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“I’m not playing anything.” He stabs the letter opener into the desk again so hard I hear the wood splinter. “I just want to handle this like professionals. There’s a way we can get him to delete the photo without ruining what we’re building.”
“He’s going to understand what he did was wrong, too.”
Elio narrows his eyes. “You mean you’re going to hurt him.”
I laugh darkly, the scene Ruby described so horrifically vivid in my mind: the photo, the sneer, him calling her fatty. All of it clashes and rages in my thoughts. “He’ll be lucky if I don’t kill him.”
“Luca—”
“You heard what I fucking said.”
Elio shakes his head. “If you do anything, you’ll be doing it alone. No Family resources.”
“Fine by me,” I growl.
“That means lawyers, too. That means backup. That means everything.” Emotion makes my big brother’s voice husky. “I know you want to do the right thing, but you don’t know this woman. Let me handle this. I’ll get the photo deleted. Nate will understand he can’t do anything like this again.”
“Listen to yourself. Family life is making you soft. He’ll understand it when I break his goddamn legs.” I don’t mean to shout, but I can’t stop myself. “What if this was Scarlet?”
“This is different,” Elio says. “I loved Scarlet the first moment I saw her. You don’t love this girl, do you?”
I turn away, opening the door with a stiff fist. Storming past one of the butlers, I make for the elevator, my heart beating too hard. My brother’s question ricochets through my mind. Love her… It’s impossible. I’ve never felt anything for any woman. The truth is, I’ve been a dog my whole life. I’ve been an animal. I never cared, never felt anything. I’ve been numb. Asleep. Yet now, I feel like I’m waking up.
I need to find Nate Kingston. With or without Family support, the little shit’s going to pay.
CHAPTER 5
Ruby
I spend the evening sinking into Pax Romana: Triumph and Tragedy in the Roman World. Letting my mind glide back through eons of time is far easier than thinking about the present, thinking about me. The photo. The blackmail. The tingling that won’t quit every time I think about Luca.
Mom left a while ago. When Lexi came home, and I told her, she just gave me that emotionless stare, making her mismatched eyes seem eerie. She’s way more pessimistic about the world than me. “I’d be happy to die alone,” she said to me once, which was the most depressing thing ever, mostly because I believed her.
When my cell phone vibrates, somehow, all the bad drifts away for a moment. It’s a weird, almost instant feeling. I wonder if this is what all the other girls in high school felt like when they started dating, these dancing butterflies in the belly.
How are you doing, Ruby?
A smile lights up my face. It’s such a simple question. I need to chill ASAP. I’m reading about the Roman Empire. You?
I said HOW are you doing, he replies right away. I imagine his fingers moving quickly over the keys like he’s eager to speak with me.
Okay. You know. Just got to keep going.
Why do I get the feeling you just lied to me?
It’s so easy to imagine him staring at me with those intense eyes, huge and imposing, ready to do whatever it takes to defend me—prepared to keep me safe.
You’ll have to tell me, I text.
It’s just difficult to believe you’re doing okay. You’ve been violated. A mafioso has offered to help. That’s a lot for a woman your age to deal with.
What does my age have to do with it? I type quickly. Being young doesn’t mean I’m less emotionally capable.
Generally speaking, Ruby, it actually does.
Well, maybe I’m the exception. I’ve spent so long with my nose buried in history books that sometimes I feel hundreds of years old.
I guess that makes YOU the experienced one, then, he replies.
How old are you? I ask.
Thirty-three, you?
Twenty.
Thirteen years between us… It doesn’t matter because it’s not like we’re going to do anything. I find myself wondering if that’s going to freak him out. It’s definitely not going to do anything about this hunger burning inside me. If anything, the fact he’s older is a plus. More mature. More experienced. He can lead the way in certain areas.
Age aside, he goes on, tell me how you really feel.
I wonder why he cares so much. What if he does this a lot? He finds random women, takes an interest, uses them, and moves on. Even if I thought about sexual favors earlier—and even if, honestly, I’ve been thinking about them all night—I don’t want to be used and discarded by him. The idea of him with other women, ew, makes me way madder than it should.
I’m terrified Nate’s going to release that sick photo. My mom went to stay with her sister because she and my dad are going through a divorce, so that sucks, too. Not a good time, but it could always be worse.
