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Chapter Four

SKYLA

My head is killing me, and the fist pounding on my door is going to do my head in if they don’t stop.

I yank the door open, glowering when Logan steps forward.

I keep my body in the opening of the door, blocking anything he might be able to see, though I take pride in how well anything illegal is hidden.

He smirks and tucks his hands into his pockets, but it’s not hard to spot the envelope hanging out of his front breast pocket.

“Why are you here?”

His smile widens, showing off the silver molar at the back of his mouth. “I have a warrant.”

“I fail to see how you obtained one without crossing several illegal lines.” I keep one hand pressed against the door, ignoring the bite of the edge into my hip.

With a flourish, he hands me the envelope. “You’re free to read it, but I’m here to search your property.”

“More like rob my fucking underwear because you’re a creep.” I shove a foot behind the door when he tries to give it a light nudge. “Please show force trying to get into my house. I would love to have Aiden file a complaint with your boss.”

The look in his eyes darkens, but he knows better than to raise a hand to me. We both know what happened the first and only time he tried.

Having to go to work and explain to your boss why your nose is broken is difficult when you don’t want to tell him that your fiancée laid you out.

It’s for the best that I caught him cheating.

I’ve known that since the day I walked in on him, and I know it more now. Hindsight really is a funny thing.

After skimming through the warrant, I hand it back to him. “You can get bent if you think you’re getting in here with that. You and I both know that you can search every inch of the house, and you’re not going to find anything.”

He tilts his head to the squad car sitting in my driveway, an officer behind the wheel. “I would really hate to have to arrest you for obstructing my search. Wouldn’t you? Although, you always did like being in a pair of handcuffs.”

“Only to keep from clawing your eyes out every time you did that weird little whine before you came.” I give him a saccharine smile, opening the door and letting him inside.

We both know that this isn’t going to be over until he’s torn apart my house.

It’s easier to just let him play his games than to fight him.

Logan hums as he steps into the house, not bothering to take his shoes off.

The corner of my eye twitches as he tracks mud across the hardwood floors I spent hours restoring after we broke up.

He grabs the bowl with my keys and wallet from the entryway table, dumping the contents on the floor. The keys clatter together, skittering to the side beneath the table.

With a smirk, he sets the bowl back down. “You would be surprised at how many people hide things like USBs in the underside of bowls.”

“And you know that I have nothing to hide, and this is nothing but a power trip for you.” I cross my arms, leaning against the wall and trying not to grimace when he opens the front closet and starts tearing my coats from the hangers, rummaging through the pockets, and tossing them to the floor, too.

“You might have something to hide, though.”

“No more than you do.” I notice the lack of bodycam on him when he turns around. “Why don’t you come here to tell me whatever it is this is really about and then we can both get back to the lives we have now? You stay out of my way, and I don’t gut you for sticking your dick in my best friend.”

He looks at me with what I’m sure is supposed to be puppy dog eyes, but the bastard looks more like one of those blobfish when they bring them to the surface.

Despite my annoyance at the entire situation, the corner of my mouth twitches.

The begging look drops from his face as he spins and grabs the basket of gloves from the top shelf, sending it sliding down the hall like he’s taken up curling.

The basket collides with the wall hard enough to make a tiny tear in the dark floral wallpaper. The same wallpaper I spent the better part of three months searching for. It was perfect and nearly impossible to get my hands on.

And he’s damaged it.

I should kill him right here and now. The cop outside could probably be paid off.

Joshua might have a problem with losing his brother, but I don’t think it would be that much of an inconvenience to him.

Logan sighs and shakes his head, tutting like my grandmother. “You know, this would all be over sooner if you would just tell me what I want to know.”

“This would be over sooner if you would stop abusing your power.”

He picks up a picture of my niece, Bianca, as he moves into the living room. “Cute kid. Be a shame if she turned out like you. Fucking my brother in a club bathroom? Really, Skyla? That’s the level you’ve sunk to? Kind of makes you a whore.”

My nails bite into my palms, drawing little drops of blood. “Wow. You are incredible, you know that?”

He smirks and throws the picture to the ground before grabbing another and breaking that too. “You always did like dancing. Or rather, the attention men gave you when you were dancing. You’ve always been a bit of a slut.”

“I don’t know why you care since you’re the one who ruined things between us.”

A lamp is shoved off the table, shattering when it hits the ground.

Logan uses the toe of his shoe to grind little pieces of glass into the area rug.

It might be baiting him into getting angry, but that’s what I want right now. I want him to get angry and give me a reason to get him fired. I want him to realize that I’m not someone who is going to continue to come second to his wants.

I’m not the same woman I made myself into when I was with him.

The week after we broke up, it was like my eyes had been opened for the first time in a long time. I could look in the mirror and recognize myself.

And little by little, I took my life back.

It’s time that he wakes up and sees me for who I am.

I’m not sure how I ever allowed him to make me into a shell of myself in the first place.

It’s never going to happen again.

Logan pulls the cushions from the couch, tossing them to the other side of the room. “You should get over your anger. It’s not healthy. You should see that I was just trying to help our relationship.”

“I’m not having this argument with you. Not even a little bit. You know what you did was wrong. The fact that you keep trying to justify it only reminds me of why we were never going to work in the first place.”

“You were in love with me. You knew we were going to work. You just didn’t want to be the kind of woman that a man needs. That’s not my fault.”

“Oh, and looking the other way while having my best friend spread her legs for you was being the kind of woman a man needs? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me with that one, Logan.”

He rolls his eyes, turning the couch completely over and nearly breaking the coffee table in the process. “You got even. You slept with my brother. Now we can go back to the way things are supposed to be.”

“Supposed to be?”

“Yeah, when you weren’t spreading your legs for every man who looked at you the right way. Now, do you want to tell me how long this thing between you and my brother has been going on?”

