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“Don’t lie,” Lia screamed, and I took a step forward, only for her to click off the safety. “Thatfemale officertaught me how to shoot. I will kill you.”
“Lia, I had nothing to do with Marina Fioreno’s death.” Already, my mind was sorting through the details, going over the conversation with Hendrix, the evidence from Weiss, and the blur of a face in a car window.
Daniel and I figured out another cop got the intel, a woman.
Hendrix had found out first and had Lia's mother killed. These mind games and convolutions had his sociopathic, sadistic stamp all over them.
“Look at me,” I ordered Lia as my body went tight with rage. “Look at me.Do you think I would let the daughter of a person I killed anywhere near me, or Daniel, or Flora? I brought you into my house, Lia. I’ve kept you safe, and I paid off your debt toRyan White and your father’s debt to the Sons of Celt.I brought Sara here.” My heart throbbed in my chest. “I did all of that shit for you.”
It clicked then.
She’s been off since I brought her to visit Mickey Weiss in the hospital.
“Weiss lied to you,” I said and shut my eyes. “Hendrix got to him.”
“That’s convenient,” Lia spat, but her voice sounded less certain. When I opened my eyes, she was wilting against a wall. “How can I believe you?”
“I’ve never lied to you,” I said and held her eyes. “Not once. And even though you pulled a fucking gun on me, Lia, I still love you.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Ty
Lia didn’t move as I walked up to her and brought her shaking hands up, pressing the gun's barrel into my chest.
“Do it,” I said. “If that’s what you think of me, then kill me now.”
Shaking all over, I heard Lia click the safety back on, and then I ripped the gun from her hands, yanking her from the wall. I threw myself into a toxic current of rage and betrayal. How could she say she loved me, but still believe the first lie she heard?
Snaking an arm around her, I caught both of her wrists behind her lower back in a painful grip, and before I could stop myself, I had the barrel of the gun against her temple and clicked the safety off.
“Do you understand what you’ve done, Lia?” I demanded in a growl, my eyes boring into hers and she bit her lip so hard I thought it might bleed.Good.“You betrayed me.”
“Can you blame me?” Lia asked, her eyes dull and her voice broken.
That pissed me off as much as it alarmed me. Between the cop and Hendrix, Lia had been twisted in the confusion of old demons. I needed to help her clear her head.
“I didn't do it, Lia, and part of you knew that.” I fuckinghopedit did. “But it doesn't goddamn matter because I have Hendrix's gun in my hand.”
“I’m so confused,” Lia said and shut her eyes. “Nothing makes sense.”
“Yes, it does. Ask yourself, honestly, truly — did I do it?” I rasped. “Did I?Answer me!”
“No,” she finally admitted.
“Good.”
Now was time to teach her a lesson — about just who she belonged to.
“You aremine,” I hissed and pressed the gun harder against her head. “No matter what, that doesn’t change.Ever.” Blood pounded through me. I wanted to make her scream, to beg for my forgiveness. “I’m going to teach you a lesson that you won’t soon forget, Lia. I’ll teach you never to pull this kind of shit again.”
“What?” Lia asked as I let her go. Going over to a dresser, I dropped the gun in a drawer and then pulled out a length of rope, along with a belt and two other instruments that I shoved into my pocket. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to punish you for your betrayal, of course,” I said in a dark voice and stalked toward her. To her credit, Lia didn’t flinch or try to run, proof of how far she’d come these past few weeks. It was proof that she needed this, that she understood that she had fucked up.
It was proof that she wasmine.
“Strip down,” I ordered. “And then put your hands behind your back.”
