Page 161 of Ruin Me With Lies

Rochi exits from the other side and Luca grabs my upper arm, dragging me toward the field of corroding containers, weaving us between them.

After a few minutes, he stops in front of what looks like a manhole cover half-buried in sand.He scrapes his boot across it and jerks his chin at Rochi.“Open it.”

As Rochi crouches, sweeping his hand through the sand in search of something, I turn to Luca.“This leads right back tohim, doesn’t it?Yourrealboss.Back to where the girls with less ‘freedom’ are.”

The immediate, perplexing frown that creases his brow is satisfying.“What—how do—”

“Don’t worry, they don’t know.Yet.” I hold his gaze.“Like you said, they’ve gotten too complacent.That’s how you’ve been able to pull this off, treachery right under their noses.”

Jaw tight, he presses his gun to my temple.“Shut itbefore I change my fucking mind about killing you.”

“Okay, okay.Calm down.”I raise my hands in surrender again, smiling.“I’d rather be on the winning side anyway.”

Rochi grunts as he finds whatever grip or lever he was searching for, then hefts up the heavy steel cover and flips it to one side.

Luca motions to the pitch-black opening with his gun.“Climb down.”

Taking a step forward, I peer into the hole.“How?Do I just jump, or...?”

“There’s a ladder on the right,” he snaps, impatient.“Climb the fuck in.”

Crouching down, I reach inside, making a show of feeling for the rungs.In my peripheral, Rochi’s shifting nervously, glancing around.

“Hey, jitter bug, you wanted in on this.You made your choice,” Luca snipes at him.“Stop being so damn jumpy all the goddamn time.”

“I-I know, but what if Stefano—”

“Shut.It,” he grits out.“They ran off to L.A.There’s no better window to do this than right now.Get it the fuck together.”

Tired of my dawdling, Luca steps closer and presses the gun to the side of my head.Just as I hoped… “What the fuck’s taking you so—”

I twist and execute a clean sweep kick, knocking his legs out from under him.He crashes to the ground with a heavy grunt and a pained groan.

Not a second wasted, I dip into the side of my boot for the knife tucked there.Rochi draws his gun, but in moments like this, it’s all about speed and resolve.And I am onedecisivebitch.

With a swift, precise flick of my wrist, the blade whisks through the air and lodges squarely into his throat.

Eyes wide, his gun clatters from his grip as his hands shoot to his neck, blood seeping through his fingers.

Luca groans on the ground and tries to scramble for his fallen gun, but I pivot and drive a brutal kick under his chin.His head snaps back, blood spluttering from his mouth.

Before he can finish grunting in pain, I stomp my heel down on his groin, and his grunt morphs into a high-pitched, piggish squeal.

While he writhes, I move fast, straddling his chest, pinning his arms beneath my knees.

“You...fucking...b-bitch…” he wheezes.

“I never liked you, Luca.Not even as a friend.”I grab his jaw.“I was just waiting for the right time to kill you.”

“What?What do you—” He thrashes, trying to knock me off, but I’ve got him pinned tight.“Raya, no, you don’t understand—”

“Oh, but I do.He promised to make you ‘king.’”I laugh, cool and low, then shift my grip from his jaw to the sides of his head.“And your mistake was believing he actuallycould.”

He bucks, trying to knee me in the back.“I didn’t want it, Idon’t!But it’s the only way to—”

“Yeah, I don’t care.”

With a sharp twist, I snap his neck.The crack of his bones is clean.Final.Satisfying.