Page 79 of Bad Men

Liana shrugged. “Maybe they were going to but never had time or they didn’t want to worry you.”

Or I was a horrible, selfish daughter too wrapped up in her own life to notice anyone else’s suffering. Maybe I was the problem here. How else could my mother be in that much pain and me oblivious to it? How had I not known what was happening in my own home? What was wrong with me?

“Of course I’m going to worry,” I said instead. “She’s been working non-stop every day. I told her I wanted to take another job, but she wouldn’t let me. I could have helped.”

“Hey,” Liana set a hand lightly on my arm. “Maybe this is why they didn’t tell you. They don’t want you getting another job.”

“Well, that isn’t up to them.”

“Mia,” she gave my arm a squeeze. “You know that isn’t how it works. They want to protect you just like you want to protect them.”

I sucked in a breath, willing myself to keep from storming downstairs and demanding answers. “I wish they would stop treating me like a child. They planned this whole thing without even telling me.”

“It’s only for two months,” she argued. “Mom suggested it, if that makes you feel better. She thought you might like somewhere away to think and regroup. Granted, the whole way up, she couldn’t stop talking about you and the two men you were sleeping with. She kept asking if I knew anything, if you’d told me what you were doing. I said I didn’t, but of course, she didn’t believe me. Kept threatening to send me to a convent if I ever did what you did.”

“Was it so bad?” I murmured, needing someone to tell me I wasn’t a lunatic for loving two men.

“Literally getting into bed with two criminals? Kinda.”

I raised my face and peered at my cousin. “Would it still have been terrible if they weren’t criminals?”

Liana cocked her head to the side in deliberation. “Two guys at the same time would still be pretty shocking, but I think more forgivable.”

“So, the only reason everyone is freaking out is because of their job?”

A brow lifted on the other woman’s face. “They kind of kill people for a living, Mi. It’s a literal no-no in the commandments. God burned a bush and everything. It’s so frowned upon that they created laws that put people who do kill in a concrete box for life.”

I exhaled, closing my eyes and lowering my chin to my chest. “I’m just so tired, Liana.”

The mattress dipped as she leaned in to drape an arm around my shoulders. “It’ll be okay, okay? You’ll come stay with us for a little bit. We’ll hang out all the time and before you know it, you’ll forget all about those two.”

She had no idea how wrong she was. Asking me to forget Nero or Davien was the equivalent of asking me to forget how to breathe. But my dad was right, they could replace me within the hour. There was no shortage of volunteers. To most, it wouldn’t matter what they did for a living, only that they were dark and dangerous. It all came down to the knowledge that they had no reason to pick me.

But that wasn’t my only problem anymore. How could I leave when my mother was in pain? With me on this magical vacation away from my problems, my mom would still be working herself literally to death.

“I need to talk to my parents,” I said to my cousin.

Liana didn’t seem surprised. She offered me a small smile and a nod. “I’ll start packing, okay?”

I gave her no answer when marching out the door and down the stairs. My parents were seated around the coffee table with Aunt Victoria. The trio were talking in low murmurs I knew had a lot to do with me. It stopped when I stepped into view.

“Mia?” Mom looked me over, searching my hands for my bags. “Are you done?”

I shook my head, momentarily stunned by the hot burn of tears in my eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me about your surgery?”

Both my parents blinked. Their gazes shifted to Aunt Victoria who sighed and rolled her eyes upwards in annoyance.

“Liana,” she muttered.

Mom looked to me first. “We wanted to tell you—”

“Why didn’t you then?” I shot back, moving to stand before them. “I had an offer for another job. I told you about it. You kept shutting me down.”

“No, Mia, it’s okay,” she cut me off, a smile curving over her beautiful face. “We’re okay! Your dad got a very generous raise at work.”

“Raise? What raise?” I countered, baffled why this was the first I was hearing about it.

“I only got it yesterday,” my father said. “We came home early to tell you, but you left so quickly.”

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