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“I’ve been better,” I said slowly, forcing myself to swallow. My mouth was dry, and I managed to move my mug to the bedside table. I needed to get my shit together, figure all of this out and my next move, but I felt like everything wasn’t real, like I’d shut off.
Enzo just nodded, flicking his gaze to his brothers, and I gave them both a glance. They’d changed, and I wondered if Callum’s blood had gotten on their clothing.
What tips did they have for getting blood out of clothing? I knew it could come in handy for those unexpected period days. Then again, they probably just burned the clothes and bought new stuff. That made the most sense.
Of course this was what my mind was focusing on. Not the fact that the blood they’d gotten rid of belonged to my fiancé.
Both of them wore hardened expressions, but there was concern in their faces. I didn’t want to see their worry for me right now, so I focused back on Enzo.
“He’s gone, isn’t he?” I asked, my heart lurching to my throat as a chill coursed down my spine, the shakes beginning in my hands. I instinctively played with the promise ring, twirling it in an effort to claim some control over the trembling.
Enzo didn’t hesitate as he took both my hands in his, offering me a warm, comforting smile.
“He is. You’re free now,amore mio.”
Free. Why did it not feel like that then?
I stared at our joined hands, feeling their presence in the room far too heavily, like their forms were suffocating me. This freedom felt like a cage of its own, like I’d merely been shifted from a grungy prison cell to a gilded cage with blood on the bars. Freedom didn’t feel like this.
“Vee, it’s going to be okay,” Enzo said as his thumb traced over the back of my hand.
“I called for him to pay, Enzo. He’s dead because I made the call,” I whispered, my voice breaking as I stitched my brows together, doing my best to not let the tears clouding my vision fall.
“No, Vee, he’s dead because he had to pay. He hurt others, not just you. He was too wicked for this world, too big of a threat to those undeserving,” Zane stated as Kieran sucked in a breath.
Too big of a threat to those undeserving.
That was how they were justifying it. That they were better than him because they only punished those who deserved it. That they were different from him, their cruelty wasn’t the same, it was just.
But I’d seen Callum and his injuries, the things they’d done, the blood they’d spilt.
They’d not batted an eye, and they’d more than happily killed him.
It terrified me to my core, finally seeing the truth, the things they were so easily capable of.
So why did it thrill me in some twisted way?
I gritted my teeth as the pit sunk in my stomach.
We were all monsters here.
“I’d like to be alone for a bit, please,” I hissed, blinking back the tears as best I could.
Enzo’s brows pulled together tight as his jaw set, but he nodded and gave me a thin-lipped smile. He ran his thumbs over the backs of my hands soothingly, but the motion didn’t ignite the usual warmth. Not this time.
“Okay, if that’s what you wish,” Enzo said softly as he rose, releasing my hands.
I pulled them into my lap, hating how they still shook. I balled them and pursed my lips, not wanting my emotions to get the best of me right now. I had a feeling that if I let myself break, they’d not leave me alone.
“Vee…” Zane’s voice was low and uneasy, something I wouldn’t have expected from him.
I glanced at him, at the flicker of uncertainty in those icy eyes as he stared at me, like a part of him was oddly lost for a moment, unsure on what to do. But then it disappeared as he nodded, his expression going blank, devoid of any emotion.
Logical, calculating.
A man who killed freely, and I’d allowed myself to fall for him, to focus on the good things.
My need to look for the good in others would be the death of me, hell, it nearly had been with Callum.
