“Here’s the deal,” she continues. “You and I both know that if Marcus could, I’d be asking him, but he’s out, at least for now. I won’t be asking Levi because that fucker is only going to dump all his bullshit feelings and guilt on me, and I’m not nearly ready to have that forced on me. So, you’re all I’ve got left. You’re a broody asshole who’s terrified of himself. It’s guaranteed we can do this without you begging me to forgive you. You’re my best shot, so you’re going to train me just like you would anyone else.”
“And when I touch you?”
“I’m gonna flinch,” she spits back at me. “I’m going to remember what you did to me and I’m going to hate every fucking second of it, but damn it, I hope that every single time I flinch away from you, it makes you feel like shit. If you do this, and you somehow manage to teach me how to evade people like you, then I might even consider letting you off the hook.”
My brow arches and I hold her stare. “You don’t mean that,” I mutter. “You’d forgive me?”
She shakes her head, her eyes narrowing to lethal slits. “There you go doubting my word again,” she seethes. “But that’s not what I said. I said I would let you off the hook. I didn’t say shit about forgiving you, and you’d be a fool to assume I ever could.”
I hold her stare for a long moment before finally letting out a defeated sigh. “Fine. We’ll start next week once you’re better.”
“No,” she snaps. “I’m done putting this off. Fuck the stitches. I want to be ready. We start tonight.” Then without another word, she turns and strides back out the door.
I stare after her in complete disbelief. No one has ever busted in here making demands and gotten away with it, not without losing their life … or at least a few fingers. Yet somehow she manages to trample all over me and I allow it to happen.
Fucking hell.
Dropping my ass back into my chair, I pick up my tattoo gun just as my phone rings on the table beside me, and just like that, my whole fucking mood comes crashing down. My father’s name flashes on the small screen. For a moment, I consider just how sweet it would feel to throw my phone across the room and watch as it shattered against the hard stone walls of the castle. But then I have to order a new phone and go through the long, painful process of restoring it from the old one, and honestly, fuck that. There’s nothing more tedious than having to remember my fucking password and then trying to figure out the goddamn cloud.
Letting out a sigh, I put the tattoo gun down and pick up my phone, pushing out of my seat as I hit accept and bring the phone to my ear. “Father,” I grunt as Levi appears in my doorway and watches me through a narrowed gaze, hating my father’s calls just as much as I do.
I put the call on speaker so Levi can hear as I stride toward my bedroom window, staring out at the wide expanse of property that doubles as our prison. “Tell me you’re not so fucking stupid to kill your own damn cousin. Your stench is all over it.”
I glance back at Levi and take in the smirk resting on his lips. “The fuck are you talking about?” I spit, mentally seething at his tone. “What cousin? We haven’t killed anyone … well, at least not anyone important to you.”
“Antonio,” my father mutters. “He was murdered at his father’s property last night. Are you sure you had nothing to do with it?”
“You mean my property?” I question. “But good fucking riddance to the little prick. He had it coming, especially after what he did to us. If only I could have gotten to him first. It’s a shame, I’ve been waiting for the day I got to take his pathetic life.”
“He had it coming?” he repeats as though I’m speaking another fucking language. “What in the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Levi strides deeper into my room, tucking his drumsticks in the back pocket of his jeans. “Probably fucked the wrong bitch,” he explains. “You know he was getting busy with Ronaldo’s wife, right? Keeping it in the family. It was only a matter of time. You know how Ronaldo gets when someone fucks with what’s his.”
“Ronaldo?” Father demands, the thought of one of our many other cousins having anything to do with this fucking with his head. It’s shit like this that will set off one hell of a chain reaction. “Are you sure?”
Levi grins as his venomous gaze sweeps up to mine. “As sure as the fact that I’ll end your miserable life one of these days.”