Page 14 of Pursued-

“So what is it?”

“I wanted to know some things.”

“Such as?”

“Whether you love Leone. Whether he deserves you. And whether Frank’s still a shit father.”

“What-what have you found out?”

“That you don’t love Leone.”

“I care about him,” I say slowly. “What you and I did is not okay. I?—”

“He doesn’t deserve you,” he says coldly.

“Why not?”

“A lot of reasons.”

Alberto’s certainly done some horrible things, but they weren’t directed at me. So I wonder why Sasha’s tone is so cold and hard. Before I ask about Berto though, there’s something else I want to know first. “Why do you care?”

“Three years ago, he ordered the hit on C. To make Frank vulnerable. I took the gut shot from one of Leone’s shooters.”

“Is that it? Did you screw me to get even with him?”

“With both of you. You enlisted his help to kill Frank. We lost guys the day they tried to hit C.”

“I didn’t enlist his help to kill Frank! I just told him about some things Frank had done. I never thought he’d do anything to hurt anyone. He wanted information. I thought he was planning to help me leave Coynston in a way that wouldn’t risk—it doesn’t matter what the details were supposed to be. He changed his plans without telling me. Right after it happened, I called everything off. I didn’t really want to do that to Frank. He’s a monster, but he’s still my father. And then seeing you wounded and everything you went through, I couldn’t live with more collateral damage. I made a deal with Frank.”

Sasha’s eyes narrow. “What deal?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Then tell me.”

“Let’s just say that you didn’t need to come for your revenge. Forcing myself to make a deal with the devil should’ve been revenge enough.”

“C says it is. He said your living under Frank’s thumb is punishment enough. Back in the day, Trick was the one who found out you’d been feeding Leone information about us. He wanted to kill you. We convinced him not to.”

“You agreed with C?”

“No, I had my own reasons.”

“You wanted to take your own revenge?”

“Something like that.”

“And now you have.” My heart beats a painful thudding rhythm in my chest. “Are these the last books I’ll ever read?”

He shakes his head.

“Is that because it’s like C thinks? It’s more satisfying to destroy my life?” I ask, taking a step back, letting the depth of his vengeance sink in. There’s nothing romantic about this. I need to get a grip. Sasha Stroviak’s a cold-blooded criminal. Everyone knows that. “By taking my virginity, you killed three birds with one stone. I guess that was the plan? Get even with me. Get even with Alberto by taking my virginity that he wanted to take as my husband? Get even with Frank by destroying my engagement?”

“Guess so,” he says, his trademark stone-cold expression back on his face.

It couldn’t have hurt more if he’d punched me with one of his massive fists.

Chapter