Page 19 of Die for You (Kiss or Kill #2)

Lenny walks down the stairs, and my heart does a tiny flip-flop because I instantly feel a sense of peace in his presence.

That’s soon to change, no doubt.

He leads us away from the house. I forgot about Bria. Thoughts of her have me wanting to punch something.

We walk toward a small building at the back of the house. We enter, and I see it’s a training room. It’s equipped with everything we grew up with. Seems fitting I’m about to divulge what I am in a room full of weapons.

“What happened?”

“Someone hit me with their car. Fucking rude if you ask me.”

His lips twitch. “Did you see who?”

“No, but it was a man, I think, judging from his shoe size.”

“Stupid question, but any idea who wants you dead?”

I scoff in humor. “Could be anyone.”

He takes a step closer. My mouth instantly waters because he is fucking delicious, and I want to climb him like a tree. “Anyone but me?”

I fold my arms, arching a brow.

“Well, you wouldn’t be here if you thought it was me.”

“Lenny, if we wanted the other dead, it would have happened long ago.”

He nods, running a hand over his heavy growth. That’s when I see scratch marks on the side of his neck. I also notice white gauze over the back of his shoulder.

Love taps, perhaps?

My blood boils.

My need to punch something returns.

Kicking off my shoes, I take down a pair of nunchucks from the wall and twirl them, needing to distract myself from punching Lenny.

I have no right to be jealous.

But the thought of him with Bria makes me want to vomit or scream. Maybe both.

“Let’s fight.”

It seems we both need to do something with our hands other than throttle each other. Or worst still, tug at one another’s hair as we fuck the shit out of each other.

Lenny gets into a fighting stance as I move the nunchucks in a sequence. He watches me closely, and when I strike, he blocks me with the back of his wrist.

He grins. Sparring has always been a favorite pastime of his.

“I need to talk to you,” he says as we circle each other.

“About?” My interest is piqued.

Does he know about Lettie?

“About…you.”

“What about me?”

He pauses, which costs him as I strike him in the knee. I don’t hold back, and he jumps back, flinching. But he doesn’t back down.

“I…your—” Lenny is at a loss for words? I don’t know what to think.

“Spit it out.”

“It’s not something you can just spit out.”

“That’s never stopped you in the past.”

“This is different.”

“Why?”

This banter just riles me up even more, and I attempt to hit him again. He disarms me this time.

We stand staring at each other, the mat beneath our bare feet, our chests rising and falling.

I don’t know what’s happening, but it doesn’t seem good.

“Lenny, you’re scaring me.”

“I’m sorry, I just…this is something that will change everything. I just need you to trust me. Please listen and—”

“Hello, Valentina.”

I turn over my shoulder and see a man standing in the doorway. I don’t know who he is. I’ve never seen him before.

“Who’s this?” I ask Lenny.

“I’m your father.”

Lenny flinches, and that’s because what this stranger says is true.

Lenny wouldn’t have brought him here if he didn’t believe him or didn’t have the evidence to prove it.

“Lenny?” I question, my quivering voice betraying me.

He nods slowly, confirming this man’s claims.

“I…don’t…how?” Constructing a coherent sentence is clearly not feasible.

Lenny attempts to comfort me, but I shrug away. “Start talking.”

“My name is Francesco, and I was married to your mother.”

“That’s impossible!” I scoff, shaking my head. “My mother was a nun. I don’t need to listen to this. More ploys from you, Lenny? I’m disappointed by your predictability.”

I turn to leave.

Lenny sighs, rubbing his forehead. “Please listen. It’ll all make sense. I promise.”

I don’t know why, but I stay because deep down, I feel this may be the answer to finding Lettie. Someone is after me, and I don’t know who. So perhaps, this may give insight into something I am unaware of.

“Your mother isn’t Sister Margarette,” Lenny says gently, his hands raised in surrender. “Your mother is…your mother is…fuck!”

He runs his fingers through his hair. “Your mother is…Gianna.”

“ What ? Have you gone mad?” I cry, unbelieving he would even suggest such a thing.

“It’s true, bella .”

“Don’t you fucking bella me!” I scream at this strange man who is my apparent father.

Lenny tips his head toward the ceiling, blowing out a frustrated breath.

“I know this is hard for you to believe, but here.” Francesco retrieves a photo from his pocket and offers it to me.

I see it’s a photograph of him and Gianna. Although young, it’s definitely her.

“I fell deeply in love with your mother. But Gianna is incapable of love. Look at what she’s done to you, her own daughter. She has lied to you since the moment she left you on the doorstep of that orphanage.”

“No.” I shake my head, stepping backward, needing an escape.

