Page 40 of Bound in Debt

“Babe, you know damn well I like you a lot,” he sputters, an angry flush creeping above his collar.

I’m tired of his lies. Maybe he’ll change his tune with a butter knife sticking out of his hand…

My phone buzzes on the seat next to me and SAVIOR pops up on my screen.

Who the hell?

I swipe the screen to open the message and it becomes obvious who’s texting me.

SAVIOR: Don’t mention anything about what happened last night or what you know about the situation.

VICTORIA: Why keep it secret? So he can keep thinking I’m an idiot?

Like you do. I resist adding that last, pathetic thought.

SAVIOR: Liam will just do something drastic and you’ll have a ring on your finger before midnight.

VICTORIA: Well, you texted me just in time. I was about to rip him a new asshole.

“Who are you texting?” Liam’s tone is clipped and irritated. He can’t stand that I’m not giving him every bit of my attention.

“Ellie found a bridesmaid’s dress,” I reply, glancing up from my phone. “Is that okay with you?”

His face softens and he plasters on a too-wide smile, clearly faking. It’s a smile I’m far too used to seeing.

Was I always this blind?

I sift through memories of us together. Dinner dates, late-night drives off campus, him listening to me play and acting as if he cared how I sounded.

It was all a lie.

A con.

He’s put a target on my back, told dangerous men who I am, and now they are all desperate to get a hold of my money.

“Of course it is,” he conveys. “I’m not gonna get in the way of that.”

“Are you wearing white or black?” I ask as Dante’s next message comes in.

SAVIOR: I need your answer.

VICTORIA: I don’t feel safe with you. Or anyone named Moretti for that matter.

SAVIOR: Compare me to Liam again and I’ll make sure you regret it.

Damn.

I can sense the rage in his last message and it sends a shiver down my spine.

Maybe siding with him is my best bet. Maybe he’ll protect me from the goons threatening to kidnap and do God knows what else to me.

You know. You googled it.

I tortured myself last night by staying in the library, away from Ellie’s suspicious gaze, to read about the mobs in New York and Chicago. The bloody wars and convenient murders that they’ve left in their wake. Sex trafficking isn’t uncommon, kidnapping is definitely the norm, and I’m in so much shit there’s no way out of it without help.

“Black,” Liam replies, interrupting my spiraling thoughts, but it doesn’t matter. I hear his voice as he prattles on about his groomsmen choices, but I tune him out because none of it matters. I’m never going to be walking down an aisle while he stands at the end of it.

There’s something about Professor Moretti, even though he wants nothing to do with me in a romantic sense. He says he’s got my back. That he’s truly looking out for me.