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“Somewhere along the way, Aniya changed. I noticed it a long time ago, but she got worse as the years went on. She ain’t been my best friend for a long time, and I fell out of love wit’ her a long ass time ago, but I guess I was comfortable, so I stuck wit’ her.

“Until I found out she was doin’ some grimy shit. I mean, she’s betrayed me in the worst ways and put my livelihood at stake. She put our whole future at risk.”

I frowned. I knew he said there were things he couldn’t tell me to protect us, but I wasn’t sure if this was one of those things. “How so?”

He shook his head. “I can’t fully say, beautiful. Just know that she’s basically working to take my life away from me. And I mean that in the literal sense. She either wants me dead or locked up. You understand?”

I did, and I felt bad for him. Gino said a whole lot just now without saying much of anything. My guess was that he made his money illegally and Aniya knew and betrayed him in some way. That made me sad for him. It didn’t make me scared or concerned about what budded between us. It just made me sad that he had to experience that kind of heartbreak.

“Yes.”

He grinned at me, but I could see some lingering sadness there. “Good girl.” I took another swig of wine at his words. “Luckily, I got wind of it and was able to get ahead of her betrayal. It’s been a long-ass year of pretendin’, Yaya. And not just pretendin’ that things were good wit’ her. Pretendin’ that I wasn’t in love wit’ you.”

I choked on my spit. “In love?” I sputtered.

He nodded, cool as a cucumber. “And you love me too. By the end of the night, you gonna admit it.”

His confidence had me wondering if his ass told the truth. Only time would tell . . .

Chapter Seven

GINO

“How exactly is this all ending tomorrow?” Yara drained the last of her wine, completely avoiding what I’d just said.

I chuckled. Her little ass thought she was slick, but I’d let her live . . . for now. I knew she loved me, whether she said it or not. I felt it, and that was why I was so comfortable saying it to her.

“Because not only will Aniya know that I know what she’s been up to, tomorrow, she will be served divorce papers that she will have no choice but to sign, and she will be arrested for her sins and won’t ever sniff free air ever again.”

“Her sins? What sins, Gino? You keep talking in riddles.”

I leaned forward and looked at her intently. “Her sins of betraying me, and I ain’t talkin’ in riddles, beautiful. I’m tellin’ you everythin’, and I’m bein’ honest while still protectin’ us. Remember?”

She sighed. “She’s going to prison, Gino? For life?”

“Yeah.” I tried not to smile when the world slipped past my lips, but I couldn’t help it. Good riddance to her and my past life. I was more than ready for the future. People might think I was ruthless or cold, . . . and they’d be right. I didn’t give a fuck how it looked or how dirty I was about to do Aniya. Knowing what she wanted to do to me caused all bets to be completely off. She could rot in Satan’s asshole for all I cared.

I watched as Yara sighed deeply. Baby didn’t know how beautiful she was. She couldn’t. If she did, she would be cocky . . . like Aniya. I was glad Yara was so humble. It made me love her more. She had no idea that the world was at her fingertips. All she had to do was ask, and I would make it happen.

“I don’t know, Gino. This is a lot. I didn’t expect any of this . . .” She looked into my eyes, and my heart skipped a damn beat. The world is at your fingertips, love. “How do I know you won’t do the same thing to me?”

My face scrunched up. I hoped she wasn’t asking what I thought she was asking. “Do what, exactly?”

She shrugged and dropped her eyes to the table. Casually, I stood up and then swiped everything from the table and laid down on it. My back pressed into the hard surface as I looked at her.

“What are you doing?” she asked with her brows pulled in and confusion flooding her face.

“You were lookin’ at the table.”

She cocked her head to the side. “Okay . . .”

“Now you can’t see the table, just me. Look at me when you talkin’.”

Her mouth hung open. Pretty ass.

“Gino, please get up.”

“No.”