Page 84 of Legacy of Deception

hear me out

MARCO

There was nothing quite like waking up in the middle of the night to find your fiancée wasn’t in the bed next to you.

Or in the room next to yours.

Or any room in the house for that matter.

My heart hammered against my chest anew just thinking about it.

Didn’t Capri give a shit about answering her motherfucking door? Soon she wasn’t going to have one at all because I was going to destroy it.

I had been put through a wringer before the sun had fully risen, and now this bullshit straight out of what would have been a horror film because doorbells and knocking on doors didn’t mean anything to my sister.

Sticking my face in front of the doorbell camera, I snarled before calling her name.

My morning had been garbage. After finding out Brooklyn was nowhere to be found, I had immediately went to my phone to check my messages. I had seen none from Brooklyn. Only a couple from Lorenzo.

And a saved voice message from him I certainly hadn’t heard before.

From there, it had become obvious Brooklyn had heard it. And that I was a dumbass because I had never brought Lorenzo up to speed on my decision to drop the CEO thing, which meant Brooklyn now knew my motivation to become CEO had been primarily to get out of our arranged marriage. And she also now knew that my father had played her father.

The whole thing had caused a lot of adrenaline to pump through my body, which couldn’t have been good. That was the kind of stuff that gave a man an early heart attack. Not that knowing that did anything to calm the blood that was flowing through my veins at a speed that rivaled that of a rip current as I pounded my fist on Capri’s door with urgency.

That must have done the trick because the next thing I knew, Capri opened the door, her lips pursed as she greeted me with a heavy dose of attitude. “What would you like, perfect stranger?”

My right eye was literally twitching. I wanted to be anywhere but here, especially at this hour. I should have been in bed with Brooklyn, worshipping her body before ruining her pussy with my cock in mind-blowing morning sex. Yet, that wasn’t the case.

Rubbing my temples, I tried to find my zen, but it was difficult. “Capri, I am so not in the mood for your crap.” That was as calm as I was getting.

Tapping her door, like she was really deliberating over something, she went on to angle her head skyward. “You have to be a stranger because my dear brother would never screw over my best friend and then neglect to tell her about it.”

I scrubbed a hand down my face. “Goddamn it. I know you like to nose around in other people’s business but maybe go on a reality show or something.”

Placing a hand on her hip, she wasn’t budging. “I’m not letting you in.” I respected the level of devotion she had to Brooklyn, but at this very moment, it did nothing more than fan the flames of my anger.

“Fine. Send her out,” I demanded, my voice gruff. Honestly, I didn’t care where I talked to Brooklyn, just that I did.

She gave me a bored expression before dragging her attention to her nails, probably in a move just to piss me off further. “She doesn’t want to see you.”

Jesus. I was getting nowhere. I was here. I had found Brooklyn, and I still couldn’t talk to her. I pulled my phone out to call her cell. I wasn’t holding out hope that she’d answer when she hadn’t before, but I could try again.

Somehow, someway, I needed to speak with her. She didn’t have all of the facts. Because I never got to share them with her. Because there never seemed to be a right time. Not that this exact moment seemed like the right time, but I no longer had any other choice. Maybe I should have just torn the bandage off sooner, then we wouldn’t be in this predicament.

“I only recently found out myself. I didn’t know what Father was doing.” My last-ditch effort was to appeal to Capri’s pathos. It was sorely lacking, but it was all I had.

Her head turned as she looked at something inside, and my pulse ricocheted, thinking about how it might be Brooklyn. “We don’t believe you,” she said.

“We?”

She nodded. “Brooklyn’s standing next to me.”

Figured she would make me work for it. Not that I didn’t deserve that. It felt like someone had their fist wrapped around my heart and they were squeezing it. Any tighter and it would turn to dust, but any less and I would feel as dead as I had when I had woken up to her empty side of the bed. “She’s listening?” I heard the desperation, and I didn’t care. I was desperate for her to hear me out. After that, she could decide whether she wanted to walk away or stay and be with me. Because sometimes I screwed up. I screwed up a lot actually. I was going to try to be better about it. I had tried to be better about it. But to make a promise to someone that I wasn’t going to screw up ever again… That would be nothing but dishonest. It would be like waving something someone really wanted in front of their face and then taking it away forever. In that way, I vowed to never hurt her.

Capri exhaled loudly, like all of this was costing her in some way. It was costing her nothing, but it was making me feel like I was losing my mind. “Yes, but not anymore. Goodbye, Marco.”

She couldn’t have been serious. Before she could shut the door, I shot my hand out and stopped it. I felt adrenaline coursing through me in such a way that I felt like I could have reached out my hand and stopped a truck. “Wait!” I shouted. I didn’t want to resort to it, but if I had to, I would physically move my sister out of the way. “Kiki, please, you have to hear me out.”