Page 39 of Malicious Marriage (Mafia Lords of Sin #9)

CLOVER

A fter spending a day in the hospital with Bobby, I sit alone in the smothering silence of my kitchen with absolutely no thoughts. I’m too drained to think, too tied to move, and too heartbroken to care.

My sister.

My beloved sister.

I spent years dreaming of what our reunion would look like.

I played out fantasies of rescuing her from pirates or saving her from traffickers.

I would kick down doors and kill everyone to save her and we’d run away through the city Mission Impossible style.

She was always so grateful to see me, so excited to be rescued and thankful that I never gave up looking for her.

Never once did I imagine that she would hate me for finding her.

Closing my eyes, all I see in my mind is the anger on her face as I replay the moment she walked through that door.

All my immediate relief at her being alive and well immediately shriveled up into pain as she basically accused me of not only being the worst kind of sister, but of doing the wrong thing by coming to find her.

The only answer she gave me that made any sort of sense was when I asked her why she contacted her old school friend about her teacher. Turns out his name was the answer to one of her account security questions and she’d forgotten how to spell it. Nothing more. Nothing sinister like I’d feared.

Hailey left all the sinister shit behind with me and ran off to her new life in Greece with a man who loves her.

Opening my eyes, I catch my reflection in the microwave’s glass door. My hair is a fluffy mess, my eyes are red and raw from crying, and my skin is pale. I need to shower. Take off two-day-old makeup. Maybe get some food.

But I don’t move.

Frankie asked me if it was worth it when I called to give him the terrible news about Bobby. He apologized for it once we met at the hospital but his question lingers in my mind.

Was it worth it?

I carted Bobby halfway across the world and the stress of the whole thing gave him a heart attack.

I lied and lied to Dean’s face and now our relationship teeters on a knife’s edge.

My sister wants nothing to do with me and my years of searching and hoping have brought me nothing but aching disappointment and pain.

How fucked is the world that through this whole, entire fiasco, my uncle was the only one who congratulated me on marrying Dean?

Did my bright future make him reevaluate his desire to kick me from the family? Did our years apart and his aging persuade him that family was important?

No.

Not Malcom.

He must have seen the Savoy dollar signs and that’s what’s made him act nice. He’s not the person I want in my corner, but somehow, he’s the only one left.

And to top it all off, I’m pregnant.

My head dips down slowly until my forehead rests against the cool countertop.

What am I going to do? If I tell Dean about the baby now, it will just look like some desperate attempt to save our relationship, and even though I can prove it, it’ll also just be another thing I kept from him. Another secret. Another lie.

I just wanted to save my sister.

In the process, I destroyed everything.

“Clover?”

My head snaps upright. “Dean?” What the hell is he doing here?

“Sorry, the door was unlocked, so I let myself in.”

I nervously smooth my hands down my blouse and run one hand through my hair as my heart starts to pound.

“No, yeah, yeah, I uhm… must have forgot to lock it.” I briefly glance around the kitchen.

“Got home and no one was here.” Now that I think about it, where is everyone?

Malcom isn’t home and all his guards are gone.

Weird.

“How is Bobby?” Dean, while looking as handsome as ever, also looks pained. The grey in his hair seems to shine a bit brighter and small bags cling under his dark eyes.

“He’s okay.” I shift my weight on the stool. “Doctor… uh, the doctor says he’ll be okay, he just needs to rest. Manage his stress better. Take a holiday. That sort of thing. They’re going to keep him in for a little while, but that’s uh… that’s for the best.”

I’m so nervous I might puke. Dean is here. He must still care about me, right? Why else would he come?

Maybe I can save this.

If I can just catch the trailing tendrils of all my lies and regain control, then I can save my relationship with him. I just have to recapture the illusion I created for him in the first place.

“That’s good.” Dean remains by the door. “You know why I’m here.”

“Uh…” My breath trembles and I swallow hard, trying not to let my nerves show. “To talk?”

“I want the truth, Clover. All of it. Understand? I want to know why you lied about your sister, why you lied about the money. I need to know and I need to hear it from you because right now, it feels like there’s nothing between us but lies.”

I fight the sting of warm tears behind my eyes by biting into my cheek.

“I trusted you, Clover. I thought we had a good arrangement built on trust and I came to care greatly for you, but right now, I feel like a puppet you’ve been toying with and I need to know the truth. No more lies. No more.”

“There aren’t many lies,” I say desperately, falling back into old habits. “I was truthful about everything other than my sister and I told you I only fudged that because our arrangement didn’t feel like there was space for me to tell you I’d been searching for her for years.”

“Clover.” Dean walks forward.

