my brother,” I reply, genuinely curious as to where this is going.

Eliza lifts her chin to finally meet my eyes and marginally tilts her head to the side. “You don’t know about the...” her voice trails off as she waits for my reply. “You don’t know.” She unwraps her right hand and lifts it to her mouth.

“Know what?” I ask with authority as I sit straighter.

There’s a long gap of silence as Eliza again lowers her chin and stares at the floor. “You don’t know,” she says in a barely audible voice.

“Eliza.” She slowly looks up to me. “What don’t I know?” How many secrets was Adrian hiding from the family?

She shakes her head and purses her lips together. “It doesn’t matter anymore.” Tears fall from her eyes and she wipes them away. She unfolds her body and stands from the sofa. “Thank you for your time.” Eliza sounds so clinical and formal.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“Nothing.” She shakes her head furiously. “Nothing at all.”

“I’ll ask Rosa.”

“You can, but she doesn’t know anything. And if you do, she’ll ask me and I’ll be forced to tell her, then she’ll hate…” Her hand flies up to her mouth as if she’s given away too much already. “Please don’t.”

Adrian has something on Eliza, but whatever it is it’s enough to silence her for Rosa’s sake. I’ll find out what it is, but first Ruben and I need to have a conversation about Eliza and what she knows about Adrian’s dealings. This might help us find where he is.

“I won’t speak with Rosa about this.” She smiles weakly and heads toward the door. “If you need anything, you let me or Rosa know.” The poor girl needs to heal from whatever my fucking brother did to her.

“Thank you.” She leaves and closes the door softly behind her.

Fuck. What has Adrian done?

My phone dings and I see a message from Varo. Enroute ETA 10 minutes.

Rosa will return home soon, and seeing as I’ve only had one conversation with her this morning about the café, I expect she’ll come in with all guns blasting.

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