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I blinked, my gaze veering over to Travis who was still leaning against the hood of his car, his arms crossed over his chest as his attention focused solely on us.
“You don’t want to do this, Ace?” I laughed, slamming my hands down onto my hips. I’d never been afraid of my big brother, not like everyone else was. To me, he was the same Ace who had cleaned up my knees after I’d fallen over, the same Ace who had read me a bedtime story each and every night until I became a tween. But even then, he’d come and sit on my bedroom floor, telling me all about his day and everything he’d gotten up to.
We were close. Closer than most siblings. But somewhere along the way, we’d drifted apart. And it was all because of Travis.
“Do you not think there was a reason I ran, Ace?” I shook my head, hating how my eyes burned with unshed tears. “He hurt me. He’s been hurting me all along.”
Ace’s fists clenched at his side, his eyes narrowing on me. I could tell he wanted to believe me, or maybe that was me just hoping. But his growled out, “Go to your husband, Peyton. Help is waiting for you at home,” told me that he didn’t want to hear me. He wanted everything to be just as it was. He wanted peace, but peace wasn’t in the cards for me.
“Or what?” I asked, feeling defiant. I never would have said any of this if it would have only been Travis and me here.
Ace stepped toward me, his height foreboding. I tried my hardest not to flinch, but fuck, I couldn’t help it. And he noticed, he saw it, but yet again, he ignored it. What was it going to take for my big brother to believe me? To physically witness what his best friend did to me?
My stomach bottomed out, reality setting in like tar on a resurfaced road.
“Or you don’t get to see those two little boys again.”
My breath caught in my throat, his threat not just a threat, but a promise I knew Travis would make him keep. They had me exactly where they wanted me. And I was helpless to it all.
“You’re evil,” I whispered, backing away, my feet wanting to take me as far away as possible, but my heart already deciding what I had to do as I veered toward Travis. “I hate you so much right now, Ace. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you.”
He didn’t say another word as I backed away, keeping my attention on him, and letting him see just how much he’d hurt me by every move he’d made today. I’d woken up this morning with Raf by my side, my two boys the safest they’d ever been. And now I was walking into the lion’s den, otherwise known as my husband’s trap.
CHAPTER 12
RAFAEL
I cracked my neck side to side, followed by each of my knuckles. My head was pounding from the amount of drinks I’d consumed all night after leaving Romeo’s. I’d wanted to hide away, to keep to myself, to process everything, but I wasn’t allowed to. I had a shift guarding Luca’s, the bar that Lorenzo had gifted his wife not long after they got married.
All the soldiers were scheduled to take turns standing on the door every few days. It meant that we only had to do it once a month, and today was conveniently my turn. If it hadn’t been for the loud ringing of my cell from the floor an hour ago, I wouldn’t have been here. Mateo always made sure the soldiers never missed their shifts. He probably took it harder than most because of what happened here a couple of years ago.
He’d been driving Lorenzo and Aida from here when they’d been crashed into and the boss and his wife kidnapped. Since then, he’d taken everything that happened at this place personally, as well as their security. So it didn’t surprise me that he was standing just inside the door of Luca’s when I sauntered inside with shades over my eyes.
“Rafael,” he greeted, giving me the side eye as he looked at some documents attached to a clipboard. “You were supposed to start an hour ago.”
I frowned. “No I wasn’t.”
He paused what he was doing, slowly veering his attention to me. “I messaged you.”
Pulling my cell out, I clicked the side button to light up the screen. “Dammit, it’s dead.” I rolled my shoulders back, feeling antsy and on edge. I’d had time to process everything, time to think things through, and I still hadn’t come to a conclusion, apart from the fact that Peyton and the boys were gone. I needed to accept it, to get on with my job, but fuck—I rubbed my chest—it wasn’t easy.
Maybe time would help? There was that saying, right? Time made everything easier.
“Charge it up in the office on the charging pad, then head to the front doors,” Mateo said, his tone brooking no room for argument. “Doors open in five.”
I nodded, then headed into the bar. It was upscale with a piano in the corner that probably cost as much as my new house. Some nights it was a chill bar with open mic nights and random singers, but nights like tonight was the complete opposite. It was club night where one of the hottest DJs in the state was doing a set. Which was why there were four soldiers here instead of two.
I quickly placed my cell on the charging pad, then headed back out front. Leo—another soldier under Romeo—was waiting, dressed all in black, just like I was.
“You good?” he asked, his gaze flicking to mine as I took up my spot a few feet away from him so that we were on either side of the door.
“I’m good,” I replied, keeping my tone neutral. It didn’t matter that I was anythingbutgood, I wouldn’t let it show, not to him anyway. I was part of the main founding families, he wasn’t, which would mean he’d use any opportunity to one-up me. The politics when you were a soldier were insane, which was why I kept to myself so much.
The line was already forming around the block, the dusk evening giving way to dark night as we were given the go-ahead to open the doors thirty minutes past schedule.
I checked IDs, putting my flashlight on them and then letting the patrons in. I’d only turned away two people because I was sure they were using fakes, so when a group of guys came to the doors, being a bit rowdy, I didn’t think anything of it.
Leo took a couple of their IDs and I took three, but my narrowed eyes were on a guy at the back as he spoke to a woman in line. He was getting too close for my liking, so I signaled one of the other soldiers to take my place, then sauntered over there.
