Page 75 of Tyrant (The Villetti Chronicles)

“Then you should have thought about that before you set all of this in motion.”

I shoved my way past him and ripped the door open, unable to look at his face any longer.

“Where are you going?”

I turned back, finding him staring at me with a dark expression etched on his features.

“Away from you.”

“Arianna, you’re not going anywhere. Did you forget you belong to me?”

This man was so fucking infuriating. How dare he say that to me after everything he’d done today?

“Oh, you’re worried I’m going to walk out of here, are you? Well, you’ve made that fucking impossible. I can’t go back to my father, anyway. I’d have to tell him what Justin did and right now, I can’t handle any more pain.”

My heart cracked in my chest. It broke right open, and I felt like I was bleeding out. I’d been happy to see his face when he’d turned up. Now I hated the very sight of him. Hated he’d put me through this and didn’t trust me or let me in on his plans.

“Don’t follow me, Zayn. I don’t want to talk to or see you right now. Not when all you’ve done is hurt me.”

And with that, I walked out of the room, slamming the door shut behind me.

Twenty Five

Zayn

I stared at the closed door Ari had just stormed out of moments ago, too stunned to do a single thing. There was a whole part of me screaming inside my head to go after her, but I couldn’t. Not after the accusations she’d thrown at me. After seeing so much pain in her eyes. Pain I’d caused her.

I’d known she would be angry with me for lying to her about today. I had planned to mitigate the damage by sitting her down and explaining it to her afterwards. However, I was not at all prepared for her to tell me I’d betrayed her. For her to think I didn’t care. That I didn’t trust her.

I do care. Fuck, seeing you tied up by that cunt, his knife in your face, Tink… it was torture.

I wanted to make it safe for her to go back out into the world again. By killing Derek, I’d stopped the war in its tracks. I protected her father even though I didn’t have to. I did it for her. And I wasn’t going to say I regretted it. It would be a lie.

What I did regret was not realising Ari’s feelings for me ran far deeper than I ever suspected. And because of that, I’d managed to fuck everything up between us.

I’m sorry. Fuck. I just want to tell you I’m sorry.

The door swung open and my brother stormed in, followed by Arlo, who looked incredibly concerned.

“What the fuck was all that shit about, Zayn?” Enzo demanded, his dark eyes fixed on my face and irritation etched all over his features.

“What shit?”

He waved at the open doorway.

“That’s Bennett Michaelson’s daughter, isn’t it? Why the hell is she here and what the fuck did she mean about you two having a deal?”

I didn’t have time to placate my brother right now. No, I needed to think about how I was going to deal with the mess I’d got myself into with Ari. How to apologise to her. How not to lose the only person I’d ever wanted to keep by my side.

“It has nothing to do with you.”

“Nothing to do with me? You fucking involved me.” He stabbed a finger in my direction. “You demanded I take her and Remi out and to let those guys take her. You failed to tell me you were planning on shooting up a gang in the process of getting her back. What the fuck, Zayn!”

Arlo closed my office door and stood by it. At least he had the sense to make sure this conversation was kept private. The rest of the club did not need to be aware of what went down this afternoon. I was still going to have to deal with Remi at some point. I’d left my driver with her when we’d picked up Enzo so he could bring the other car and her back here. It could wait. My situation with Ari could not.

“Still doesn’t make it your business. I told you to do a job, and you did it. What more do you want me to say?”

“I want you to tell me the truth. Why the hell are you involving yourself with those gangs? They aren’t your business either. DoesPapàknow about this?”

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