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The same man that sent Joey after me and started this whole thing all those weeks ago when I shot him…
I don’t think that’s why I’m here. From his sly comment before, it’s obvious that Damien knows that I’m responsible for what happened to Joey. Not just responsible, either. I mean, Ikilledhim. But if this was just about revenge for that, would he really have gone through all this trouble?
Or does this have everything to do with the man who’s been protecting me ever since?
“You must be wondering why you’re here,” he says, so conversationally, you’d almost thing he wasn’t a notorious gangster. “The answer is very simple. I didn’t take you. Devil gave you to me. A peace offering, as it were, between our two families.”
See now,that? That finally gets me to find my voice.
Pulling myself into a sitting position so that I could look up at him with scorn, I tell him, “You’re lying.”
“And why would you say that?”
“Because he loves me.
It might be in his own way, and that’s on me for disregarding every time he’s whispered it while we were together in bed becauseIwasn’t ready to reciprocate, but he loves me.
And even if he didn’t? I belong to him, and he will never, ever let me forget that. Whether I belong in his world or not, if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that he would never go through the trouble of marrying me… of moving me into his penthouse… or claiming me in front of the Sinners Syndicate only to pass me off to another man.
The man is planning a wedding behind my back because he probably thinks being doubly married means I’ll finally admit we’ve had a legit marriage all along… no way he just tossed me to the side like Damien wants me to believe.
Instead of pushing his lie, he says, “How well do you know Devil?”
“I’ve known him nearly my entire life.”
This time, Damien tuts. “I didn’t ask you how well you know Lincoln Crewes. I asked you how well do you knowDevil.” He pauses for a beat. “Do you even know how he earned the name?”
I don’t answer him because, honestly, I can’t. It took years before I realized that the Devil of Springfield and my Link were one and the same, and by then, I purposely avoided hearing any of the lurid rumors people were spreading about him.
That’s all right. In his cultured voice, watching me closely for my reaction, he tells me explicitly how Link became the Devil of Springfield.
He probably meant to shock me. In a way, he does.
I had no idea that Link got the name because ofme.
When he’s done, there’s only one thing I can ask: “How do you know? I mean, how can I know that you didn’t just make all that up? You already lied once before.”
“That’s true. And when you see Lincoln again, you can ask him all about it. But how do I know? Very simple. We worked for the same guys those days long before we branched out on our own.” Another very effective pause before he adds, “We were friends.”
“And now you’re enemies.”
“We don’t have to be,” Damien says pleasantly.
What?
“You were right. Smart girl that you are… you’re not here because Devil gave you to me. You’re here because I need a meeting with your husband and you, Saint Ava, are the leverage I need to get him here.”
Saint Ava.
He says it just the way Joey did before he died, but just like then, I have no idea how Damien knows my old nickname.
Ignoring the way he said he needed me for leverage, I focus on the name.
“I hadn’t had contact with Link in years when you sent Joey after me. Taking me hostage then wouldn’t have done anything.”
A dark look flashes over his refined face. “I didn’t send that idiot anywhere. He was newly inducted into the Family when he first heard the whispers of Saint Ava. He put two and two together on his own, and thought he would throw you at me to get back at Devil. It was a relief when I heard through the grapevine what happened to him.”
Is it? Oh, thank God.
