Page 145 of Deathless & Divided

Terrance smiled. “Ah, the DeLuca girl.”

Damian smirked. “Rossi, now.”

“Yes, well, she’ll always be a DeLuca at heart. A ring doesn’t change a person’s blood, my boy.”

Damian tried not to react to Terrance’s innocent phrasing, but he barely managed to hold his growl back. Things like that had become all too common over the years. Before, it felt like Terrance’s way of caring. Now, he saw it as nothing more than Terrance making Damian think he gave a damn.

Maybe he did.

It didn’t matter.

“I did think you two were a good match,” Terrance said. “I still do. Why kill Ben?”

“You really have to ask that?”

“I think so.”

Damian lifted one shoulder, bored with the entire conversation. “He didn’t like me being as close to you as I was and he didn’t like where you planned for me to go. His vocal disapproval about the marriage arrangement to anyone and everyone who would listen was proof. Besides that, he could have proved dangerous for Lily at some point. I fixed those issues.”

Terrance stilled on the couch and glanced up at Damian through dark eyes. “Ben liked you very much.”

“No, he couldn’t find a way to manipulate me,” Damian said, laughing darkly. “Like I said, he couldn’t even keep his mouth shut about the marriage—”

“Because Dino didn’t give him a say in it,” Terrance interjected calmly. “Not once did Dino allow Ben to have any involvement or say in the deal between the DeLuca and Rossi families. Considering Ben was the head of the family, he should have been able to put in his opinion.”

Damian shook his head. “That’s not important.”

“It is but you’re not hearing me, Damian. It wasn’t you he disapproved of, it was the way Dino went about the entire thing. He was fine with the marriage but he would have liked to be able to be involved. Had you took the time to talk to Ben about the situation, you would have known that. My guess is you took Dino’s word for what it was and ran with it. You always were loyal to DeLuca in that way.”

Something painful and heavy squeezed around Damian’s heart, nearly pushing it up into his throat. A sick feeling balled in his stomach. Terrance was right about everything he said. Most of Ben’s disagreement and vocal displeasure had been about Dino’s side of things and not Damian’s. Ben had barely been included in any of the wedding planning or even for Lily’s side of things where family was concerned. It was almost as if Dino wanted the man to seem unimportant to the DeLuca family.

“It doesn’t matter,” Damian said.

“It does,” Terrance replied. “Because chances are, Dino used what he thought would get under your skin the most in order to have you do the work he wouldn’t.”

Damian barked out a laugh. “Like what? Look at all the things he’s done, Terrance. Look at the people he’s killed and the problems he’s started. What could I possibly do that he couldn’t have if he wanted to?”

“Killing me,” Terrance said.

The words came out softer than Damian had ever heard his boss speak before.

“You’re wrong,” Damian said, sure of it.

“I don’t think so. Dino always believed I did him and his siblings wrong when they were children. I know I did when I had their parents killed, but Joseph DeLuca didn’t give me a choice. I tried to make up for it over the years with Dino and Theo, but clearly my remorse never bled through to the man enough. Or maybe it did and his conscience just won’t let him do what yours is capable of.”

Damian ground his teeth so hard his molars ached. “And what is that?”

“Killing someone who cares for you.”

Fuck.

Damian cocked back the hammer on his gun. “Like I said, it isn’t important.”

“His lies are,” Terrance murmured, staring down the barrel of the gun. “You don’t have to, by the way.”

Kill him?

Yes, Damian absolutely did. Despite the fact Terrance’s statements made a hell of a lot of sense and Damian felt like a wrecking ball had just slammed into his body, the boss still needed to go. Terrance knew too much. Damian would never get away with all he’d done to the Outfit if he let the man live.