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“No, it wasn’t.” She lifted her gaze to meet mine.
The unshed tears in her eyes cut me. She was truly sorry. She finally understood the damage her lies had caused. Unfortunately, while I could find a reason to forgive her, my uncle would never let it go. Not because he gave a damn about me, but because he needed her. The plan was set. I still had to marry Donata and take everything away from her.
“There’s only one thing I still don’t get.” Enzo pointed at me. “If you and Donata were not together in high school, why were you in the Hamptons with her the day I got shot.”
“Do you want to tell him?” I cocked an eyebrow to warn her to tell the truth.
“I…” She bit her bottom lip. “I tricked him into coming to the Hamptons to meet me. Well, he didn’t know he was there for me. When he got to the beach house, Santino called to tell me you and Aurora were in trouble. Luca came with me to help.”
“I never thanked you for what you did that day. If it hadn’t been for you, Angelo would’ve finished me.”
“Angelo was out of his mind. Aurora and her parents didn’t deserve to die that way.” I rubbed my chest to ease the pain that gripped my heart every time I thought of the night Ava was killed.
Ava died alone because I was at the Hamptons with Donata. Because I stayed with Enzo until the ambulance came, and Donata was okay to go home. All the while, she was in some ditch dying from internal injuries. The worst part was that I couldn’t tell anyone about her back then.
Though we had been ready to make a lifetime commitment before she was killed, I hadn’t been ready to tell my family about her. Mainly because I didn’t want to tell her about them. The thing that drew me to Ava was that when I was with her, there was no mafia world. It was just us.
Even now, I couldn’t tell anyone about her. Alfred was the only one who knew I’d been searching for her killer for the past two years. It had to stay that way if I wanted to finish what I had started.
“Donata, you need to go home.” I gestured toward the door. “Stay close to Enzo. Don’t leave his side until you’ve left the mansion.”
“You’re not here for sex.” She glared at me. “Are you?”
“Go.”
“I know that look.” She pointed at my face, with a big grin on hers. “You’re here on a recon mission. I want in.”
“What? Absolutely not.”
“I knew it.” She beamed at me. “You are here for something.”
“We’re done here.” I gripped her by the elbow and ushered her to the door.
As soon as I opened the door, I heard the commotion downstairs in the ballroom. Fuck. It’d already started. I turned to face Enzo. “She can’t stay.”
“Agreed.”
“Can someone explain what’s going on?” Donata craned her neck to get a better look from the banister. “The women are being chased?”
“It’s a game. And you’re not playing.”
“I have no idea how I got drafted for it.”
“Only people with the gold stamp are being hunted.” I scanned the floor for a way out. “The hunt ends at sunrise. You’re fair game until then.”
“But you claimed me. The other guy let me go.”
“He can try again if he thinks I’m done with you. Or if he can fight me and win. Fuck.”
The bouncer at the door had explained the kind of entertainment they had for the night. The way he made it sound, I got the impression that patrons got to choose if they wanted to be the hunter or the prey. But Donata had not been given that choice. Hell, she hadn’t even been told the rules. If she had, she never would’ve come inside. For God’s sake, she lost her virginity last week. She wasn’t ready to take on multiple partners. I clenched my jaw. The idea of anyone touching Donata made me see red.
I glared at the stamp on her wrist. Then it hit me, the mark Ava had on her arm the night she died was also gold. Had she been tricked into playing the game or did she come on her own accord? No, I couldn’t see sweet Ava coming to a place like this on purpose.
Was that how she got killed? Did a hunter take the game too far?
“Guys, get me out of here.” Donata pressed her body against mine.
I followed her line of sight to the ballroom entrance below us, where a woman had been captured. She begged them to stop, but the couple stripping her down didn’t care for her pleas. Several people gathered around them, not to help their captive, but to watch.
