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I drove up to the locked steel and mesh gates, frowning as I assessed the surroundings outside of them. Only once I was satisfied it was safe did I activate the unlocking mechanism to make the gates slide silently open.
The flashing lights of emergency vehicles caught my attention as I drove forward, police cars and a pair of ambulances pulling up at the front of the building. It’d be a matter of minutes before they blocked off the underground carpark. I flicked on my indicator and turned onto the street. I only hoped the dead soldiers bodies would be long gone by then.
I accelerated away from the crime scene, relieved to be getting Chantilly away from anything incriminating, yet sick to the stomach knowing Ethan and his brothers would be left to convince the authorities nothing untoward had happened.
I blew out a slow breath. If there was one thing we were all good at, it was hiding dead bodies along with the truth. If we weren’t we’d all been in jail right now. It helped that Ethan had an arsenal of officers and judges in his back pocket. I scrubbed a hand over my face. Thank God. Because I’d sooner be dead than rotting behind prison bars.
How do you think Chantilly feels? You imprisoned her and saved her from drowning knowing she’d chosen her own way to end her life.
I swallowed convulsively, sweat beading on my brow as the truth hit me like a ton of bricks.
I was a hypocritical asshole. I didn’t deserve her love or her respect, nor was I ever going to get it from her. Even worse, I’d brought her into even more danger by introducing her to my mafia family. Though the women and even Ethan might have accepted her, Carlo would do everything in his considerable power to turn them against her and bring her down.
A horn sounded behind me and I jerked at the realization I’d yet to accelerate through the green traffic lights. That I couldn’t recall stopping for red made me break out in more of a sweat. I was always in control, always ten steps ahead with backup plans in place just to be safe.
I was losing control with no contingency plan in sight.
My breath shuddered out as an idea suddenly fell into place, as frighteningly obvious as it was profoundly right.
I slid a glance at the woman next to me, my heart folding in on itself.
It would kill me, but I knew exactly what I had to do now.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chantilly
Something wasn’t right, and I was self-centered enough in that moment to admit it wasn’t just the two soldiers who’d lost their lives. There was something off between Valentino and me. That it probably made me the most selfish bitch in the world didn’t bug me.
Not anymore.
I’d been so busy making escape plans and hating on him knowing he was planning to eradicate me, yet at the first sign of him wanting me around, my whole mindset had shifted and I no longer wanted to go anywhere.
I yearned to be with Valentino, just as I yearned for him to love me…like I loved him.
A flush of adrenaline shot through me and I closed my eyes and bit back a groan. Of course I loved him. Why else had I been so torn up about leaving him even when I knew he was ready to dispose of me like yesterday’s garbage?
I must have dozed at some point because suddenly the jeep was slowing and turning. I reopened my eyes to the headlights picking out the garage of Valentino’s home. The door rolled up and he parked before killing the engine and staring straight ahead.
My body tensed, my breathing suspended. I swallowed hard and croaked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” He turned to me, then conceded heavily, “Everything.”
A wave of coldness was followed immediately by heat. I couldn’t talk, not when I sensed where this was heading.
He sighed, his voice as grave as his eyes. “This was never going to work, was it?”
“Wh-what?”
“You and me. Us.”
I felt the blood draining from my face, the world spinning around me. “What are you saying? That we’re finished?” I gasped, an even more terrible idea forming. “Or are you going to finish what you started?”
His jaw hardened, his eyes glittering. “I said I wouldn’t harm you, I meant it.”
I pressed a hand to my overheated brow. “Then why choose now to break up with me?”
He exhaled harshly. “We were never really together in the first place. You were my prisoner and we fucked. Nothing more.”
