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The next morning, I got my answer. Too bad it wasn’t the answer I had wanted.
Joseph had told us that he had found a little house not too far from our little camp, so we’d made our way there. While Joseph left to find another car, Dario ventured into the small bathroom to take a quick shower and clean his wounds properly.
I didn’t want to ask how they had gotten access to the house. I didn’t want to think about what would happen if the owner came home.
It was then that I saw Dario’s phone. Or one of them. I knew he had several.
I knew his password for this one. I considered it his main phone. He’d thought I was sleeping one day in bed when I saw him enter his password.
Of course, I had memorized it. I entered it, and it worked. I was in.
I looked over toward the bathroom, not wanting him to catch me snooping through his phone.
The text messages I found didn’t read like someone who was giving it all up. Instead, just the opposite. He didn’t seem to be dismantling his empire, he seemed to be hellbent on keeping it…no matter the stakes. No matter the costs.
His last text was to someone. Most likely Matteo. And it explicitly said what I feared.
Dario and his empire weren’t going anywhere at all.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Dario
I rotated my shoulder.I was feeling better but not much.
I stared at myself in the stained mirror. I was covered in blemishes. There was a crack on one side of the mirror, and it ran down the middle, making it seem as if there were multiple versions of me.
Maybe there was,I mused. There was the me that I let Mya see and the me I kept hidden from the world.
And now she was getting too close.
I touched the bruises. They felt terrible and looked even worse. I tried not to look at them.
Joseph had brought me a change of clothes. I turned around and looked at my shoulder. It was tender to the touch. I hoped it wasn’t already infected.
I didn’t have time to be sick, not that I would have a choice. I was angry.
Angry that things had gotten this far. Angry at myself for endangering Mya by bringing her into this life.
What had I been thinking? I had so many regrets.
Would I ever learn my lesson?I thought bitterly to myself. The pitiful part was, even now, knowing what I knew, I didn’t think I would do anything differently.
The past few months with her might have been her version of hell, but for me, her presence had been like a salve on a fresh wound.
It was too bad she couldn’t see that. But our lovemaking near the river last night had surprised me. Maybe she’d just felt guilty. But it didn’t matter.
I would take the guilt over her silence any day.
I shaved my chin, trying not to think of the way she had felt in my lap last night. It wasn’t one of my favorite positions, but I had been too hurt to take control. But not hurt enough to avoid being aroused by the smell of her hair, the feel of her thigh pressed against mine.
When she kissed me and climbed on top of me?—
“Shit,” I accidentally nicked myself. I had to stop getting distracted by Mya.
Speaking of which, where was she?
I didn’t bother to finish shaving. Instead, I went looking for her. I called her name as I made my way around the cabin. It was small, dirty, and covered in cobwebs.