“Do you know what that business is?”
“No,” I answer honestly, shaking my head.
Lucia’s lips thin. “That night in the alley, you weren’t taking a smoke break.” Another statement posed as a question.
My heart gives a hard thump but with the line of questioning I already have in plan for Lucia she’s going to already gett close to the discussion Amarie and I were having that night. “No.”
The light chuckle that she gives is dry and hollow. “Should have gone with a better excuse, I’ve smoked with you before and I could tell it was something you wouldn’t be doing on the regular.”
I know the night she’s referring to.
Her muscles tense up and mine do the same in return.
Is she going to ask what we were discussing?
“The day that the Ramos Cartel infiltrated the club and Enzo locked you up to hide in the office, you were found. You said that you managed to shoot the men, but you were lying.”
How does she know-
“Amarie was the one who shot the men.”
“That’s a big conclusion to jump to,” I say, not confirming or denying anything. This is the secret that would cross the line. Amarie had been adamant that I couldn’t say a thing about it, especially to the Costas. I thought it was crazy. Who wouldn’t want to take credit for saving someone’s life. But she acted as if she’d just set a hospital on fire.
She’d gone as far as planting my fingerprints on the gun and giving me a detailed story on what I was supposed to say to the Costas while I was half unconscious. She’d looked at me like she was willing to chop my head odd if need be when I’d tried to bring it up once.
I haven’t attempted to again after that.
And now Lucia wants me to tell her the truth.
Lucia studies me. “Anyone with two brain cells could tell you were lying,” she says to me with a shrug. “Even hearing the story second hand I knew it was a lie, and so did my cousins.”
No one had ever said anything or asked me about it again, even though I suspected they didn’t believe me. I figured it was a bullet dodged, I should have known better.
“The difference between me and my cousins is that I don’t forget anything. They’re willing to write so much off as unimportant, but I know that all the little details are important. So I’ve gone over your story a lot recently, especially as little pieces started clicking into place.”
“Little pieces?” She’s lost me now and her gaze is a little unfocused.
She blinks, sighing. “The pieces aren’t for you, but the truth is. Did Amarie shoot those men and save your life?”
“Yes.” I try not to think about it, just letting the truth flow through my lips but the pressure in my chest makes sure I don’t forget.
Amarie is helping me and yet I’m too selfish to keep the one secret she asked me to keep.
“Are you going to tell Giovanni?” The whole thing is irrelevant now, or at least it should be, but I know how everything seems to get back to Giovanni.
“No,” Lucia says and when I look at her face it shows no signs of being deceptive. “Now ask your questions, Winter.”
“Do you know why Giovanni forced me into a contract? The real reason.” I tack on quickly. I don’t want to stall or drag this out. I’ve waited far too long to get my answers.
Surprise flickers across Lucia’s face and her brows pinch together. “Yes.”
My heart beats faster in my chest and anticipation dances along my skin. “Is it because of my mother?”
Again, that surprise lingers, deep and unfiltered. It lets me know that I’m asking all the right questions.
“Yes.”
Diamond was telling the truth.
I don’t think my airway knows how to function properly anymore, because air definitely isn’t moving through my lungs at the right speed. I hang my head, tangling my fingers in my hair and rubbing circles into my scalp as I try to settle myself.
Now isn’t the time to freak out. I have one more important question and so far Lucia has given me every answer.
I raise my head, my brown eyes meeting her green ones. “Did Giovanni have my mother killed?”
I wish her face would give something away before she answers verbally, needing some sort of warning, but it doesn’t change, not a twitch of the lips or a jump of the brow.
She opens her mouth but before she can even get a word out there’s a loud boom and the whole mansion shakes.