Page 43 of Don’t Hate Me (Secrets of Ravens Hollow #2)

We said goodbye to the twins right at midday.

Ever since, I have been down at the jetty, unable to go back into the house without Orlando by my side.

I feel strange in a way I can’t explain.

A heaviness sitting in the pit of my stomach.

I think I’m afraid that I will never see them again.

I know it’s silly, Romeo and Orlando know what they’re doing.

They’re both trained killers and can take care of themselves.

If they say they have a plan, they do. But I still can’t help feeling that something isn’t right.

Reef stayed with me, quietly holding my hand as the two of us gazed out over the small waves lapping at the shore.

I think he feels it as well, this oppressiveness.

Either that or he’s worried about the work call he took earlier, but I can feel the stress sitting on his shoulders, in how quiet he is.

Onyx didn’t wait with us. Instead, he took off for the house, but when the two of us didn’t follow him like he wanted, I could see him lurking near the front door.

He’s been quiet since Orlando said too much at breakfast, short and snappy with me.

I know he’s fighting for control; it’s the only way he feels comfortable.

Orlando gets under his skin, especially when he tells me stuff about his past he clearly doesn’t want me to know.

It hurts to know he doesn’t want to open up to me.

That our relationship doesn’t go both ways.

After breakfast I have more questions than answers, and I wish I had a way of doing my own research, because I know the boys aren’t so willing to tell me what I want to know.

I don’t get how Emilio Moretti, the boys’ papa, has so much pull here.

Yeah, I get that he owns a heap of high-profile businesses in the States, but how did he control that home they all grew up in?

What kind of fucked-up world lets that kind of place even operate?

“Reef, what would happen to you if you lost your job?” I ask the question that’s been sitting at the tip of my tongue since he uttered it at breakfast.

He stares out to sea, kicking his feet, and for a while I don’t think he’s going to answer me. “I’m as good as dead, wildcat. I’m no use to them anymore.”

I tilt my head, trying to capture his gaze. “The family?”

“Yeah, they own me, they have since I was a kid.” His head drops, and I feel the gravity of the situation. He’s fucked, his life isn’t even his own.

“Would you have become a cop if you weren’t forced to?”

“I have never allowed myself to dream of a different life, Sloane. Emilio controls everything. You have no idea the power he has, even over parts of the force. It’s why I got this transfer.

As soon as Harley and the Moretti brothers took out Commissioner Palmer and all their inside men, they knew they needed someone new working for the other side.

I knew what this transfer was from the start.

So did Romeo. We had six months to research Ravens Hollow, find Ava Kingsley, and make inroads into the underworld network that the Morettis have controlled for so long. ”

“That’s why Romeo was working with my brothers.”

“Yeah, except when we worked out who you were, we kept it to ourselves. There was no way we were going to turn you over to Emilio.” He grips my hand a little tighter. “I fell in love with you the first day I saw you, wildcat.”

I glance up at him and I can see the sincerity in his eyes. Even if I know that’s not possible. “Reef…” He cuts me off when I go to say as much.

“You were out the front of your club telling Jagger off. You had on this fitted off-the-shoulder dress in white, and your hair was in a high ponytail. Your legs were so damn long in the killer heels you had on. I swear my heart stopped for a second when I first saw you.”

“You just wanted to screw me.” I huff a laugh, knowing that’s all it could have been.

His hand moves into my hair, brushing the strands away from my face as he tucks them behind my ear.

“It was so much more than that. I had never seen a woman who captivated me so entirely before. I had been in love with Romeo for years and until that moment, never even considered I could feel that way for another person.”

I stare up at him, my heart kicking up a beat because I know how he feels.

I feel it as well, every time I gaze into his green eyes.

It’s a flutter of my heart, millions of butterflies taking flight in my stomach and feeling like I have come home all at the same time. “How is this possible?” I whisper.

“Don’t question it.” He presses his lips to mine, kissing me deeply in a way that I know there is no question, I’m in love with him as well.

