Page 86 of All Your Lies

“Absolutely not. Anyone who traffics while I’m in charge will be executed.”

You could hear a pin drop with how silent the room falls. No one says anything, so Gage continues, “Hector placed a hit. He wouldn’t divulge who it was for, but the amount was steep, so it could be for multiple people.”

The thought of Gage’s father leaves an acrid taste in my mouth, and I can’t help but imagine bringing him back to life solely to repeat the act of killing him myself. I’m just thankful my dad’s okay, and his plan never got carried out.

“What do you have for me?” Gage looks over at Marco, who’s now his underboss. He wanted out, but there’s no way out for us. He’s always been the best at mingling, charming, and learning secrets, so that’s what he now does.

“I’ve heard more noise from my contact. The hit man, assassin, or whatever you want to call him is in town and has been for a while. Allegedly, he’s one of the best and has never fucked up a kill. There’s some vendetta or some shit, so it’s personal, which means we’re fucked.”

“We find out who it is and pay them off.” Rocco shrugs as if it’s that easy.

“If it’s personal, a vendetta, as Marco says, we’re fucked. Would you allow someone to pay you off and forgo exacting your revenge?” Gage asks with a raised brow.

The room falls silent. All of them too bloodthirsty at the thought of revenge to be paid off. Some infractions are priceless. No amount of money can satisfy that.

Everyone besides Gage, Marco, and me leave because we have close to nothing to go on aside from what we already know andthe new fact that someone shot at Manuel last week. He’s a monster, so I’m sure he has more people gunning for him than just an assassin.

“Well, I have places to be, so I’ll just be going,” Marco says as he stands.

The telltale sound of a gun’s safety echoes in the room as the tip of Gage’s gun presses against the side of Marco’s head.

“Gage! What are you doing?” I say as I rise to my feet, my heart pounding outside of my chest.

“What’s going on between you two?”

“Nothing. Put the gun down!” I say as I move to look at Gage’s face. His eyes seem lifeless, devoid of the customary mischievous sparkle I’ve grown fond of.

“You almost had me fooled,” Gage says as he looks at me. “You—”

“What the hell is going on?” Marco says with his hands up in surrender.

“Do you want him?” Gage asks me.

I frown. “No.”

“Then why? Why say no earlier?”

Say no to what? As I try to make sense of what he’s saying, I scan the room, then shift my gaze toward Marco again. Shit.

“Because—he isn’t going to marry her.”

“Why?” Gage barks.

“He—”

“I’m not attracted to her or Alexa,” Marco murmurs.

“You stupid mother—”

“I’m in love with Vinny,” Marco says as a tear drops to his cheek.

Gage’s eyes shift from me to Marco.

“You’re gay?” Gage asks, perplexed, as he removes his gun from Marco’s face and takes a step back.

“Yes,” Marco whispers as his eyes hit the floor.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Gage asks with hurt in his voice.