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The engine of the car purred to life, and I pulled out onto the main road. She was quiet for several seconds.
“Truthfully? I wasn’t involved at all. I got most of my information from Parks. Daddy put me on a pig farm after I screwed up the last arranged marriage. I’d heard about your brother, but Daddy had decided that it would be best if I wasted away on the farm until the wedding date.”
The steering wheel felt weak as I gripped the fucking thing.Rage filled me. The idea that my brother had been so dangerously close to getting her as some fucking bargaining chip made me want to scream.
“My brother doesn’t deserve you. Ever. Never could.”
I didn’t look at her. I was too busy trying to calm myself, my temper. He was under my damn skin. He’d been quiet a year ago and happy to party. I understood he was angry, but he never much cared for my father, just our father’s money. Why now? What the hell was going on under my nose and how had it all happened?
“I know. It’s why I got rid of the contract, or rather, Daddy, before he could finalize everything. I wouldn’t marry that small-handed little twerp for all the money in the world.”
As she spoke, I found myself releasing the wheel a bit at a time.
“I do know that Parks was worried about Daddy and everything going on. Daddy was becoming sloppy, making choices because he was angry about my brother. I think he might have accused all the wrong people of his death? You know Halle was the one who killed him, my brother?”
She giggled and any other woman, any other world, that would have been disturbing.
“I did not know. But thanks for the details.”
Emilee looked out the window.
“Roman, I trust you. I know you aren’t perfect and probably you want something from me, but at the end of the day? You’ve shown me more of my life than even Parks, and he’s the only other person in the world who I love.”
She was so fucking innocent and yet, something inside her was dying to come out. I wanted to be that man that could bring it all out. Except, maybe at this time, I needed to clear the air.
“So, all this time, your brother was murdered?”
She got comfortable in the seat.
“Yeah. It was his own fault. He would never get his own hands dirty, and he would do anything to piss off Daddy.”
The range wasn’t far, but it was far enough that I could let her just talk, and she did. I was watching her work through whatever she needed to and realization dawned that my father really had been targeted for nothing.
Fucking Rossi had paid though, I suppose. His son was dead. He was dead. And his daughter was in love with the enemy. Far worse than the marriage he’d planned. But suddenly it all seemed a little more clear as to why he’d have accepted that contract with my brother. He was hoping it buried his sins.
“Fuck, your father was trying to bury the fact he tried to kill my father, wasn’t he? He knew about your brother, but he’d already acted on it.”
It wasn’t a question, just me letting the world know I was figuring it all out. Finally.
“I guess. I don’t really know. Daddy did as Daddy did, but it sounds about right. I think in the end he knew that your family wasn’t who killed my brother. To be fair, I wouldn’t have blamed them had they killed him. He was a horrible human.”
We pulled into the parking lot, and she looked around.
“Is this it?”
I nodded and cut the engine.
“You’ve shot before though, haven’t you? You have a good idea where to shoot at close range.”
She reached out for me.
“I haven’t had a lot of chances with guns. Parks is more of a knife guy, but he did tell me where the skull is most vulnerable, which made it easier when I shot them.”
I should have been scared as she shrugged and got out of the car.
“Are you coming, Romy-poo?”
I sighed and threw my own door open.