“And we did have money troubles,” I continue in a rush. “Remember at the gala? Even your friends know about Malcom’s gambling so you know the money problems are real.”

“Clover,” Dean says again.

But I can’t stop myself. The tumbling lies pour out of me like vomit, like I’m a greedy little rat trying to gather far too much cheese but it all just keeps tumbling out of my arms.

“And Hailey doesn’t really know what she’s talking about. I don’t know what money she’s after because we don’t have anything to give. Don’t you think if we did then you wouldn’t have to fix that door and we’d have more staff?”

I’m breathless by the time I finish and guilt splits my chest open like a cleaver. Why can’t I stop? Why can’t I just tell him the truth? The lies I’ve built are like a threadbare safety net I’m clinging to with all my might in some desperate hope that somehow I can save our relationship.

Because I love him.

And I can’t lose him. Not after losing Hailey and nearly losing Bobby. The lies are what brought Dean to me and the lies are what will keep him.

But it’s not working.

The calm disappointment on his face is killing me and I want to throw myself at his feet and beg for him to believe me. But it won’t work.

“Are you finished?” he asks quietly. “Does it make you feel better to spew that bullshit at me?

I sink my teeth into the side of my tongue as the urge to sob wells up inside me.

He’s right.

It’s all bullshit and he knows it’s bullshit.

But he still came to see me.

Maybe that’s the chance. Maybe it’s not the lies that will save the relationship, but the truth. If I tell him everything, down to the last painful detail, maybe the kind, understanding man I quietly fell in love with will grant me some of his warm compassion and he’ll understand.

Or he’ll look at me the same way he looks at Trisha, just another woman in his life who used him for her own game. In all honesty, there’s only one option that carries the minuscule chance that he’ll stay with me.

I have to tell him everything.

“I’m sorry,” I say as I deflate down onto my stool.

“I think that’s the first honest thing you’ve said to me all week.

” Dean walks forward until he’s on the other side of the island counter.

“Clover, I don’t know why you’re lying to me.

I don’t know if I scare you or if something else is going on, but your lies aren’t going to work anymore and I’m not going to give you any more chances to come clean.

This is it. Your one and only chance. So tell me the truth. ”

I feel like I’m about to tremble apart under his intense gaze, but as my lips part to spill the story from the beginning, my phone rings.

It’s an unknown number.

“I’m sorry, I have to, if it’s the hospital, then…” I indicate to my ringing phone and Dean nods.

“Answer it.”

“Hello?”

“Clover!” Malcom singsongs in my ear. “Don’t say a word. Don’t you dare alert Dean to who you’re talking to because I can see you on the cameras.”

Tension tightens down my spine and I glance up at Dean, then force myself to look away. “What? Why?”

“Now don’t react, Clover, because you always overreact, but I have a job for you. You are going to kill him.”

It takes every ounce of strength I have left not to visibly react in horror to Malcom’s words. “Wh–What? Why?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see concern spread across Dean’s face.

“Do you really need a play-by-play? It’s a simple order, Clover.”

“There’s no way you think I’d do that.”

“I know you will.”

“No.”

“Ah. Be careful. You know I don’t like being told no.

Look, Clover. It’s for the good of the family!

You remember how eager I was to expand our business into the weapons sector.

The drug and prostitution trade only takes you so far.

So imagine my delight when I came back from France and found out you’d married fucking Dean Savoy!

That man is the king of weapons deals. Do you know why I was so excited? ”

I have to warn Dean somehow. But we’re being watched. “Tell me.”

“Because you become the next in line when Dean dies! He has no siblings, no other family, and that fucking kid that bitch shot out isn’t even his!

The only person his empire can go to is you!

And with all his generals distracted by the war with the Russians, no one will notice me sweeping in to take over until the ground is fully on my head. ”

My head spins. Is this why he covered for me? Why he congratulated me and did absolutely nothing to reveal my lies? I was so caught up in finding Hailey that I didn’t even think about something this insane.

“No,” I choke out the best I can. “I can’t.”

“Hmm. You don’t understand the full picture. I get it. Let me send you a little something.”

My phone buzzes as a message pings through.

Taking the phone away from my ear, I open the message.

My heart turns to ice and drops right down to my gut like a ten-ton rock as Hailey’s beaten, tear-stained face flashes up on my screen.

Her mouth is open in a silent scream as her hair is dragged to one side.

I’m about to be sick.

“You see?” Malcom hisses as I lift the phone back to my ear. “Your little trip across the world to find her led me right to her and I've been after that bitch for years. So thanks for that. Now, just so we’re clear, if you don’t kill Dean then I’ll kill Hailey. Understand?”