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His free hand grips tight at my hair, and I suck in a huge gulp of air when he releases my throat.
“Who gave you the fucking pills, Riley?” he shouts again, with all the control missing from his voice. I don’t answer him. I won’t do that to Ricardo, not after he’s shown me so much kindness.
“You tell me,” Rafe warns, shocking the breath out of me when two of his fingers force their way between my lips and ram into the back of my throat. He keeps them inside me until I wretch around them. When he pulls them away, I feel my stomach rise into my throat, and he leans me forward so I can vomit all over the bathroom tiles.
“Riley, tell me right now who gave you the fucking pills.” His voice is shaken now, much more like he’s hurt, and I choke up more bile and shake my head at him. My eyes water when I feel his fingers press into the back of my throat again, forcing me to be sick for a second time.
“One more time, Riley, who gave them to you?”
“I did.” I hear so much sadness in the deep voice that comes from the bedroom, and when I look up from the floor and see Ricardo standing at the door, I fall onto my knees and sob.
“You?” Rafe laughs spitefully at him. “You?”
His eyes pull from Ricardo back to me, and for a few short seconds, he looks devastated.
Everything feels like it’s happening in slow motion as my world tips on its axis. Rafe’s hurt quickly switches to anger, and he reaches his arm behind him, his hand sliding beneath his suit jacket and pulling out something black and metal. His nostrils flare as he points what I realize is a gun straight at Ricardo, and without a single moment of hesitation, he stares right at me as he pulls the trigger. His dark eyes absorb my reaction as he offloads round after round into Ricardo’s skull without a blink or a single glimpse of remorse.
I don’t hear the shots. All I hear is Ricardo’s heavy body falling to the floor and the sound of my screams when I realize that Rafe just ended his life. He killed Ricardo, his best friend, and he killed him because of me.
Rafe pushes one hand through his hair while the other places his gun back into the holster he’s wearing under his suit, and I watch in pure horror as he pulls in a long breath and manages to calm himself.
“How long?” he steps closer, looking down his nose at me. I see that pain back in his eyes again now, raw agony as it sinks in that I've betrayed him.
“Since I found out what kind of man you are,” I tell him bravely. There can be no more secrets between us now. Not after he just shot a man’s brains out of his skull in front of me.
“You lied to me.” He speaks so weakly like he can barely believe his own words, and I hate that I feel guilty for the tears forming in his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper back, equally drained. I move my gaze behind him to where Ricardo lies. His eyes are still open, and a river of his blood spreads further and further across the floor. Almost touching the back of Raphael’s shoes now.
“But you lied to me too.” I look up at Rafe again, refusing to hide my tears from him. It’s him who has broken us, not me.
“I never lied to you, Riley. I protected you from the truth. There’s a difference.” His voice remains soft as he turns his back on me, walking calmly past Ricardo’s dead body and out of the room.
I scramble across the floor to Ricardo, not caring about the blood that stains my skin and seeps through my fingers as I climb over his body and press my cheek against his chest. I know how hopeless it is, but want to feel his heartbeat.
Rafe killed him without any warning and without mercy. The pain in my heart spills out through my tears as I hold on to the man who not only was my protector but also proved to be my friend. And as the hollowness inside me starts to grow deeper, I fear what will become of me now he’s not here to protect me anymore.
She hates me.
It’s written all over her face. It’s merged with her fear, and it torments me to the point of destruction.
I’ve left her alone. I’ve given her time, but it won’t change. She. Hates. Me.
According to Nico, he had to drag her off Ricardo’s cold, dead body before him and the other two guards could start cleaning up the mess I’d made of my bathroom.
He tells me Riley lay on the bed in silence and watched them bag him up and carry him away. That she stared blankly as his blood was bleached off the tiles and scrubbed from the walls.
I’m almost surprised when she steps into the dining room willingly. I sent a message up to Sylvia, who isn’t talking to me either, requesting for Riley to join me for dinner, and I’m glad she’s decided to comply.
She’s even come in the attire I told her to wear. The plain white shirt that only just covers her delicate white lace panties. Seeing her like this reminds me of the time I fell in love with her. I was gullible back then. I actually believed Riley didn’t need to be tamed. That she might be capable of loving me despite all my sins. It turns out I was wrong, and her betrayal hurts me more than any physical pain I've ever endured.
What’s worse is that I never thought to protect myself from it because I never saw it coming.
She steps closer to me, her ice-blue eyes raw from tears and refusing to look into mine. I look past her and nod to Stefano. He’s new around here, and I notice the way he looks at her. His eyes linger a little too longingly at Riley’s milky white thighs, and the way he wets his bottom lip when she takes a seat, and her shirt lifts higher over them, it forces me to stare him a warning.
“Where is Gabriel?” Riley breaks the silence first, and the tremble in her voice gets my dick hard. I wonder if it gets Stefano off, too, because he’s brave enough to still be fucking looking.
“Leave us,” I call across to him, waiting until he’s shut the door behind him before I address Riley’s question.
