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“I…how the hell do you know that?”
“Psychic,” he says with a mocking grin, and when I groan, he shrugs as he picks up his plate and fork. “I know you’re upset because there’s no way you wouldn’t be. You just traded yourself to us for your life, and not a day later, Kane gets himself kidnapped. And you don’t have to have eyes to know the way you look at all of us. You want us, Alice.”
I say nothing. I have no way to argue when he’s telling me the harsh truth.
“We speak to you the same way Kane spoke to me—to all of us. We’ve all been exactly where you are.”
I snort a laugh as I finally pick up my plate and curl some of the angel-hair around my fork. “Kidnapped?”
Phoenix lets out a soft ha as he chews his first bite, and he wipes the back of his hand over his mouth. “No, princess. Wounded, mutilated, and aching for revenge against the bastard that did it to you. And I have no doubt it’s worse for you because he was your father.”
“He’s not—” I start for what feels like the hundredth time since learning the truth.
Phoenix’s face snaps up, and though his honey eyes don’t meet mine, I’m still pinned by his attention. “He is. He’s the man who raised you. He’s the man who made you believe he was your father—and didn’t tell you the truth when he found out. He’s the man who made you suffer for your mother’s sins after he took her life.”
I still can’t wrap my head around the idea that he’s responsible for her death, and yeah—that lights a fire in me. It makes me want to force him to feel all the pain I did when I found out about her death. And not just losing her and my sister, but looking him in the eye that morning, I found out and seeing all the love he’d ever shown me was a lie.
“I guess I don’t understand,” I confess after eating half my plate. I set it down and breathe a sigh of relief when Phoenix doesn’t insist I finish it, though he’s nearly done with his. “He loved her, and she loved him. I don’t know how the hell any of that happened. He worshipped her.”
Phoenix laughs, and it sets me off, but before I can yell at him, he puts his plate down and turns to me. “He had a mistress.”
My breathing stops for a long second. “Liar.”
“Oh, princess.” There’s actual pity in his voice this time, and it makes me want to punch him. Fuck him so much for being condescending. “You wouldn’t have known. He kept you locked away, even when your mother was alive. But he had a mistress for years. Her name is Vanessa.”
Vanessa. Jesus. I knew her. She’s…fuck. She’s my godmother. She’s married to my father’s closest associate who isn’t blood related. I haven’t seen her in years—not since before my mother died, but she sent gifts every Christmas and every birthday.
And she was his mistress?
“How do you know this?” I demand.
Phoenix takes the tray and carefully sets it on the ground before snatching up the wine, taking a long drink, then setting the bottle on his side table. When he settles back, he folds his arms over his chest, and his brow is furrowed.
I feel like I’ve crossed a line, but I don’t know how.
“Never mind. If it’s too much I—”
“She’s the reason Ari is mute,” he finally says.
I freeze. I knew Guido was responsible for all of their scars. I know he’s why Phoenix is blind and also why James is missing his arm. But Vanessa?
“Ari’s father seduced her, and they fell in love. Then, when he tried to blackmail her into leaving Guido, she confessed everything to him. Ari’s father was convinced she wouldn’t be bold enough to do anything. It should have been a death sentence for them both.”
I’m still learning, but I have no doubt in my mind that’s the case.
“Her punishment was to kill Jacob and his son. Guido and Vanessa made Jacob watch as she slit Ari’s throat. Then, before Ari was dead, she shot Jacob in the head and left Ari to die.”
“But he didn’t,” I point out uselessly.
Phoenix’s mouth twitches into something like a grin. “Kane saved him. He had minutes to live, probably. I don’t know how he survived at all, but well—Ari’s always been a fighter.”
Something in me warms, though the thought of Ari suffering like that makes me feel sick. “She’s still alive,” I point out.
Phoenix nods. “Kane’s promised her to Ari once Guido Romano is six feet under.”
Jesus, I don’t envy her fate. Ari is dangerous, but worse than that, he’s creative. I can’t imagine the plans he’s come up with for her, but I doubt her death will be easy. Or quick.
“I think your mother knew about Vanessa and took her revenge, making Guido’s firstborn child belong to someone else. And I don’t think she hid it very well. I think he’d been letting the truth grow ice-cold before he took his revenge.”
