Page 84 of Tempted and Taken

Matt looked up as the door to his office slammed open, Henri hot on the heels of Tony and Luca Moretti.

“Sir,” Henri exclaimed, rushing into the room. “I tried to stop them. Should I call security?”

Henri’s question was justified. Tony and Luca looked ready to commit murder.

A wise man would request backup, but instead, Matt shook his head. “No. I’ve been expecting them.”

“You have?”

At the sound of her voice, Matt’s stomach clenched painfully, because that was when he realized Liza was standing in the threshold of the door, hidden behind her cousins’ large frames.

Matt stood, swallowing hard. When Patricia had issued her threat, he’d known this showdown was imminent. He’d expected her to go to Tony. After all, he was the one she’d specifically mentioned, and he’d taken a small amount of comfort in that. Tony’s anger, he could deal with. But Liza’s?

This conversation was going to be difficult enough as it was, and given his and Tony’s contentious past, Matt would be lucky if it didn’t come to blows. Tony certainly looked furious enough to throw a few punches.

If it had just been Tony and Luca, Matt could have powered through. But doing this, becoming the man he used to be, in front of Liza…

Matt took a deep breath and steeled himself for what came next. Glancing at his assistant, he said, “You can go back to your desk, Henri. There’s no need to call security. I can handle this.”

Henri’s gaze traveled from Tony to Luca, then back to Matt, and while his slight PA wasn’t more than five feet six and a hundred and fifty pounds soaking wet, he shot Matt a determined, fearless “got your back” look.

Matt was going to give the man one hell of a bonus come evaluation time.

“It’s okay,” Matt reassured him again, giving Henri an appreciative nod.

Henri walked out of the room, closing the door behind him, and Tony wasted no time, storming over to his desk and slamming the marker down on the surface. “You want to explain to me what this is?”

Matt didn’t give the marker more than a cursory glance. He knew what the paper said. Matt lifted one eyebrow and kept his eyes locked on Tony’s face. As long as he didn’t look at Liza, he could handle this. A lifetime of animosity toward Tony bubbled to the surface, allowing Matt to slide back into his role as the villain in this fucking Greek tragedy more easily than he expected. He’d tried to show this man to Liza in Hawaii, tried to make her see he wasn’t the man she thought he was. “You need me to explain the loan to you?”

Tony gritted his teeth. “No, I don’t.”

“Perhaps you need me to do the math for you. Interest can be tricky.” His words and tone hit their marks. Luca, who’d been standing slightly behind Tony, deferring the lead to his older brother, moved closer until the two were standing side by side in front of his desk. He should probably dial back the snark because there was no way this would be a fair fight. Not that that was his goal.

Whatever he got…he had coming.

“Knew the Russos’ hands were fucking dirty, but I didn’t realize just how low you sank. You sit here in your fancy office and act like a big shot, but you’re nothing more than a goddamned loan shark,” Luca snarled.

In this particular instance, that’s absolutely what Matt was. He’d chosen his victim, preyed on his weakness, then struck fast and hard, a black mamba lying in wait. The insanely high interest, charged weekly, had been put in place on purpose, since Matt’s original goal had been to inflict as much pain as possible.

Then, his mom committed suicide and life changed those goals. He’d put the marker aside, all but forgotten, until Patricia shoved it in his face this morning. The truth was he had never intended to collect on it, but now…

Now he saw a different use for it.

“This debt is fifteen years old,” Tony said. “That’s a long time to sit on a loan without collecting payment.”

“Maybe so, but if I’d called in the debt fifteen years ago, this piece of paper,” Matt tapped his finger on the marker, “would be worth a lot less.”

He heard Liza gasp at the cruel callousness in his voice, but he didn’t spare her a glance. He couldn’t.

“How did you come into possession of this?” Luca asked. “The Eddingtons own the casino that issued this marker, not Russo Enterprises.”

This…

This was the part he didn’t want to say in front of Liza. This was why he’d tried to stay away from her initially. He’d been a fool to think the past would stay dead and buried. He had too many skeletons in his closet…done too many truly terrible things.

Horrible things that wouldn’t just ensure he lost Liza’s trust and affection, but his brothers’ as well.

For fourteen years, he’d been living with an ax over his head. Maybe it was time to just let it fall, let it chop the head off this shell of a man he’d become and live the rest of his miserable life alone.

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