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“You couldn’t just come after me yourself, could you? First you asked the Aryans and now you’re relying on the Romanos. Wow!” I shook my head. “I knew you were stupid and weak. Hell, we all did, but I didn’t know how much your father raised a little bitch.”
Snapping, Dylan’s fist collided with my cheek, and I hit the floor. I pushed up off the floor as blood leaked from the corner of my mouth. I smiled back up at him. “You hit like a little bitch, too.”
He punched me again and when I fell to the ground again, he followed it with a kick to my stomach. I grunted into the carpet as all the air left my lungs.
Jamie and Louie started shouting behind the tape on their mouths. The sound of a gun being cocked silenced them.
I turned my head to rest my cheek on the carpet and glanced up to see that Dylan was pointing a gun at me as he stared at Jamie and Louie.
“I heard you promised Brenna to Dominik Romano,” I said, and my attention flicked to the Italian goons, standing behind Brody, Jamie, and Louie. “Dominik is going to be pretty upset when he finds out that she’s already married to Nicoli De Luca.”
Dylan’s head whipped to face me. “What?”
“In order to secure an alliance with the De Lucas, I had to give him Brenna,” I lied.
The Italians glanced at each other.
“They signed their marriage certificate on her eighteenth birthday, three days ago,” I lied some more.
“You wouldn’t have done that,” Dylan insisted.
I sat up without looking away from the Italians. “I had no choice. Stefan was kidnapped and you disappeared. No one was going to support me, a woman, leading the family. Nicoli’s family wouldn’t agree to the alliance unless it was through marriage and Nicoli wouldn’t take me because I can’t have children anymore.”
“You’re lying,” Dylan seethed.
“You’re backing a man who can’t deliver,” I told the Italians.
Dylan pressed the barrel of his gun to my temple. “You are lying!”
“If you don’t believe me, then call him!” I yelled back. “I’ll give you his number.”
One of the Italians spoke into a two-way radio that they all carried, asking someone to turn off the jammer.
Dylan gaped at them, with a little bit of panic etched around his eyes. “She’s lying. Why would Brenna be here if she was married to De Luca?”
“Because we made the agreement that she wouldn’t move to New York until this coming weekend,” I lied again, and the Italian was buying all of it.
Someone on the other end of the two-way radio responded, saying the jammer was turned off. Ignoring Dylan, the Italian pulled a cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number before putting the phone up to his ear. He spoke in Italian to whoever picked up, passing on what I had just revealed. I had a feeling it was Dominik, and he didn’t sound happy. The Italian hung up with his boss and came out from behind the guys. He held out his phone to me. “Call.”
“She doesn’t need to call. She’s lying,” Dylan insisted.
The Italian stared Dylan down. “Dominik says she calls.”
I took the phone and dialed Nicoli’s number.
“Put it on speaker,” the Italian ordered. “And don’t tell him shit or I’ll kill this one.” He pointed his gun at Louie’s head.
I did as he asked. Because it was the middle of the night, the line rang for quite a bit. When I thought it was going to go to voicemail, Nicoli picked up. “Hello.” Thankfully he didn’t sound like I’d just woken him.
“Hello, Nicoli,” I said. Not Nicky, and I was betting everything that he would pick up on that.
There was a moment of silence. “Maura?”
“I’m sorry it’s late, Nicoli, but I wanted to make sure everything was all set for Brenna to move in with you this weekend now that the two of you are married.”
There was another moment of silence. “Yes. Everything is all set,” he said, playing along.
I wanted to let out a relief-filled exhale, but kept my breathing normal.
