“I know you were involved, Angus. I know you’re the one who ordered Mateo’s killing and hers. Your nephew didn’t do it, though, not out of the goodness of his heart, of course. He wanted her humiliated. He wanted the woman your son loved degraded.” I shook my head. “Gia’s right. You are a monster. But you’re right too. We all are. You don’t go near her again, understand? She’s under my protection.” I knew my choices. The realistic ones.

“She isn’t a threat to me.” He nodded and stood. “We go back to the way things were when your father ruled?” He held out his hand.

I looked at it. The thought of touching it meant I betrayed Gia.

I met his eyes, hard and flat, exactly the way I felt. I fisted my hands at my sides.

“No, old man. They don’t.”

24

Gia

We didn’t talk on the drive back, and when we got to his father’s house—his house now—I went to the stairs. Feeling Dominic’s gaze burn into my back, I stopped two steps up and turned to face him, although I couldn’t quite meet his gaze.

Angus Scava was right. We were all monsters. I’d seen what Dominic was capable of. And I knew James had been the same, no matter what I tried to make myself believe. And me, I wanted vengeance so badly I was willing to do what they’d done to me, to my brother, back to them.

An eye for an eye. A life for a life.

Who was I?

Seeing Victor like that, I thought it was what I’d wanted. I thought I would be satisfied. But it only left me feeling empty and ugly and sick.

“Like attracts like.”

I was as much a monster as all of them.

“I want to go home.” I’d go back to my mother’s house, move back in with her until we could sell it, and move away for good. Far, far away. Although I knew as hard and as far as I ran, I’d never be able to escape myself. My name. My skin.

Dominic nodded once, but I saw how his jaw tightened.

“I’ll arrange it.”

He took a step toward me, but I shook my head and backed up.

He stopped.

“When?” he asked.

“As soon as possible.”

He seemed taken aback. “Tomorrow?”

I shook my head and took the two steps back down. “Now.”

He looked surprised. “You need to pack—”

“Pack what? Clothes that don’t belong to me?” I felt my lip tremble and my eyes fill with tears, but somehow, I managed to stop the shuddering that wanted to overtake me. Somehow, I held those tears at bay.

“What he said, it’s not true, Gia. You’re not a monster. You’re not—”

“Please…just don’t.”