Click. Click. Click.
“That’s why I was the secret,” I whisper. “You didn’t know I was coming. You knew Roman and I didn’t have a relationship.” His eyes flare as a smug smile buds on my lips.
It’s clear now why he’s so angry. “You never expected me to show up here because it was a last-minute decision to come. I slipped through the cracks, and they hid me from you.” A little thrill runs through me. “You don’t know everything. How does it feel?”
He takes a menacing step forward. “You’re out of your depth in ways you’ll never understand, and you need to drop the tough girl act and really talk to me because I’m only giving you two minutes.”
And I do. I drop all pretenses because I’m fighting for a lot more than my pride. “I’m not the disgusting person you’re making me out to be.”
“My opinion of you doesn’t matter.”
“I think it does. I think it does a lot. You’re keeping me from my—”
“You can find someone else to fuck you, Cecelia.” My name sounds abhorrent coming from his thick lips. He considers me a menace, a thorn in his beastly side, and most definitely a wrench in his well-oiled machine. But I slipped through the cracks, because of my eight-year hiatus, and they hid me from him.
And I can’t help the thrill that runs through me at the thought.
“You may hate him, you may hate my father, but right now you’re acting just like him, like a machine. A control freak void of humanity with a God complex.”
His nostrils flare. “Watch yourself.”
“Or what?”
He towers over me, eyes flickering in warning. “You do not want to piss me off.”
“This isn’t pissed off? And who the hell are you to tell me what I should watch? You may have most of the cards, but you’re missing mine. It would be in your best interest to play nice if you want my cooperation, my silence.”
He doesn’t respond, but the resolute shift in his demeanor is enough.
Those were the exact words that shouldn’t have left my mouth. I can’t be trusted at all now that I’ve said them. I betrayed Sean and Dominic by playing into this asshole’s agenda. He’s trying to poke holes in everything, flip it to prove to them they made a mistake in trusting me. Dominic would be so disappointed.
Dominic’s words to Sean the day I left the house in a rage break to the surface.
“She’s not strong enough.”
“Give her time.”
All of it, the trials they put me through. The infuriating back and forth between Dominic and me. All the time Sean spent teaching me what he believed, what the hood believed while Dominic taunted me, twisted my words. From the time they decided to let me in, they’ve been readying me for a confrontation just like this. And it had everything to do with the man standing in front of me. While we were falling, they were preparing me for the shitstorm that is The Frenchman. His return was inevitable.
“I can keep a secret. I just want to know the plan.”
“Just because you’re here doesn’t mean you get a part to play. They made a bad decision, and they know it, and fucking them doesn’t give you a say. And I know you won’t tell anyone,” he says with conviction, “but for the wrong reasons.”
“How is it wrong?”
“Because it’s your loyalty to them,” he jerks his chin toward the woods, “and your inability to separate your personal feelings, instead of embracing the idea that Roman has done some unforgivable things and deserves to suffer for it. So just let it go, like they are, and…live your life.”
“Is that an order?”
“No, it’s good advice,” he snaps, “you should take it.” I’m getting under his skin, which I would consider a good thing if I weren’t at his mercy.
“I just want to see them.”
“Not happening.”
“I’m not a daddy’s girl who’s pissed she lost her playmates. Talk to them. They’ll tell you about me. They’ll vouch for my character.”
His eyes rake me in revulsion. “I know enough.”
I drop my arms, baring myself to spite him. I won’t let him shame me for something he knows nothing about or make me feel uncomfortable in the skin I’ve spent a summer growing into. My effort goes unnoticed when his eyes remain bolted to mine. We stare off on opposite sides of the line he’s drawn between us.
“You’re really going to do this?”