“I was the one who introduced her to Aldo. It was the worst mistake I ever made. She saw his power and respect. And she wanted it.

“She hid when pregnant with you. I didn’t even know you existed, Valentina. I swear it. If I did, I would have never allowed you to grow up without me.”

“Shut up,” I mumble, a fire starting at my feet and working its way up.

But he does not.

“Gianna knew you would always be the ace up her sleeve, which is why she hid you from the world, only to play martyr and come ‘save you.’

“But in reality, she was merely waiting for you to become useful—young enough to brainwash but old enough to learn the ways of her world.It’s the only reason she kept you.

If I’m lying, why wouldn’t she raise you?

Instead, she locked you away and made you someone else’s problem.

It wasn’t because she had a change of heart. It was because she doesn’t have one.”

“Shut up…shut up.” I place my hands over my ears, needing to shut out the noise.

How can this be true? If that’s the case, then Gianna is the biggest monster of them all.

If this is true, then Gianna is to blame…for everything.

If this is true, then I will fucking kill her.

“Valentina—”

“Enough. She’s had enough. Get out.”

I faintly hear Lenny’s voice because the white noise is deafening.

I drop to my knees, covering my ears, rocking back and forth, my head bowed.“No…no…no,” I repeat, panic overcoming me, and I can’t breathe.

The harder I try to catch my breath, the harder it becomes to breathe.

My heart is pounding. It feels as if I’m underwater.

I want to give up, but I can’t. Lettie needs me.

Everything is upside down.

Side to side.

The faces of every life I’ve taken flash before me, their mouths twisted wide open, screaming for help.

This is hell.

This is where I belong.

“Come back to me, tesoro mio. ”

But I can’t.

Gianna’s blood runs through me.

And it runs through Lettie’s veins.

What does that mean?

Have I created a monster, for I am a monster?

I am the spawn of the devil.

I thought nothing was worse than being the daughter of a serial killer and a nun.

This, however, is so much worse.

“Lettie? Who’s Lettie?”

Her name brings me back to the now, and I’m refusing to slip away because I can’t. I must fight. It’s a mother’s job to protect her child.

I won’t be my…mother.

I won’t.

Now, it’s my job to be the mother Gianna was not.

The noise softens, and I focus on Lettie’s innocent smile. Her trusting eyes. I focus on the feeling of being her mom.

Peering up at Lenny, I release the guilt and anger and whisper, “She’s your daughter.”

And now, it’s Lenny’s turn to question everything he thought he knew.

“My da-daughter? What? What ? No. I don’t…understand.”

Tears stream down my cheeks because the truth is supposed to set one free.Yet all it’s done is confirm that I’ll forever be repenting for my sins.

He doesn’t speak.

I hear his determined footsteps pace back and forth. I need time to compose myself before I look at him.

He mumbles incoherently.

It seems we’ve both been delivered a bombshell.

I can’t comprehend any of this.

It seems so far-fetched. How could Gianna do this? If what my “father” says is true, I’ve been siding with the person I’ve been hunting my whole life.

That’s the reality check I need to measure my breaths and calm the fuck down.

In and out.

I take my time to focus on the only thing that matters, and that’s our daughter.

“For the first time in our lives…we fight for the same thing,” I say, slowly brushing the hair from my eyes as I look at Lenny.

He stops pacing and interlaces his hands behind his head. I understand this is hard. There was no easy way of breaking this kind of news.

And I soon realize that this is the secret Lenny has wanted to tell me for years. He knew Gianna was my…I can’t even say the word without wanting to break something. But he knew that without proof, I wouldn’t believe him.

He came to Italy with the proof he needed. I too had the proof to reveal to him that he was going to be a father.

But it seems the universe had other plans for us both.

We possibly needed time to grow. Or maybe there were more life lessons to learn. Whatever the reason, it does not matter because it feels as if we’ve come full circle.

Perhaps Gianna trained us for this precise moment in time.

“How could you keep this from me?”

“To protect our daughter.” There’s no hesitation in my response.

“Protect her from me?” His voice is trembling in anger.

“Protect her from us both. How long have you known about Gianna?”

Lenny is now the one to feel guilt. “It was Aldo’s last words. He was the one who told me she was your mother.”

I feel betrayed by so many. It appears everyone knew the truth except me.

“I guess in that regard, the same question applies to you.”

“Would you have believed me without any proof?”

I shake my head.

I barely believe it now.

“I came to Italy with Aldo’s computer, with the evidence I needed, but Bria wiped it clean without my knowledge.”

I come to a slow stand. “It appears we both had secrets, then.”