I raise both brows at him. “He hates me.”
Lorcan sighs. “Look, hate is better than no emotion at all. You can work with hate. I hated you when I first met you.”
I glare at him. “That doesn’t help.”
“If we’re sharing, I hated you too,” Jude says, holding up his hand.
“Then, you’re both assholes,” I throw back.
Lorcan cocks his head, still gripping my hand tight. “Maybe this is Dino’s time to hate you. Don’t let this one little mistake fuck over the best thing that ever happened to you, because that guy out there was there for you, even when you told him he meant nothing. Prove to him that you fucking care.”
I stare at Lorcan, trying to take it all in. “Fine,” I finally say. “Just let me go.”
He does and I stalk out in a huff.
Dino is on his own,drinking at the far side of the garden when I enter it. He doesn’t see me at first, and when he does he scowls. He watches me walk over, and the hatred is so intense that I can almost feel the heat from the burning pits of hell in his eyes.
“You hate me, I get that,” I say as I stand before him. I’m no fucking good at saying I’m sorry, so that’s the best it’s going to get.
His jaw tightens and his hand white knuckles around his glass for the longest time, and then he shakes his head. The rage that I could see, and understand is gone, and in its place is just an emptiness. He smiles, not a nice one.
“Why are you fucking here, Viola?”
“We came to bring you back home.”
He smirks. “I am home.” He takes a sip of his drink and looks over my head as though I’m not there.
I nod at him, letting out a breath. Oh, how the tables have turned. There was a time when it was him begging me to come home and I think I said exactly the same thing. I walk over to where he is and stand next to him, seeing what he sees.
There are a lot of people here. Most of them look like bad news, flashing guns under their jackets and mob affiliation tattoos on parts of exposed skin. The Vices are reputed to be the nastiest of London’s crime families. This party is just here for decoration. Something else is going on.
“Something is going down tonight, isn’t it?”
“How very astute. Is that the trained assassin in you or are you just a nosy bitch?”
I shoot him a look. “I may deserve everything you say to me after what I did to you, But I am sorry for what I did.”
He doesn’t say anything after that, he just stands there drinking, dimple going wild on his cheek. When it looks like one of his family members is coming over, one of his uncles, he shoots me a look. “You should go.”
I don’t listen to him, because when have I ever listened to any of the boys. I stand my ground.
“Kards, my boy. How is my favorite nephew?” the guy walking toward us says. He’s got the same piercing blue eyes as Dino, but he’s wider if not just as tall as his nephew. He grabs Dino and kisses him on the cheek, and then jovially, he looks at me.
I tense. I have no idea what Dino or Lola told them about me.
Did he tell them I nearly sliced his heart out?
“And who is this?” he asks Dino.
“Oh just some whore, forget about her,” Dino says. “Come on, let’s go inside where we can talk.”
The insult washes over me and I let it. I know why Dino said it, but I also know it’s the wrong thing to say because the older man suddenly grins. “Some tasty fucking whore.” He turns back and throws an arm around my waist, pulling me along with them. “Come with us, beautiful, come and sit on my lap and keep me company while we talk business.”
Dino’s face is a picture but I can’t worry about that now. I know this type of man. He thinks anything that’s not tied down is his. Dino should have introduced me as someone important to him.
His mistake.
But it’s not mine.