“That’s none of your business. Our relationship ended two years ago when you decided to fuck my best friend. You get nothing from me now.”

“He’s my brother.”

“And?” I follow him into the kitchen, scowling as he rips open cupboards and throws plastic containers to the ground.

“You were cheating on me with him, weren’t you?” He spins with a stack of plates in his hands before letting them slip through his fingers.

The shattering of ceramic fills the room, pieces sliding across the floor in every direction.

I could settle this with the police department. But if I tell Aiden about what this asshole has done, then his life is going to be so much worse.

Logan reaches for the bowls. “I know you were sleeping with him when we were together. I could see the way he looked at you every time you were around.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “I wasn’t sleeping with him. You’re the cheater here, Logan. Not me. I loved you.”

“Then why were you dancing with him? If you loved me, you never would’ve betrayed me like that.”

The audacity makes me want to scream. He’s always been good at twisting and turning, playing with my emotions until I don’t know which way is up and which is down.

“Who I dance with is none of your business,” I say, venom spewing from my words.

“That’s where you’re wrong.” He steps closer to me, his hands twitching at his sides. “You’re mine, and you’re always going to be mine whether you see it right now or not. I’m not going to tolerate this bullshit with you and my brother, Skyla.”

“You don’t get much of a choice, considering he’s my husband.”

I don’t know what compels me to say it, but the second the words are out there, I’m thrilled.

Logan stops his destruction of my home, looking like someone just kicked his puppy.

Good.

His face glows bright red as he spins and rips my espresso machine from the counter, nearly staggering under its weight before throwing it a grand total of maybe three feet.

“You’re a fucking bitch.” Logan’s voice vibrates with anger. “You’re going to pay for this, you stupid little slut. You think that you just get to turn around and marry my brother?”

“I don’t think you get much of a say in it.” I smirk as he storms for the front door. “I married Joshua, and you know he’s going to lose his shit when he hears about the way you were terrorizing me.”

Though I have no intention of telling Joshua about this, Logan doesn’t need to know that. Thinking that I have his brother’s ear is more than enough to send a wave of common sense rushing through him.

The front door slams behind Logan, leaving nothing but sweet silence in his wake.

I breathe a sigh of relief, removing the elastic from my wrist and using it to tie my hair back.

The entire first floor of my house is a mess, and I’m going to have to do some damage shopping online later to replace everything he broke.

One of these days, I’m going to give that bastard everything he deserves.

Telling him that I’m married to Joshua seems to be the most I’ve upset him in two years.

It’s refreshing to be the one unbothered by everything that happened between me and Logan. Even the anger is starting to fade.

And the more unimpressed he thinks I am—the more he sees I’m done with him—the more it’s going to bother him.

I’m finally going to get the revenge I’ve wanted.

As long as Aiden agrees to the plan.

Cigar smoke from the men smoking over at the poker tables chokes the casino.

I slip past them, keeping my head down as I head to the swinging door at the back.

The man just inside the door nods to me as I pass him, heading for the staircase at the end of the hall.

I take the stairs two at a time, punching in the code to the door at the top. It swings open, revealing a wide office space with nearly a dozen different offices.

Aiden’s is at the back, warm and bright, sunlight shining through the massive window. He looks up from the paperwork spread across his desk, his eyes narrowing when I shut the door behind me.

“What’s going on?” He leans back in his wingback chair, crossing one leg over the other.

I pace over to the window, looking out at the parking lot where people hop out of taxis, ready for an early morning gambling session. “Logan just trashed my house.”

The chair goes flying as Aiden stands. “Excuse me?”

“Logan just came over with a bogus warrant and tossed my house. He broke a bunch of shit and decided that he wanted to do some digging around in my personal life since he saw me dancing with his brother at the club last night.”

Aiden scrubs a hand over the lower half of his face before crossing the room to the white mini fridge in the kitchenette and yanking open the door. He pulls out an energy drink and cracks the top.

After taking a long drink, he sits down at the desk once more. “You want to tell me what the hell you were doing dancing with Joshua Vitale in a club?”

“First of all, don’t talk to me like you’re my father.” I pace away from the window to sit on the other couch across from him, the corduroy scratchy against my skin through the rips in my jeans.

I shift, trying to find a comfortable position while Aiden’s jaw clenches.

His eyes roll, and he takes another pull of his drink.

“Joshua approached me with a proposition while I was at the club. One that could be extremely beneficial.”

He shakes his head, his gaze hardening. “We’re not having anything to do with that family. Not after the way they screwed us over. Let’s just kill Logan and be done with it.”

“Sure, with the cops already looking at us, and the Rinaldos doing fuck knows what, let’s just go ahead and murder someone.” I give him a flat look, crossing my arms as I lean back into the cushions.

“It would be easier. I could make sure that nobody would ever find the body.”

“I could do that on my own. But he’s a DEA agent.”

Aiden scowls. “And here I thought that was going to be useful to us while you were with him. Damn shame he had to be an even bigger idiot than I already thought he was.”

I bite back a smile. “Yeah, who knew? Now, let’s talk business, shall we?”

He sighs. “Fine. What business?”

“Joshua Vitale offered me an opportunity that could bring you a mountain of cocaine and get a DEA agent off your back.”

This deal means selling my soul to the devil, giving myself over to my ex’s brother.

As much as I don’t want to, eventually, it might have to mean letting someone in and showing them the parts of me that I’ve kept buried for as long as I can remember. The parts of me even my family is ashamed of.

Accepting Joshua’s plan means losing a part of myself because I know he’ll never accept me . He’ll find out my secret, and he’ll turn it against me.

He’ll shove me to the side just like everyone else has.

And I don’t know if saving my family, as much as I love them, is worth it.