Page 83 of His Deadly Lies

“I’ve been shooting a gun since I was five,” Mia insists. “I’m probably a better aim than you are.”

I know, deep down, I won’t be able to talk her out of this. And the last thing I want to do is to incite a riot.

“...What happens when this is done and I have to start planning my wedding to Ricardo?”

Her question comes out of left field for me, utterly unexpected and damaging. I tense at the mere thought of it.

“I have a plan,” I finally manage to get out. It’s not the right time to tell her. Not now. Not when we’re closing in on her leak. “If you manage to stay out of trouble on this one, then I’ll tell you.”

She lets her bra drop. “I’ll hold you to that.”

She fractures all of my resolve. Every last bit of it. She is an impossibly delightful sin I’m powerless to resist no matter how I grit my teeth and hold myself back. So I don’t. I bend her over the side of the bed, spanking the sides of her ass until her skin turns bright pink, and push inside her wetness until I’m lost.

23

MIA

We move on the warehouse at dusk, five cars from the Balestras and three from the Vittorios. It’s a show of solidarity between our families, on the brink of uniting and coming together in order to eliminate a common threat. A leak will only expand unless it’s permanently plugged, and no one is willing to let it get that far.

Whatever I have to do to make sure this stops, I will do it.

Something inside of me jerks at the thought of ending things tonight, on my word. At the thought of using the knife strapped to my inner thigh on a warm, beating heart, the gun in the holster at my waist, and the extra clip beside it.

If I have to.

Whatever it takes to get this done and to protect my people.

Carter doesn’t want me to get hurt, and I understand his concern on a basic level. Protecting me is his entire reason for being here in the first place. His entire job is to keep me from harm.

But who is going to protect him tonight?

Who is going to stand at his side and make sure that he’s safe by the end of the day?

And how is he going to divide his time between protecting me and Ricardo, who insisted on being present for the raid?

Those thoughts weigh on me, and I chew on my cuticle until a thin sliver of skin separates from the quick, and blood wells in the wake. The first drops spilled like the opening flag drop at a race.

I glance behind me at the trail of black cars behind mine. This kind of show from the Vittorios, for a mission that does not impact them as much as it does my own family, impresses me. I know the same is true for my father.

Soon, though, they will all be owned by us. All the wares pushed by the Vittorios will be branded by the Balestra stamp instead.

At the cost of my happiness.

I glance in the rearview mirror at the car following mine, with Ricardo in the front passenger seat. It’s not him I want. The thought of building a future with him while Carter stands and watches from the sidelines makes me sick to my stomach.

I’m supposed to go on with my life and just forget about Carter? And what plan can he possibly have that will get us out of this mess?

Sooner or later, I’m going to have to fuck Ricardo to make our marriage real. Legitimate.

Fingers snap by the side of my ear as loud as any gunshot. “Focus,” Carter tells me as we drive.

“I’m focused,” I reply woodenly.

“On this. Not on whatever else is going on in your head.” His tone holds a warning.

I scoff, tucking my bleeding hand underneath my leg. “Don’t act like you know me now.”

“I do know you, Princess.”

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