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I glance around the room at all these rage-filled people and wonder what alternate universe I entered. Aldo is smug, and Angelica tears her hostile gaze from me and appears to swoon over Hawk, while Matteo stares at me like he’s already won, but he almost appears sorry. Kieran’s mouth hangs open slightly as he watches his son make a deal with the devil.
The Rossis all glance at me. Marco appears strangely subdued for a man who could lose part of his empire, and Vincent clenches his jaw as if he’s angry for me. But Hawk’s gaze cuts me deep. He seems gutted as he searches my face for a reaction. I can’t give him one right now. A single tear drops off my chin and he hangs his head before making his way to me. He wraps his arms around me and kisses my ear before whispering, “I won’t lose,dolcezza.I promise.”
Aldo stands and his children glare from behind him. “The fight will be at a location of our choosing. We’ll send the details right before the fight. You have one week.” He buttons his suit coat and smiles like the conversation wasn’t just about life and death and unwilling marriages. “Winner takes all this time.”
They all file out of the room as Kieran hangs behind. He walks over to where Hawk and I stand. Vincent’s muscles coil and Marco puts a hand on his shoulder urging him to stand down.
Kieran’s words are crystal clear to his son. “I hope she’s worth it.”
Hawk bristles and stands taller. “She is. Unlike you, I fight for what I love.”
Kieran’s nostrils flare and he quickly peeks at Marco and Vincent.
“Then you better not lose. And remember, don’t let your guard down with a Leone. Respect and honor are not traits they possess, and neither is fighting fair,” he says.
“Clearly,” Hawk grits out.
Kieran starts to walk away but stops when Hawk calls out, “Dad.”
Kieran’s shoulders bunch, but he doesn’t face his son. Hawk twists the knife. “I won’t let the Leones take the woman who holds my heart from me like you did. By the way, she still cries over you.” Kieran’s robust shoulders sag before he walks away.
I glance at Hawk and squeeze his hand as his eyes are red-rimmed. He gazes at me, and we all leave the same way we came. In the car, everything is silent. I want to tear into Hawk about his so-called past promise to marry Angelica Leone.Was he with her?It’s clear why she was so hostile toward me in the beginning now.
I know there’s more to the story, but as mad as I am that he kept this past life from me when he was coming clean about everything else, I can’t do anything but hold him with my head pressed against his chest. This man just faced some tough demons and went to battle for the woman he loves. Even if he can’t say those three words to me yet. That woman happens to be me.
Tonight, it’s all that matters. The war between the Rossis and Leones will still be there in the morning.
Islip into the bedroom Brittney and I are staying in tonight, and probably for the rest of her stay here. I told my grandparents goodnight and Vincent promised we’d talk more in the morning. I’m unsure what I’ll find when she sees me.
I don’t immediately see her in the bedroom, so I check the en suite bathroom and spot her wearing an oversized T-shirt as she sits in a chair in front of a vanity mirror. She has her hair pulled back in a braid and appears to be absently wiping her face with a cloth to remove her makeup.
“Britt? Are you okay?”
Her amber-colored eyes peer back at me from the mirror. Her lips flatten before she answers, “Fine.”
Even angry she’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I know why she’s mad at me, and I’m an asshole for not telling her the whole truth even now, but I can’t bring myself to admit the lies I believed. I wait for her to say something, but she simply rises from her chair and moves past me and back into the bedroom.
“Brittney, talk to me,” I plead, noticing she’s only wearing panties beneath her shirt. I try to calm the urge to touch her.
She throws the decorative pillows off the bed and turns the covers down. “It’s late. I just want to sleep.”
“Don’t go to sleep without talking to me, Brittney.”
Her fiery gaze flies up to mine. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Hawk. You’re hot one minute and cold the next. And just when I thought we had revealed the past so we could move beyond it and start over, I find out you were going to marry someone else while you were here back then. The same someone who had a lot to do with pressuring me into signing quickly and it obviously had something to do with attempting to win you back so she can marry you now. I was in the room, ya know? I heard every word and saw the looks she was giving you.”
She throws her arms up and lets them drop back down by her sides in defeat. “I’m not sure what you want my reaction to be to all this. I kept the contract from you, sure, but you’ve been hiding a whole other past life from me. One where you moved on enough to consider marrying someone else while I was still dreaming of you.”
She stares at me as her lower lip trembles before finally crawling under the covers. I hear her sniffle as she tries to fight back her emotions. I walk around the bed to where she’s turned on her side so I can see her face. This time she doesn’t meet my eyes, she stares blankly at something behind me.
I kneel and tuck a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. “You mean more to me than anyone ever has,dolcezza.You can trust that.”
She peers at me sadly as she rapidly blinks tears away. “Did you love her? Did she take my place when you left me behind? It was her, wasn’t it?”
“What are you talking about?” I ask.
“Did she get all your firsts, Hawk?” she asks in a pain-stricken tone.
I pull my hand back, unsure how to answer, but my silence is answer enough. I thought I loved Angel back then, but I realize now nothing about it was love. Infatuation and running from my demons landed me in her arms. And regrettably, I did share my first time with her instead of Brittney like I should have. Angel is the definition of deceit. If you look it up in the dictionary, her picture should be beside it.
