Page 40

Pulling a chair, I sat facing the beach and closed my eyes, enjoying how the warm breeze lifted and tousled my hair. Life hadn’t felt this complete, possibly ever. Cambri’s death still hurt my heart, and I knew I’d feel her loss for a long time. But I’d been mourning for so long that I decided to let go of the pain for one day and relish all the good. Santino and I were in a new place in our relationship. I never thought I was capable of love, let alone worthy of receiving it, yet he changed everything.

I love him.

Nothing could sour my mood today. Lunch with Amalia. Then dinner with my brothers…

“Miss Carvalho.”

Detective Braga’s voice was the equivalent of screeching tires on hot pavement. I hadn’t seen or heard from him since the night outside my apartment, the night I’d killed Luca. Santino’s clean-up crew, disguised as just that, had removed the body and any traces of death or a scuffle. They’d said a neighbor had hovered nearby and attempted to question them, but they’d brushed him off. I had no doubt the nosy neighbor in question was Raymond. Just like I had the hunch his being here wasn’t a coincidence.

“Mind if I sit?” He slid the iron chair and sat, not waiting for a response.

“Actually, I do. I’m with a friend, so if you don’t mind…” I said, motioning to the aisle.

“No worries. This will only take a second.”

“How did you know I’d be here?”

“It’s my job to know.”

I leaned my elbows against the table. “Bullshit. You have no right to follow me. And I don’t think that’s very wise.”

His thick eyebrow arched. “Is that some type of threat?”

“Really?” I asked with a cynical chuckle. “You show up and intrude in my space, but I’m the one making threats? However, if you feel threatened, Detective, maybe that’s a sign you should watch your boundaries.”

Raymond leaned over the table, meeting my steely glare. “Is that what you said to Luca Leone that night in your apartment?”

My heart stuttered for a millisecond at his admission, but I quickly reined in my shock.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He tapped a small metal object against the table’s surface. “Don’t you?”

“No.”

Relaxing in his seat, he opened his palm, and a familiar piece of jewelry rolled in front of me .

Luca’s ring.

The Leone family crest was unmistakable.

“Is this supposed to mean something to me?”

“How about you drop the act, Amara…or whoever you are? I’ve looked into your past and found a lot of holes and fabricated paper trails. But I’m not even here for that.”

I said nothing and sat back, contemplating escape routes and how to dispose of this man if the situation came to that.

“You haven’t been back for two weeks—”

“So what? I’m a big girl, Detective. I’m allowed sleepovers for as long as I want.”

“What of Luca Leone? The man who broke into your place and never came out.”

I wondered if he could hear how heavy my heart thudded.

“Again, you’ve lost me. But I think we’re done here.”

His fist rocked the small table. “Sit. Down. No one has seen that footage yet but me, and if you want things to slide in your favor, I suggest you cooperate.”

“Fuck you.”

The detective’s mouth curved in a crooked smile. “I don’t find joy in this, but it is my job, Amara. Your boyfriend’s little cleaning crew left this ring behind.”

“You were in my apartment?”

“That’s irrelevant.”

“You fucked up. Unless you have a warrant, you can shove that ring wherever you think it’ll fit best.”

Raymond’s dark eyes thinned as he exhaled a sharp breath. “Luca Leone was human garbage. But he’s just the means to an end. What you did, what I know you’re capable of, can’t go unpunished.”

Gripping the table’s edge, I opened my mouth to speak, but another voice strangled the words in my throat.

“Is this man bothering you, mo stoirín? ”

Pain.

Every muscle in my body tensed, and I froze, paralyzed with fear, as Ronan’s presence loomed over me like a dark storm cloud.

I was wrong. Kai wasn’t the storm. It was him.

For years, I’d fantasized about how I’d react and what I’d do when I had Ronan Cain in front of me—all the ways I’d make him pay and how loud his screams would be. But none of those scenarios played out. Instead, I was shaking like a fucking terrified and helpless prey.

“Look at you, my beautiful girl,” he said, touching my cheek while I was helpless to stop him.

Detective Braga read the room and shot to his feet. “Who are you?”

“Oh, how rude of me not to introduce myself.”

In the time it took me to blink away the moisture gathered in my lashes, Ronan pulled out a gun and shot the detective three times. He collapsed, toppling the table as the screams and stampeding of those around us filled the air.

With my mouth gaped open, I turned, finally facing the monster who had plagued my dreams, his claws buried deep in my soul for so long.

“What are you doing here?”

His large hands wrapped around my arms, hauling me to my feet. “Finally retrieving what belongs to me.”

“No,” I gritted out, reaching for my knife, but he twisted my arm, pinning it to my back, and pressed the barrel of his gun to my face.

“Don’t get brave now, Athena. I might have come all the way here for you, but don’t make me do what I should have done years ago the night you rejected me.”

I struggled to break free, but he tightened his grasp, and I hissed in pain as the pressure nearly popped my shoulder out of its socket.

“Kill me. I’d rather die than go with you. Do it!”

His rumbling laughter against my ear chilled me to the bone.

“That’s cute. You making a scene.” Ronan waved over a man who I hadn’t noticed until now. “Check his pockets.”

With his boot, he kicked Raymond’s body, flipping him over on his back, and searched his pockets, pulling out his badge and a brown wallet. Despite the fact the detective was about to turn me in, I couldn’t help the feelings of anguish at the sight of him on the ground, wounded, still attempting to breathe as his lungs rattled. He was a good man, trying to do his job and do right by his son.

“He’s a cop.”

“Interesting choice of friends.”

“He has a young son,” the man said, holding a picture of Thiago.

Ronan’s maniacal grin widened. “You have two seconds to decide if you want to come with me peacefully, or we can pay the kid a visit.”

As if stirred to life by the mention of his child, Detective Braga groaned loudly and outstretched his arms, pleading for his son’s life. His tear-filled eyes connected with mine, and he shook his head weakly before losing consciousness.

I would never be able to live with myself if Ronan hurt that little boy or robbed his innocence as he had with so many.

“Okay…okay,” I whispered.

Ronan’s lips feathered along my jaw. “That’s my good girl.”

Like the spineless bastard I knew he was, he clocked me on the side of my head with the butt of his gun. A millisecond of pain branched out, and then I sank into darkness.