Page 56 of The Gambler

When she passed Tess, she put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry I let that happen to you, but I needed to get you off my back.”

“You’ve succeeded,” she said, deflated.

It was all over. Luca hated her. She had kept the truth from the one man who had truly accepted her as she was. The betrayal on his face had been worse than the words he spewed in her direction. She didn’t even know where to go from here.

Onyx let her go and went for the door.

Then Tess heard a suddenthud. When she turned around, her sister was lying on the floor, passed out.

A man was standing over her, holding a gun.

CHAPTER 21

LUCA

Luca chugged down another drink. He’d barely finished it when Angel signaled the waiter to keep them coming. Being at his friends’ club had its benefits. Such as not having to ask for anything. Not even having to talk, just wallow in your misery.

How could he have been this fucking blind? It had been her. All along, it had been her, the reason why he was even targeted and ended up in jail. He wouldn’t have blinked an eye as he popped Cruz in the head, but how was he supposed to point the trigger at Tess, let alone put a bullet in her.

Fuck my life.

He couldn’t do it, because he was in love with geeky, weird-as-hell Tess Gibson. And didn’t that make this whole fucked-up situation sad?

In hindsight, she had tried to warn him. The story about her mom, the dead guard, everything made sense now. He understood that she hadn’t meant to send his ass to jail. Thing was, even after everything they had been through, she hadn’t come clean. And he didn’t know how to get past that.

At the other end of the table, Damon was frowning at him. “So, let me get this straight. After turning San Fran upside down for weeks to find Jamie, you’ve decided to call it quits?”

Right, he was giving an update on the fucker that might be after Tess. Except, he didn’t care anymore. He was done with her.

“She betrayed me.”

“And? That’s no reason for letting this guy go. A guy who knows you’re after him. You should finish the job and not get complacent.”

“Complacent,” Angel repeated. “Wasn’t that yesterday’s Word of the Day?”

“It was.” Damon sounded pretty pleased with himself.

“Doesn’t matter,” Luca argued. “We’ve been looking for Mick’s brother for over a week. He must be long gone. I don’t think he’s a threat to Tess any longer.” And even if he were, she was no longer his problem. She’d fucking lied to him. For weeks.

“I don’t think you get what I’m saying,” Damon stressed. “Regardless of whether he’s after your girl—”

“Ex girl.”

“Guess that means the wedding isn’t happening. I can take her out then?”

Fuck. He hadn’t even thought of Damon’s threat.

“Not tonight, D. Not fucking tonight.” He still had time to find Cruz and make him confess to killing Grace. And he was going to find him. With or without Tess.

“Fine. That doesn’t make the Irish issue go away, though. Jamie knows you’re after him. If I were him, I’d take you out first chance I got.”

Ah, yes, that was the Damon he knew. Always planning three steps ahead. Thing was, Luca didn’t want to plan anything right now. He was tired of plotting and planning. He was done. Or maybe it was the alcohol speaking, though he’d only had one drink so far. Perhaps that was the problem; he wasn’t intoxicated enough.

“We should order a bottle,” he suggested.

“We’ve got something new from St. Petersburg. It will blow your head off. Unless you’re Russian, of course.”

“Shut up, you pricks. You ain’t Russian.” He wasn’t sure what they were, but they sure as hell weren’t from Mother Russia.

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