When he pulls back, he holds my face in both his hands, staring into my eyes.

“If Romeo and Orlando can pull off their plan of taking down Emilio, things could change for all of us.”

My heart kicks up a beat. “If? Are you worried they won’t be able to do it?”

“I have been a cop for a while now and lived in this world since I was a kid. I know how this shit works. Emilio Moretti is a powerful man, Sloane. I know it’s not going to be as simple as they are making out.”

I squeeze his hand a little tighter. “I know you don’t like talking about your past, but can you help me understand this chaotic world you all grew up in? How did you end up in that home when your mom died?”

He leans back on his elbow, watching me as he thinks on it.

“I honestly don’t know, but I have my suspicions.

I think my mom was somehow working for Romeo’s papa, and when she died, they took me and placed me in that hell hole to pay for a debt she owed him.

I have looked into other cases much like mine, other kids who ended up there as well, and they all have ties to the Moretti organization in one way or another. ”

“How many kids’ lives have they destroyed so they can keep this control?” I ask, my stomach twisting with sickness for them.

He shakes his head, and I see the torment he’s warring with.

“Far too many. Us three are the lucky ones. We got out of that place alive, we have decent jobs and make it work for us. My time in that place was fucking messed up, Sloane. I have scars on the inside and out, ones time will never erase. But I got Romeo out of it and now you.” He offers me a half smile.

He’s always looking for the silver lining, even when the situation is beyond horrible, and I know that’s what makes me adore him even more.

My heart sinks, knowing I’m not the blessing he wants me to be. They had it good, the two of them, before I came along. “I’m a complication you all can’t afford, aren’t I?” I blink back at him waiting for his response, even though I already know it’s the truth.

His green eyes meet with mine, and I see the pain he carries, but I also see something else when he looks at me, hope maybe. “You’re worth the trouble.”

I sigh heavily, feeling the weight of his words pressing down on me. “I’m not. Why did you and Romeo get involved with me? You should have stayed the hell away.”

His arm snakes around my shoulders and he pulls me in closer to him, kissing my forehead. “We couldn’t, wildcat, we both knew you had to be ours.” His lips find mine again, and he kisses me, his hands coming to either side of my face so he can hold me close.

When we eventually pull back from each other, I’m breathless.

This man hardly knows me but makes me giddy with just a kiss.

I gaze up at him, wondering how we can ever really make a relationship work.

It’s clear he and Romeo are in love, and they both think they want me as a part of their relationship, but then there is Onyx and Orlando.

When the five of us were together last night, it felt possible.

But in the light of day, that all feels like a fantasy that could never be real. It’s all just so complicated.

“We couldn’t believe it when we started to research you and worked out Onyx was working for your family. Neither of us had seen him or heard from him in years. I honestly thought he was dead.”

“Why did you think that?”

“He went out one night to one of the underground fights they made him compete in, and he never came back. Kids had died at them before, we all knew they had, but we couldn’t believe it because Onyx was different, he never lost.”

Goosebumps scatter up my arms. I see the unshed tears in his eyes; he really thought his friend was dead. For years they must have both thought he was, that’s horrible. “But he was sold to my family that night, that’s what happened, isn’t it. That’s what Orlando said.”

His gaze finds mine, and in the depth of his eyes, I see the confirmation I need. “You need to ask Onyx about what happened to him that night, it’s his story to tell.” His tone shifts, a seriousness creeping into his voice that I don’t like.

“You saw Onyx working for me and then what?” I ask, needing the rest of the story I interrupted.

The cheeky smile returns to his face. “Then we knew we had an in with you.”

My eyes go wide. “Onyx let you in my club?”

“Wildcat, you’re not easy to get access to. Even when Romeo had worked out how to manipulate your brothers, Onyx would do anything to protect you and make sure no one ever got close to you. You only got to know Romeo and me because Onyx allowed you to.”