Page 73 of The Masked King

I left everything behind and fled to the UK. For six months, I tried to erase Enzo from my mind by dividing my time between working until I was exhausted and sleeping. But whenever I allowed my memories of him to seep through the cracks, I found myself replaying the evidence in my head and searching for proof that it wasn’t him. I didn’t want to believe that he did it. He was convinced the fire was contained and wouldn’t spread through the property, and I naively thought that I could come back and find out the truth.

But right here is the proof that I was wrong.

Proof that I fell in love with a murderer.

Tears rolling down my face, I place the tablet screen-down on the nightstand, get back into bed and pull the sheets over my head.

19

ENZO

“So, when were you going to tell me that our sister was back?”

I’m in Gio’s office on a lower level of the same building that houses his penthouse apartment. It’s late. The twins and Megan are sleeping, and he doesn’t want to disturb them. He looks wearier than he did during my recent impromptu visit; his eyes are bloodshot, and it seems he didn’t get a chance to shave this morning before coming straight here.

“It was on a need-to-know basis, and I didn’t think you needed to know.”

I fill two cups with black coffee from the machine and bring them back to his desk where I sit down opposite him. I came straight from the airport when I landed back in New York, and it’s been a long twenty-four hours.

Gio swallows a mouthful of coffee and leans back in his seat. “You don’t think it’s strange that Bianca shows up as the Bratva decides it’s showtime.”

I sip the steaming black liquid. “It would be more difficult to find a time when trouble didn’t follow Bianca around.”

“This is quieter than usual though.” His eyes narrow as he watches me. “The Bratva bathes in trouble. They wield it like a lightsaber for all to see, and if that doesn’t work, they yell it from the fucking rooftops and dare anyone to try stopping them.”

He has a point. “What do you know?”

“Mateo Esposito was picked up at Palermo Airport. He cracked under pressure like hot glass dipped into icy water. Malevsky has the kind of dirt on him that doesn’t come out in the wash, so he jumped at the chance of corrupting an innocent fourteen-year-old girl in Rome to keep his own name squeaky clean.”

A low growl erupts from somewhere deep within my core, and my fist closes around the glass in my hand. “Slimy little fucker. Where is he now?”

Gio’s lips tug into a small smile. “He won’t be bothering Sofia again.”

Strangely, this doesn’t quell the uneasiness currently at home in my gut. “She’ll be disappointed the drama school isn’t real.”

“There will be other drama schools, real opportunities for her if that’s what she wants to do when she graduates from college.”

“You’re sure about that?”

His smile vanishes. “Aren’t you?”

“I was… right up until you called me yesterday. Kids like Sofia and Leo don’t get to attend regular drama schools. They’ll always be looking over their shoulders wondering if the thug in black is following them or if he was born intimidating.”

“This is about Bianca, isn’t it?” Gio asks.

“She hasn’t mentioned them, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“But?”

“But there’ll come a time when you won’t be able to stop them from seeing her, and then what? You think they’ll forgive you for interfering in their lives when they needed their mom most?”

Gio inhales deeply and exhales on a sigh. “No, I don’t think that. But I hope one day they will understand that I did it for them.”

“Did you do it for them? Because from where I’m sitting, it looks like you did it to teach our sister a lesson.”

“She killed our parents.” The words land like gunfire. “It’s only a matter of time before she digs herself a hole so deep, she’ll never climb back out, and I spared her children being buried with her.”

He truly believes he did what was best for the twins, and I was on the same page until I spoke with them myself. I don’t fully understand what has changed. Maybe it’s this situation with Nyx and the Bratva that has me unnerved, or maybe this is all on me. I was doing alright until I discovered that fucking business card.