Page 11 of Dirty Hearts

The damn universe, however, had other things in mind for me.

“No. Short answer.” I returned my gaze to them.

They only knew part of the story between Ava and me. From what they knew I was sure they’d guessed that my relationship with my ex-sister-in-law was less than conventional and heaps more than what I showed to the world.

I’d never said as much, but my silence said everything.

“It’s been seven years since Marissa’s death, Claudius,” Dante pointed out. His expression softened.

“And to our knowledge at least four years since you actuallysawAva,” Gio added, giving me a knowing look. I didn’t miss the emphasis he put on the wordsaw, nor the higher pitch in his tone. These two knew I’d more than just seen Ava.

“Time can do a lot.” Dante sounded hopeful.

“Time does fuck all,” I replied, because it did nothing for me. I still remembered everything, and still felt the same.

The guilt over Marissa was still there, and the reminder that I couldn’t be with Ava. I closed my eyes at the thought and the memory of the last time I was with her.

“Time does fuck all if you allow it to do just that. Take it from me. We all share the same kind of pain. Remember.” Gio’s face hardened.

I pressed my lips together and ran my hand over my beard. “She’s better off not knowing me, Gio. I fucked up her life enough.”

It all started out with a guy who liked a girl. She looked like an angel to him.

I was the guy, Ava the angel. I’d been so wrapped up in her that I didn’t see

the trap Marissa set for me. I got caught in a game I didn’t want to play, and somehow, the life I’d thought I was going to have turned upside down. It turned into this world where I got married to Marissa and Ava hated me.

Of course, things between us had been awkward while I was married to Marissa, but they became a colossal mess after she died. Yet the damn universe kept throwing us together at times when I least expected it. Like now.

Gio stood, then Dante.

“Think first, okay? Things may not be as they seem.” Dante tipped his head into a curt nod.

He could be right, but fact was fact, and I actually thought things were exactly as they seemed. Because of me Marissa was dead, and Ava could have died too.

Time served as a reminder that that motherfucking psycho Goliath still

walked free somewhere in this world. As did the damn Manellos. Joe Manello and his crew.

That fucking asshole Joe had set me up to work with Goliath, and since that day so long ago, all had been ghosts. Off grid like they didn’t exist. Like they never existed, like it was all a figment of a horrific nightmare.

Goliath… I still searched for him.

To me it wasn’t just seven years since Marissa’s death. It was seven years that had passed, and I still hadn’t found him.

Contrary to many beliefs, I didn’t kill mindlessly. No one dared mess with me and mine, and they were right to have that kind of fear. Mindless killing wasn’t me though.

Kill or be killed. That was the rule I lived by.

My last kill, Victor Pertrinkov, was an example of that. That man had been an animal who had to be stopped.

Goliath was the same.

Whenever I saw him again, I would kill him. That was one sure thing. One damn sure thing.

“Hey.” Dante leaned forward and tapped my hand, interrupting my thoughts. “Think of the now.”

“The now?”