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But I know Massimo won’t let him get to me.
I know he’d die trying to stop anyone from hurting me.
And if I’m honest, I feel like it’s always been this way with us. Like there has always been something bigger drawing us together like magnets. A bond decided before we met. A promise. A destiny.
I turn off the faucet and dry off, trying not to lose my head over images of lazy days on the mountain in bed with Massimo and forgetting the outside world exists.
When I pull on my jeans, my phone rings. Reaching for it, I can see it’s Jules.
I ignore it and finish getting dressed. But she rings back immediately, and when I ignore that call, she rings again.
Something’s wrong.
When she rings a fourth time, I pick up.
“Jules, what’s wrong?”
“Bianca, wherever you are, you have to get out of there.” She sounds breathless.
“Why, what’s going on?”
“Is Massimo with you?”
“He’s in the other room. What is this all about? Why do you sound panicked?”
“Listen to me,” she rushes. “I’ve found out what happened to your money. It was Massimo who took it.”
I let out a humorless laugh. “What are you talking about?”
“I told you I was going to prove to you how much our friendship means to me, so I’ve been doing some digging. But I’ll explain all of it later, right now you need to get away from Massimo. It was him who paid Harrison to rip you off.”
An uneasiness begins to tingle in the base of my spine.
“That can’t be true,” I say. “Massimo would never hurt me like that.”
My heart couldn’t bear it.
“Remember what your dad always used to say?” Jules says. “Never trust a De Kysa.”
As soon as she says it, I remember how my father would get worked up about Nico marrying Bella instead of me, and he would beat his fist against his desk or the kitchen counter and growl, “Never trust a De Kysa, Bianca.”
“What reason would he have to do it?”
“To flush out your allies. Look, we don’t have time. I’ll explain it all later. Right now, all you need to know is that it was him, Bianca, and it’s been him all along. Him and Nico.”
“Nico?”
“Yes, Nico is alive.”
“No—”
My phone pings with a message. It’s a photo of a man wearing a baseball cap and a beard. Those eyes. So much like his brothers. It’s a blurry image but it’s clearly Nico.
“I don’t understand. This can’t be real.”
“It is real. I took that photo at a gas station this morning. He is on his way to the cabin—”
“Massimo wouldn’t hurt me.”
“They’ve brainwashed you, Bianca. You need to listen to me, your life depends on it. Massimo killed Harrison and the Vinocelli. He didn’t take you to the cabin to protect you, he’s taken you there to dispose of you. You have to believe me.”
I feel beyond dazed. She sounds scared. What Jules is saying makes sense when it shouldn’t. I don’t want to believe her, but there’s that broken part of me that wonders if she’s right and questions if Massimo is responsible for me losing everything. After all, we were rivals and in the aftermath of my father’s death, it would make sense he would want to know if the Bamcorda were secretly rebuilding and getting ready to retaliate.
Nausea twists in my stomach. Is my luck so bad that while I was falling in love, he was planning my demise? The crime channels are full of stories about cruel criminals who prey on the vulnerable. And if I was anything when I turned up at Massimo’s club it was vulnerable.
I’m so confused I can barely breathe.
“What do I do?” I whisper in utter disbelief.
It feels as though my heart is actually breaking.
“You need to get out of there. Don’t collect your things. Don’t talk to him. I mean it, Bianca, you can’t tell him any of this. He’ll tell you he’s in love with you just to confuse you. Then Nico will turn up and it will all be over.”
“Has he got my money?”
She sounds surprised. “Of course he does.”
All this time and he had my money.
All.
This.
Time.
“I need you to focus, honey,” Jules says. “I need to get you safe. Can you get the car keys?”
I nod, so lost in my pain I forget she can’t see me.
“Bianca, can you get the car keys?”
“Yes,” I reply, my voice small.
“Good. Do it now. I’ll meet you in town. And Bianca—”
“Yes?”
“If you have to shoot him, do it.”
She ends the call, and I stand there breaking apart from the inside. A powerful sob lurches inside me and I let the tears fall. I let myself feel every agonizing piece of his betrayal before I quickly wipe away the tears and reach for my gun.
Massimo is on the phone in the kitchen when I walk in. When he sees my gun aimed at him, he excuses himself from the call and hangs up.
