Page 112 of Red Retaliation

“Fuck!” I hiss. I knew that boxed heart meant something would happen sooner rather than later.Fuck, fuck, FUCK!“Any casualties?” Seeing Liam shake his head, I jump out of the bed, relieved there is no loss as yet, but furious at this breach of my territory. Fucking Bristonis and Galvatores are at it again.

Emiliano Galvatore wouldn’t have taken kindly yesterday to me binning off speaking to him in favor of my “event”. He’d have been eager to close our “deal”, and because I didn’t, he’s pulled rank.

I yank on my underwear, then grab a pair of jeans from the floor. Pulling them on, my other hand continues scrolling through the list of notifications.

“W-What’s going on?” Arianna tugs at my arm. “What heart? What are you talking about? Are the Bristonis here? What else has happened? Why haven’t you said anything?” Her voice rises in pitch and intensity, but I can’t answer her. All I see is an unknown text at the bottom of the list.

Liam points at Arianna. “You’ve no right to know fuck all, lady! I bet this is your lot again as well.” He motions to the messed-up bedsheets. “Is this your way of deflecting Red? Keeping his mind off the job to sidetrack him in not thinking about what’sreallyimportant, other than what’s between your legs?”

He swings towards me. “You lied. You fuckinglied, Red! You said there was nothing going on with this traitorous bitch, yet...”

“Shut the fuck up!” I should punch Liam in the face for what he’s just said. There’s alotof things I should do. But this latest text has thrown my brain into meltdown.

[Unknown number]

17 Nov - 06:23

One hour before your world explodes

* BOOM *

I’m still taking in these words while Liam continues to glare at Arianna and then me. “We’re lucky the Bristonis and, no doubt, the Galvatores were just scouting and caused no problems. But you should have been on hand, Red. You...”

“Thereisa problem, actually.” I yank my T-shirt over my head. “And a fucking big one. There’s a bomb somewhere in this building!”

My head jerks towards the clock. “And we’ve now got less than thirty minutes to fucking find and disarm it.”

CHAPTER

82

Arianna

RED PACES THE ROOM, barking orders to Liam and down the phone. I’ve seen him pull clout on several occasions, some in ways I’d rather not have, but this is one step removed from what I’ve yet witnessed.

I’m not entirely sure what’s gone on or what it means, aside from that the Bristonis and perhaps my father’s firm did something last night and someone’s planted a bomb in this building.

But Papà wouldn’t sanction an explosive being placed in a building that I could be in. He wouldn’t.

My throat constricts.

Or am I now so much of a traitor in his eyes that I’m no longer considered his daughter?

My heart thunders, and I feel sick to the back teeth. How has this feud come to this? Knowing that I’m the fuel sparking everything makes it even harder to bear.

My gaze darts around the room, not sure what I should do. Much to my horror, I’m still naked while Red is dressed. That Liam has seen me in my altogether is almost as humiliating as being caught in the middle of the best sex ever.

I bite my lip. What Liam said... How will Red explain this -us- to his brothers and firm now?

It’s a subject we hadn’t yet discussed, but I suspect he’d have preferred to be the one to tell them, rather than the worst brother ever, walking in and seeing for himself.

Too busy succumbing to the needs of our bodies, we hadn’t broached the elephant in the room; neither one of us wishing to break the cocoon we’d created. While we remained in here away from prying eyes, pressure and people’s opinions, our broken promises were something we’d veered away from discussing - reluctant to break the spell and dampen the moment of the shift between us.

But a shifthasoccurred; there’s no denying that. And it’s mutual, so we should have broached the unwanted subject. If it was at the back of my mind, then I guarantee it was also in Red’s. We should have foreseen that someone would find out.

But why did it have to beLiam?

We should have touched upon how changing our promise to ourselves and everyone affected everything going forward. We both knew it would.