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"Asshole."
"I didn't grieve his death like I did Tino's, that's for sure. And Agustino's father is even worse."
I don't need to hear how she grieved her asshole husband's death. He was as responsible for her pain and loss as her father-in-law.
"What will happen to you if your don finds out you've been hiding and keeping Leonardo hidden?"
"If you weren't lying, then he isn't going to find out."
Taking a second to control the anger her words elicit, I pull into the clinic parking lot.
"I was not lying," I bite out. "My brothers risked their lives as fucking children to rescue me when I was kidnapped, and I am prepared to kill Zeus if he rats you out to Don Russo."
Or at least make my brother wish he were dead. Not that Zeus will do that, threat, or no threat. But I had to have his vow and I used the threat of death to get it. Because it is important to Lucia.
"You wouldn't kill your brother." Her derisive tone scrapes my last nerve.
Getting out of the car, I don't bother to answer. She's determined to piss me off with her lack of trust. Showing some measure of self-preservation, Lucia waits for me to come around to open her door. My anger ratchets back a notch.
When she refuses to take my hand to get out of the SUV, it climbs right back up again. I grab her around the waist and lift her out of the truck.
She gasps. "That wasn't necessary."
"I disagree."
"You can be so infuriating."
"I do not have a corner on that market."
"Are you saying I annoy you?" She tries to avoid my hand.
But I catch hers and hold onto it. "Your determination to mistrust everything I say and do is pissing me off, yes."
"Poor you."
LUCIA
I realize the second the words leave my mouth that I've pushed Atlas a step too far.
His big body swells with the fury he's clearly been doing his best to bank and he yanks me around to face him. As angry as he is, he is still careful with me.
"No, Lucia, I am not poor, because I have no intention of going without."
I don't know how he gets that interpretation of poor, but we are so not going there. "If you thin—"
His mouth cuts off my words. The kiss is brutal, but my traitorous libido responds. I kiss him back, giving angry passion for angry passion until someone behind us clears their throats.
"Uh, if I could get inside." It's a woman's voice.
I try to jump back from Atlas, but he holds onto me, shifting us both out of the way of the heavily pregnant woman. One arm around my waist to stop me from moving, Atlas opens the door for her with his other hand.
She smiles her thanks and then winks at me. "Lucky you."
I don't feel lucky right now. My heart is one slice away from bleeding out. Knowing I am in love with a man who is only using me is devastating my usually resilient spirit. If I'm pregnant, Atlas is going to pretend to want me. I just know it.
"You don't have to pretend," I tell him. "I'm not going to try to keep you out of the baby's life if I'm pregnant."
"What exactly am I supposed to be pretending,agape mou?" he asks, his voice dangerously soft.
