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Alessio smirks, but there’s nothing playful about it. “If they know what’s good for them, they won’t fucking think about you at all.”

I smile because I know my Warden speaks the truth.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Anything,” Alessio replies automatically.

I hesitate for a second, but now that he knows everything about me, all the ugly and unflattering parts, Iwant to learn more about him. “Tell me what happened to Bria.”

His throat bobs, but I don’t stop. “Did you love her?” I don’t even know why I ask. Of course, he loved her.

He doesn’t look away when he answers. “I did. But it was a different situation and nowhere close to what I feel for you.”

And I can’t help but smile because I’m suddenly winning in a competition with his dead ex, and I’m pretty sure there’s a special place in hell for people like me.

51

Alessio

I hate talking about this. I don’t bring Bria up anymore, don’t let myself think about it for too long, because when I do, it all comes rushing back like a fresh fucking wound. But I know Liv deserves to hear this and understand why Bria was different. What I felt for her is nothing compared to what I feel for Liv.

I take a breath, dragging a hand down my face. “Bria was my best friend since we were five,” I start, trying not to sound so fucking emotional. “She lived next door to us and came over nearly every day to play with me and Aly. The older we got, the more everyone swore we’d end up together. Hell, even we figured we would at some point. So, when we were sixteen, I finally asked her out.”

Liv tilts her head, curious to see where this goes, but I don’t let myself stop.

“I had just gotten my first car. A brand-new gunmetal GT Mustang and wanted an excuse to drive it. I knew if Itold my parents I was taking Bria out, they’d say yes. They loved her like a third daughter. My mom, being my mom, made it a whole thing with flowers, and reservations at Maci’s, one of the nicest restaurants in the city. I was planning to grab takeout and drive around, but suddenly, it became a serious date. My first date, actually, and my only real date.”

Liv shifts beside me, looking confused at that last part, but I keep going.

“We get to Maci’s, sit down, and somehow, they serve us wine. And being the responsible sixteen-year-olds we were, we accepted it and drank it. Well, her more than me. I knew my dad would kill me if I got caught drinking and driving, so I only had a few sips. After the bottle was gone, I guess Bria had too much to drink because halfway through the meal, she blurted out that she’s not into me. Total hit to my fragile teenage ego, but I recovered fast.”

I smirk slightly, but it fades as I keep talking.

“She was drunk and started spilling everything. She wasn’t into men at all and only agreed to our date because she came out to her mom, who told her dad, and he lost his shit. He threatened to send her away and disown her. She was terrified of him. And since she was my best friend.” I swallow hard, remembering the fear in Bria’s eyes. “We came up with a plan, pretending that wewere together, to keep her father off her back. And it fucking worked, for years.”

Liv’s eyes soften, and I see her putting the pieces together.

“She was part of this life,” I say, running a hand through my hair. “Her father was one of my dad’s top enforcers. Anyway, I took over at eighteen and moved out of my parents’ house. One night, Bria showed up in bad shape, all bruised up. Her father caught her with a woman, and it got physical.”

“I wanted to kill him,” I admit. “But she wouldn’t let me. Some bullshit about him still being her family, how she couldn’t do that to her mother. The same mother who let a man beat her daughter like it was nothing.” My hands clench at the memory. “So, I did the only thing I could. I threatened him. Told him if he ever laid a fucking hand on her again, I’d kill him myself.”

Liv inhales sharply, as if she can already guess where this is going.

“I promised Bria I’d keep her safe,” the words feel bitter in my mouth because I fucking failed her. “She moved in with me the next day, and we kept up our charade. It was easy for us. She played the perfect role of a happy girlfriend. We shared women when it worked, and then we went to our separate rooms at the end of the night. But after a while, my parents started pressuring meto propose.” I remember staring at the fireplace for hours, trying to figure out how the hell I’d drop this bomb, without Bria losing her shit.

“But we discussed it and figured it was the best way to keep her father off her for good. She had one condition though, and that was that I actually propose. The ring, one knee bullshit, the whole fucking thing. Even though she refused to wear my mother’s diamond.”

I glance at Liv’s hand; at the ring I slipped back on her finger before we left for my parents’ place. “She said that one was a family heirloom, meant for a real marriage, not our pretend one, and picked a different ring.”

I exhale, feeling the pressure in my chest start to build. But I needed to specify that, in case Liv thought she was wearing another woman’s ring. I mean, technically she is, it was my mother’s, but it was always meant to be Liv’s. It never belonged to Bria.

“We planned a trip with her family to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. That’s where I was going to propose, right in front of her father, so he’d see it with his own eyes and back the fuck off. Before he and her mom arrived at the cabin, Bria and her sisters, Amanda and Emily, wanted to go zip-lining. I wasn’t thrilled about it, but she was stubborn as hell and made me, even suggesting she’d go first.”

My hands clench into fists as the memory comes flooding back, so fucking vividly, like I’m still standing on that fucking platform, in Gatlinburg.

“The second Bria jumped off the platform, her line snapped.” My voice comes out eerily calm, like my mind is disconnecting from the pain and leaving reality to tell the story. “She fell almost two hundred feet.”

Liv gasps softly.