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“I’ll do it.” She says, not looking at me. I sigh and start to talk but she goes on. “But I do have demands. I want my brothers spared from the worst of it. And I want Mia out. Get her out of my family.” She looks at me across the counter. I open my mouth, but she’s not done. “I want to be able to warn Luna, before she’s about to get taken down. I want to make sure Mamá, Luna and Mia all have big fat secret savings accounts.”
“Luna is—“
“Is non-negotiable. She’s like another sister to me. You can figure out how to make it work.”
I nod slowly and swallow. She looks so breathtaking right now, head high, shoulders firm, taking what she wants. She is a force. One I should’ve nurtured, partnered with, held tight.
And she’s still thinking of everyone else.
I cock my head. “And you? What do you want for yourself?”
She inhales. “After all of this has settled, whether it’s a few weeks from now or a couple of months, I want a divorce.” I clench my jaw so hard some bone in my face pops. “I will never be able to trust you ever again, there’s no chance of the partnership I wanted. Which you never wanted to begin with. This makes the most sense. Like you promised me, it’ll be some public scandal to convince my family we can divorce and then I’m free. You and your boss and yourbrothersleave me and Mia alone and I keep your secret. We never have to see each other again.”
I struggle to keep calm. This is good. This is fair, reasonable. So why do I hate every bit of it? “And will you—“
“What I do after that is none of your business. Maybe I’ll do the bakery idea. Maybe I’ll marry a normal guy, a school teacher or something. Someone who doesn’t have power outlets that double as bombs. Either way, it’ll be none of your business.” Her voice is firm, but a muscle by her eye twitches and I notice splotches break out on her neck. She’s trying not to cry.
“That’s really what you want?” I grit out.
“I think so,” she shrugs. “I can run a bakery. Everyone loves my croissants. Tyson can help me.” Tyson. Yet another handsome fucker that needs to die.No! Damnit Mark, you actually like Ty. Get it together.
I sigh. “Are you sure you—“
“Let’s go over the plan. Let’s get this over with. Right now.”
The urge to rip that bread out of her hand and kiss the shit out of her is overwhelming. And surprising. She’s basically just told me to fuck off. But I guess that’s it. I don’t want to. I want things to go back to how they were. I want her to look up at me again and see the potential, see the man she thought I was.
The man that I’m not. And won’t ever be.
“Okay,” I motion for her to follow me to the office. She does, bringing her bread with her, folded up like a little taco in a way that is annoyingly adorable.Focus, moron!
I lead her through the closet to the bunker. She’s visibly freaked out, but she keeps her chin up. Of course she does. I send a ping to Robbie from the keyboard on the console. I gesture for her to sit next to me. She’s looking around like something might jump out and bite her.
“Gailo left, so it’s just us. Robbie will call in a second.”
As I say it, his torso pops up on one of the screens. He pushes up his glasses and smiles. I feel Ellie’s heart soften a bit at the sight of him. He has that effect. She offers him a warm, tentative smile. Aaand now I hate my best friend.Shit, this is miserable. What is wrong with me?
“Hi, Ellie.” Robbie says, even though I’m glaring at him. He does not get to be her buddy. But, as always, she responds gracefully.
“Hey, Robbie.”
“If you two are finished being awkward as hell.” I spit out for no logical reason. “Robbie, she’s ready to go over the plan.”
“Right. Let’s start the narrative from the beginning.” He clicks a button and the second screen shows the pizza shop where we faked the abduction. “This is the feed your uncle saw. There’s no audio, just visual. So they see the mercenaries bust in, everyone is down, Mark is about to get—” Ellie gasps next to me.
“Robbie! She doesn’t need to see all of it.”
“Oh. Sorry.” He pauses the security footage.
I reach for her shaking hand, but she pulls it away. “Go on.” She says, her voice strained.
“The story is that those assailants were hired by the Italians. Now, we want to return you to your family with a message.” Robbie stops talking and looks at me. Ellie looks at me too.
“We need to create a video of me confessing intricate details of your uncle’s operations while being interrogated. You’ll take the video with you to him when we release you. We’re building the case that the Italians want more product from your uncle, at the same price. If he doesn’t agree, they release my confession video to the DEA and Border Patrol.”
“Okay?” She looks between the screens and me.
“Tortured. By confessing, he means torture.” Robbie explains flatly, like the logical machine of a man that he is.
