I didn’t want to say. I knew Damien wouldn’t be able to keep his word once the name was in the air. “Heath…”
Damien had no reaction whatsoever—as if he were in shock.
“I know you have your differences. I know you have your reasons to dislike him. But as your sister…I’m asking you to let that go. This is the man I want to be with. I know you love me, and I love you…and I need you to do this for me. Please.”
Damien still didn’t react. Didn’t even take a breath. His eyes hadn’t blinked once, and he continued to stare at me, his green eyes like two probes looking into mine.
“I know he’s done terrible things. But he didn’t directly take Anna. He didn’t directly break in to your house. He was an accomplice to all that, and now that all of that is in the past…I’d like it if you could let it go. And the money you pay him… It’s just money.” As I heard myself speak, I realized how much I was asking of him, to release a year of vendettas.
He straightened in the chair, his hands moving to the surface of the table. His elbows planted, and his fingers interlocked in front of his lips, his eyes still on me, still not blinking. He stared for a long time, his hostility low but potent. He lowered his hands. “Last week, he came to collect his payment…and told me it was the last time he would do so.” He shook his head slightly. “I knew it was odd. I knew I was missing something. And now it all makes sense.” His fingers returned to his lips, and he stared at me again, the cogs in his brain working. “And the last time he came, everything went according to plan…until something changed. My snipers were ready to take him out, but on the camera feed, it showed he got a phone call…that was you who called. You eavesdropped on my conversation and told him everything.”
I refused to lie about it, but I didn’t confess to it either. I’d suspected he would piece everything together after I came clean, so I wasn’t surprised he came to that conclusion so quickly. He was a smart man.
“That was why he didn’t kill me.”
I had no idea that Heath had let my brother off the hook, that he stopped collecting payment. There was only one reason why he would do that. I just didn’t understand why Heath didn’t tell me. “If he’s stopped collecting payment from you and the past is in the past, I’d like it if you could let this go. I know it’s a lot to ask, Damien. But I wouldn’t be asking you to do this for me unless it was important to me.” I had to put faith in my brother’s love for me, to hope that love was stronger than his hate.
He leaned back in the chair, his gaze moving out the window while the same stoic expression was burned into his face. His green eyes reflected the sunlight, and the tightness of his jaw indicated the way he ground his teeth together.
“Damien…please.”
He eventually turned back to me, taking a deep breath. “No.”
I closed my eyes and felt utterly defeated.
“I can let go of most of the shit he’s done—but not all. But I despise a man who’s not honest about who he is, who doesn’t come clean to the woman he’s sleeping with about the shit he’s really done. I know you don’t know everything, because if you did, you wouldn’t be sitting here right now. You’d want nothing to do with him.”
Adrenaline dumped into my blood, and my chest started to rise higher, to suck in all the oxygen that my brain suddenly needed. I thought I was the one catching Damien off guard, but it was the other way around.
And I was scared.
His eyes narrowed, like he was disappointed in me. “He lied to you. He tricked you. Now, you’re sitting in front of me, fighting for a man you don’t even know. It’s fucking humiliating. I’m humiliated for you.”
My breathing continued to speed up. “What did he do?”
His furious eyes burned into mine. “When I refused to pay him, he took someone very special to me, took someone to execute. You know who that was?”
Hades? Anna?
“Dad.”
My heart fell.
“He took him to another location and intended to shoot him in the back of the head—to punish me. You want to know the only reason that didn’t happen?”
Oh my god.
“It was because Hades got there first. Hades got there, killed the guard, and saved Dad’s life.” He leaned forward. “Dad would be dead right now if I didn’t make the right calls. Heath would have executed an innocent old man.” He fell back into the chair. “If you wanted to be with someone like me, I wouldn’t give a damn. Not all criminals are evil. I don’t hurt innocent people, and I don’t kill cops. I stay in my world and never cross that line.” His hand straightened and fell onto the table, mimicking a line with his straight fingers. “But that motherfucker crossed the line. He doesn’t stay in his lane. He tried to murder a harmless, sweet man—for money. No, I’ll never let that go. I’ll never forget that he nearly killed my father. I’ll never forgive, never forget. And now that you know the truth, you’ll see what he really is—and dump his ass.” His eyes shifted back and forth as he looked in mine. “He played you like a fool, Catalina.”