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Her head snaps up finally. “So, your dad was right. Luca tried to kill you.”
“No,” I say firmly. “In fact, Luca saved my life that night, but I won’t sugarcoat things. He did take me against my will. I was brought back here, locked in a cell, and left by myself for a day or two.”
“And still, you defend him?” She laughs, but the sound isn’t filled with joy. “What happened to you, Liv?”
“My mother died, I saw a dead body, and I was kidnapped. Twice. And let me tell you, the second go-around courtesy of Titan made what Luca did seem like heaven,” I reply tersely. “All of that changed me, but I need you to hear me out.”
She presses her lips together and this time doesn’t turn away as I continue.
“Even though I was a prisoner, essentially, Luca provided me with everything I asked for, and there’s another woman here. Her name’s Justine. She helped a lot, too. She’s actually who you were texting with when I was still…not allowed to have my phone.”
Tori’s hand smacks the tabletop. “I knew something was off with you. I chalked it up to the grief, but I should have pressed harder.”
I can see the guilt in her eyes, but it’s not necessary.
“This isn’t your fault,” I say. “It just happened, and I don’t regret it. Luca took care of me. He paid all the bills at my mother’s house and made sure my apartment was emptied out before I lost anything. All without me asking or even telling me, because he didn’t want me to feel obligated to stay with him.”
“He’s a psychopath, Liv,” she sneers. “Whatever he did, it was only to get in your head and make you think that he’s the good guy.”
My anger is rising, but I remind myself that Titan has been fucking with her mind for days. He’s someone she thought she could trust. Luca is a stranger to Tori, but I’ll be damned if I don’t change her mind.
I pull out my phone and show her pictures of my face and body from the day after I woke up. “Would a good guy do that?”
She snatches the phone and zooms in. “I’ll fucking kill him.”
“That’s exactly what I want to do, too,” I say, taking my phone back.
Her brows pinch together. “I don’t understand.”
“Titan did that to me. Or Christopher, as we used to know him as,” I tell her. “He sent people into this building, shot the place up, and then convinced one of Luca’s men to get me out of this apartment where I was safe and take me to him. Once Titan had me, he killed Luca’s man and kidnapped me. I was with him for several days, beaten, starved, and nearly killed until I escaped.”
She rubs her temples and shakes her head. “This doesn’t make any sense. Are you sure? You weren’t drugged and confused?”
“No,” I snap, standing from the table before I reach across and attempt to choke some sense into her. “I know what happened to me, Tori. And when I found out that Titan had you, I raged on your behalf, and Luca spent days figuring out the best way to free you with the least amount of risk. He is the good guy here. Maybe not a saint. I won’t lie, he’s the leader of a mafia family, but he’s not evil. Not like Titan.”
Tori stays at the table while I pace further away. My frustration is getting the better of me. I don’t understand how she can’t believe me. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do to convince her that Luca isn’t the one we need to be afraid of.
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?” she demands, turning in her seat to face where I stand in the living room. “Why would you lie to me and tell me that you were basically vacationing from your problems and enjoying the wealth of some man who won you at auction? You told me nothing and Chris—Titan, whatever, said all these things… What do you expect me to do?”
Her voice is nearing yelling. This is what I expected, and she’s not wrong. I lied to her, and she has every right to be mad about that.
“I’m sorry that I lied,” I say sincerely. “I was trying to protect you from all of this. You and murderers and guns… I didn’t see that working out so well. I also knew that you would have tried to get me to leave when that isn’t what I wanted or want now.”
She shoots out of her seat and throws her arms into the air. “Of course I would have, Liv! Look around you. You’re living with blood money. Even if Luca is ‘good’ as you say, he still hurts people. I know losing your mom hurt like hell. I grieved right alongside you. But this?” She gestures around the room. “This isn’t a good coping mechanism.”
“I’m not coping,” I reply. “I’mliving. For the first time in much too long, I feel alive. Like I’m where I’m meant to be. All of this doesn’t scare me, and I understand that it’s not for you, but don’t try and take it away from me.”
My hands shake at my sides, and I want to throw something, but I focus on my breathing instead. I just need to let her be furious so she can calm the fuck down.
“So, you want me to just be okay with the fact that on any given day you could be killed?” She crosses her arms and stares me down, but I’m not afraid. Not anymore.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I want,” I say softer. “I want you to support me, and if you can do that, then I won’t have to lie to you or hide the truth. We can still be best friends. You can be in my life, and I can be in yours, but I’m with Luca now. I need you to know that Titan is the fucked-up one. The one I hope to see die for what he did to me and likely would have done to you had his plan not worked.”
Her eyes fill with tears, and she covers her face with both hands as she settles back into the dining chair. “Damn it, Liv.”
Any flicker of frustration immediately leaves me, and I rush toward her, wrapping my arms around her shoulders as I kneel in front of her chair. “I’m sorry. I love you and I’m sorry. I’ll say that as many times as you need to hear it. I don’t want to lose you, but I also need you to accept me.”
Her body shakes within my hold, and she doesn’t reply, but I know she needs this. She sobs over my shoulder, and eventually, I join her. The tears fall and they don’t stop, minute after minute.
