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“Gian,” Andrew shoots him a look, silently asking him to go easy on me. Regardless of Gian being his boss and his main job being to follow me around, Andrew is still protective of me. He’s like another older brother, not that I need any more.
“No,” Gian retorts. “She needs to hear. She needs to know what she got herself into. You walked in there willingly, didn’t you?”
I keep my eyes focused on the passing trees as his BMW flies down the highway.
“Answer me.”
I turn my head back to face the front, meeting his eyes in the mirror again. “Yeah, I fucking went there willingly.”
He snorts and laughs. “Walked right into the lion’s den,” he says, then adds. “Twice.”
Yeah, I’m pretty fucking stupid, aren’t I?
My father doesn’t look at me when I walk through the door. I would be ashamed, but I’m too fucking angry. I march to my bedroom like a petulant child.
I won’t be shamed by them.
I’m allowed to go out and fuck whoever I want, it comes with the territory of being a grown adult and I refused to be slut-shamed by three men who claim to be my family.
Once I’m alone, behind closed doors, I let go.
I throw my bag, tear the covers from the bed. I swipe everything off my dresser in one fell swoop, watching the contents crash to the floor. But it’s not enough. I throw shoes, I kick things, I scream.
I let the rage consume me until I fall to a heap on the floor and let the tears come. I cry until there's nothing left, until my chest has caved in and my body feels numb.
I don’t move when a knock sounds at the door. I’m surprised to find Gian on the other side, if they were smart they would just leave me alone.
He doesn’t speak at first, just assesses the mess and then lays down on the floor next to me.
“I’m sorry.” He finally says, breaking the silence.
I roll my head to the side to look at him. “You’re not.” I whisper.
“I’m sorry you’re hurting,” he clarifies. “But you’re right, I’m not sorry for taking you out of there.” His classically handsome face finds mine. He has sharp features. Bold brown eyes that stare into my matching ones, they’re the same eyes that found me when I fell off my bike and scraped my knee. They’re the same eyes that watched me graduate. The same eyes that would kill for me. Almost killed for me tonight.
“From Liam, you mean.” I want him to say his name, I want my brother to acknowledge that we’re two people. Two human lives that they tore apart.
We’re not a DelGado and an O’Connor.
We’re not a lifelong feud.
We’re Liam and Gemma, two people stuck in the crossfire.
“From Liam.” He says, his face scrunching up like the name leaves a sour taste on his tongue.
“Do you even know why you hate him so much?” The question isn’t angry when it leaves my lips, just curious.
“Gem…” He trails.
“Seriously, Gian.” I sit up, crossing my legs and looking down at my brother. “Why? Do we hate them just for the sake of hating them? Just because someone told us a long time ago to hate them, so we do?”
Gian straightens, facing me with a scowl. “Gemma, you know that they kidnapped Addy, you’re best friend, right?”
I wave a hand dismissively. “That’s different and you know it. They thought Addy was the reason one of theirs was killed, Massimo led everyone to believe that and you know it. They let her go.”
He’s not completely wrong. Liam’s brother kidnapped my best friend last year. He thought she was the reason their brother was killed, the rumor was that Addy had claimed he attacked her. The truth was Massimo made up a story to protect his son. They did let her go, a little worse for wear, once she confessed.
“They let her go to send a message, Gem. Use your head. We killed one of theirs, they kill one of ours, this goes back and forth forever. If you don’t think you’re just a pawn in their game, then you’re stupid.”
