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I bristle. True, but I have good reason to be. “Wouldn’t you be wary if some billionaire Mafia Don gave you a property worth millions of dollars?”
“Not if that Mafia Don was my half brother who’s acutely aware of the debt our father owes you.”
“You can’t pay off your father’s debt like that. What he did. What he took…” My voice shakes with the anger surging through my chest. I know Lorenzo doesn’t deserve my rage but directing it at him is a hard habit to break. “It can never be replaced.”
“I know that. There are things which, once taken, parts of you that once damaged, can never be replaced or repaired. But that doesn’t mean we stop moving forward. If you turn this down only because of your hatred for our father—if you deny helping all these people who have a chance at a better future out of spite—he truly has won, hasn’t he?”
I sit back in my seat, hating that he’s right.
“Of course, you can turn it down if this isn’t what you want. There’s a jet at Chicago International, fueled and ready to take you to your Greek island if you choose that instead. Either of those choices can lead you to a good life. But only if you can let go of your past.”
I stare at the papers on his desk. I have $80,000 in my bank account. That could provide a few good years of simple living on that little island. Maybe I’d work in a little beachside bar, serving cocktails to tourists and spending my free time swimming in the sea. It’s what I’ve always dreamed of. Isn’t it?
“So what’s it gonna be?” Lorenzo’s deep voice cuts through my internal chatter.
I glance between him and the papers. There’s only one right choice. I owe it to Phoenix. I owe it to myself.
Chapter
Forty-Nine
ACE
Romeo paces up and down the motel room, almost wearing a hole in the cheap orange carpet. He scrubs a hand through his dark hair, pushing it out of his eyes, and mutters unintelligibly.
“Will you sit the fuck down?” I snap.
He stops pacing and scowls at me. “She should be back by now, Ace. That diner is like a mile away.”
I close my eyes and take a deep, calming breath, pushing down the wave of anger that rolls in my gut and threatens to spill out of me. She was gone before we woke up and left a note saying she took Romeo’s bike to get waffles.
His voice cuts through my calm. “You think something happened to her?” He’s staring at me, his blue eyes dark and full of confusion. I fucking hate that she’s done this to him. To us.
“No, pup. She’s gone.”
He shakes his head. “Nah. She wouldn’t. Not after…” His eyes narrow. “Not after last night.”
I jump up and start throwing my things into my bag. “You honestly think last night was anything but a good fuck for her?” My tone drips with anger and betrayal.
He crosses his arms over his broad chest and runs his tongue over his lower lip. “Sure fucking felt like something more.”
That’s because it was so much more, but she was never going to let us in. Not completely. “She’s a heartless bitch who doesn’t give a fuck about anyone but herself, and the sooner you come to terms with that, the better off we both will be.”
He kicks the coffee table with such force that it breaks in half, and I roll my eyes. “That make you feel better?”
Snarling, he takes a step toward me. “She took my fucking bike!” His hands ball into fists, but as much as he loves that bike, I know that its loss isn’t what’s breaking his heart right now. “We fucking meant something to her, Ace.”
I see red. A blinding flash of fury sparks behind my eyes, and before I can think it through I have a hand wrapped around his throat. I squeeze hard, pulling his body close to mine as I stare into his deep blue eyes. “Keres is gone. She doesn’t care about you or me. She doesn’t give a single fuck if Lorenzo Moretti puts a bullet in our fucking heads when we get back home. All you have is me.” I squeeze tighter, and a single tear leaks from the corner of his eye, but he doesn’t try to fight back. He knows I speak the truth. “Aren’t I enough for you?”
He blinks at me, his throat working under my palm as he swallows, and I relax my grip enough for him to answer me. “Am I enough for you, Ace?”
How do I answer that? He used to be. He used to be everything, and I guess he still is. But she snaked her way into my fucking heart, and now I have no idea how to let her go. I press my forehead against his. “You are all I fucking need.”
We took the long way back to Chicago, stopping for burgers and fries that we ate in uncomfortable silence with tension in the air. Now we’re sitting on my parked bike in the Moretti driveway. I’m sure he’s as eager to go inside as I am, but we both know this is the only way forward. I’m ninety percent confident that Lorenzo isn’t going to kill us both, but I have no idea what the future holds after we fucked up so badly. A lifetime in purgatory? Fifty years of cleaning up blood, shit, and guts, if we’re lucky?
I glance at Romeo. “You ready?”
He licks his lips and nods. “As I’ll ever be.”
