“What was it you said to me the other night?” he asks, releasing my jaw and taking a step back. “Something like, you weren’t sure how much more you could take? That’s what you were waiting for, isn’t it? You play at being loyal, but you just wanted to take a walk on the wild side with a safety net below you. You served my other women for years, and you wanted to know what you were missing. You wanted to try it, you wanted to court danger, you wanted to play with the big boys, but you knew it wouldn’t end well. You knew it would crash and burn, and then you could run right back to the straight and narrow. Once I fucked it up, then you could feel justified in turning on me. You could fuck around with the bad guy, then return home to the good side like some fucking prodigal daughter. That’s why you kept the evidence, Virginia. Maybe you didn’t plan to use it while you were still having fun, but when the ride was over, oh, would you look at that? Now you can make me pay. Now you can have your revenge. Now you can collapse a fucking empire because a gangster dumped you. Aren’t you a fucking badass?”
I shake my head, looking down at the ground. “What you just described is the opposite of loyalty, and it is not me at all. You know that. I refuse to believe you think so little of me. If that’s what you think…” I trail off, shaking my head.
“You made me think that,” he states. “Sorry, Virginia, but ride-or-dies don’t keep evidence just in case it all goes bad.”
“That is not…” I shake my head, weight down with guilt and frustration that he’s interpreting my actions so wrongly. “That was never my motivation. You’re making it mean because that was your experience before, but that isn’t me. I’m the woman who takes care of you afterward, not the woman who betrays you and breaks your heart.”
“You were,” he says simply, hammering a new crack into my breaking heart. It’s all I can do to keep the tears at bay, so I fall silent, unwilling to invoke more damage.
I’m out of my depths with him now, and I don’t know what to do.
This isn’t the Rafe I’ve joked around in bed with, or the Rafe who tenderly caressed my face—the Rafe with affection for me.
This is the Rafe who runs a mob family, the Rafe that Cassandra betrayed. The Rafe who won’t let that happen again, even if ensuring that it doesn’t means rewriting our history and turning me into a villain. Justifying his treatment of me and his deepest fears all in one fell swoop.
This Rafe is not my friend or my lover.
This Rafe views me as an opponent, not an ally.
And this Rafe doesn’t intend to be defeated—not even by the truth.
I am fucked. Well and truly fucked.
Adrian steals Rafe’s attention away from me momentarily, moving up beside him and murmuring lowly that my phone is clean, but someone keeps texting me.
Felix.
Oh, no. Felix, stop texting me! Rafe walks over to me, holding the phone up in front of my face. There are six more messages since the last one I didn’t answer.
“I take it this is your buddy, Felix?”
I nod my head. “I told you I was on my way to the restaurant when you…”
When he tricked me. I don’t say that.
Rafe hands the phone back to Adrian. As he does, he tells him, “I’m gonna need you to look into him, too. He started texting her about some emergency shortly after you stopped at the restaurant to check the tapes. If he recognized you…”
Adrian nods his head, filling in the blanks. “A random local wouldn’t. I’ll check him out.”
The bedroom door opens again, and this time Sin walks in. He glances at me on the bed with my hands cuffed, but his face betrays no emotion. I don’t know why that makes my stomach sink. Well, I guess I do.
I’ve lost all my friends in the space of a few minutes, and if these guys aren’t your friends, they make very dangerous enemies.
Now Sin comes over and stands beside Rafe. Rafe gestures to me and says, “Virginia has a veritable database of Morelli crime in her head. I have to assume she has more dirt on you than any of us.”
Sin nods once, his lips thinning. “She does. Probably a lot more. I didn’t know.”
“I know.”
“I really fucked this one up,” Sin states.
Smiling faintly, Rafe glances over at his friend. “Hey, I brought the curse of Cassandra Carmichael on us. We all get one fuck-up, right?”
Adrian steps forward and stands beside them, looking at me, but not like a person. Like a problem. “She’s dangerous,” he says. “Even if she’s not a cop, she’s dangerous.”
I shake my head, looking down at my bound wrists. “No, I’m not.”
“She could be useful,” Adrian offers, in fairness. “Her brain is a unique tool, but you’d have to be able to trust her. Honestly, I’ve been burned too many fucking times trusting people. Considering she went so far as to collect evidence against you, I’d probably handle this the old-school way, if I were you.”