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Caleb had selected the seat directly across from me so he could stare into my soul like he was trying to consume me from the inside out. The green of his gaze held the same intensity as when I spit his arousal into his mouth. The same cum he’d instructed me not to swallow.

Technically, I’d followed orders.

Like the way you taste?

The question matched the one he’d asked me when he shoved my soaked thong in my mouth before the asshole sneered at me and told me that he wouldn’t fuck a Romano pussy. Until last night, when something snapped between us, and we’d connected. The fucking felt more like a claiming, and my body hummed in approval.

Would the truth sting like a betrayal?

I let out an exhausted sigh, breaking the stare we’d been locked in while I played mental gymnastics over how the next few hours would go. It wasn’t a short flight to Arizona. Sneaking out of the penthouse had crossed my mind for two seconds, but once I started looking into the information Ryan had asked about, it was clear this problem was much bigger than the West Coast. Turned out, once again, that Ryan’s life and mine were colliding.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that change was on the horizon and death was banging at the door of the men I loathed. I only hoped I would be allowed to hold the blade that severed their ties to the land of living.

The dulcet tones of the pilots giving their onboard speech finally ended, submerging the cabin in silence. Caleb’s voice was tight, like the string of a bow that had been pulled taut.

“You own a private jet.”

“That takes a lot of money to purchase and maintain, little one. How is it that you can afford that?” Niko asked. The undercurrent of suspicion was like a knife to the gut.

I’d already made my choice when I didn’t put bullets in their brains and slink off into the dead of night when they’d kidnapped me. Since then, they’d grown on me, and I didn’t think I could do it now. So, it was time to grow some balls and rip off the proverbial Band-Aid. Where the fuck to start, though?

I decided to start with my parentage. It might make the rest of what I was dropping in their laps easier to digest. Or at least make them more willing to try.

“I’m not a Romano by blood or by choice.”

A weight that had been pulling me down was suddenly gone. So few people knew the truth about my parentage, and I’d never revealed the Romanos’ dirty secret. All the guys’ bodies went rigid, their shoulders practically pinned to their ears.

“That’s why Dominick attacked. At least, that’s my theory. He took your dismissal of his daughter’s hand in marriage as a personal slight. You might as well have spit in his face. But the slimy bastard is particular about the wording of deals…”

“And the alliance was for marrying Romano blood,” Kenji stated, pulling his katana from his back like an attack was liable to happen while we were in the air. He ran a polishing cloth along the well-maintained blade, his face void of emotion.

Curses fell from both Caleb’s and Niko’s lips, their attention zoning out as they tried to process the news.

If they thought that was a lot to take in, how would they take the next bit of information? “I didn’t know how the contract had been written until last night,” I stated, tossing manila folders onto the marble table that partitioned the seats. “That’s why Dominick agreed to you marrying me. He knew my bloodline was his loophole. It was an ace up his sleeve. A way of backstabbing you three without sullying his reputation.”

Niko’s head snapped to me, blue eyes darkening, looking like a swirling whirlpool. Chaotic and deadly. “Are you a spy for him?” The accusatory tone hurt as badly as a physical slap. As much as I understood why he’d feel that way, the idea of him being upset with me caused my palms to sweat and my stomach to turn.

“No. I mean, I’m sure at some point he would have recruited me for that task if he failed to kill you…and me. But I’ve been a pawn since conception,” I answered.

“Explain. Now,” Caleb ordered as he slammed his gun onto the table, the black a stark contrast to the white marble. A tattooed Y taunted me from where it rested on the trigger. A wildness was painted on his face, and I was acutely aware that he’d never truly shown me how deep his cruelty ran. Every interaction up until this moment had been Caleb showing me kindness.

Last night, he’d laid himself at my feet, and in his mind, this was all a confession to my untrustworthiness.

All three men were angled toward me, their weapons aimed and ready.

I rubbed at my chest and the growing pain where my heart was, but I stood by my decision to keep my secret until now. “If I’d betrayed you and thought you’d find out, I would have slit your throats already,” I said, my tone cold and calm despite the heartache.

Niko’s mouth went slack while Kenji cackled, the tension in his shoulders easing a bit. But Caleb was a statue, frozen in his position.

“Okay.” I sighed. “My father was Anthony Russo. Years ago, an alliance was made between the Russos and the Romanos. Anthony was married to Giana, creating a union between the two most powerful Sicilian descendants’ families. But he fucked up and stepped out on the bitch. Although, I’d imagine that cunt is icy cold and probably eats dicks for fun.”

In my periphery, I caught Kenji’s physical shiver, and a smile crept up on my face despite the tension filling the cabin.

“Keep talking, Scarletta Romano.”

I flinched at Caleb’s slight. They could probably hear my molars cracking as I held back a retort. It wouldn’t help my situation if I laid into him. Clearly, he needed more to thaw the icy wall he’d erected between us. Fine, I’d blow the fucker to smithereens. But I had better get a good dicking down after I spilled all of my closest-held secrets.

“He raped a stripper. The woman who ended up birthing me.” The guys at least had the decency to look uncomfortable.