Page 33

Rachel

“You could do a lot worse; you know?” Vienna said as we made our way over to where I had parked the stolen bike.

“Worse than a kidnapper and an arsonist? True, I suppose there’s always rapists and paedophiles – or does Dante want the crown for those too?”

“Watch it,” he said, his face darkening. “That man has saved my life on more than one occasion. I won’t have you—”

“Cut the shit, Vienna. Good men can do bad things, and bad men can do good things. I’m sure there’s people who said Hitler was an outstanding citizen, who only wanted the best for his people. Doesn’t mean he was a good man, though, does it?”

“What’s your issue with him?”

“Hitler? Well, the holocaust for one…”

“Ha, ha,” he muttered dryly as we came to a stop. “Dante.”

“Where should I begin?”

“I know the story. I was there. He kidnapped you, blah, blah, blah. But was that really the crime of the century? He took a liking to you, and he did what he needed to do. You should be complimented.”

“Complimented?” I laughed incredulously. “You’re as mad as he is. How can you possibly think that’s an acceptable thing to do? There’s a million and one other ways he could have approached this. Talking to me would have been a good start.”

“Would you even have listened? I’ve heard from Beth—”

“Who the fuck is Beth?”

“The woman who works in the Greasy Spoon. She told me what the family was like. She said you were all snobby assholes. Would you even have given Dante the time of day? No, you wouldn’t.

And he didn’t have time to wait. You were off to the airport.

He did what he needed,” he repeated with a firm nod of his head.

“And you’re deluded. The bar is literally in hell. How do you men not trip over every time you walk with the standards way down low? Did you know he kept me locked up the entire night? Did you know he grabbed me, threw me about—”

“You stabbed him before he did any of that.”

“Because he fucking kidnapped me! I’ve heard him speak, so I know he’s not fucking mute.

He could have tried speaking to me and building a relationship with me!

How is it even normal for someone to have to repeat that so often, and yet people still aren’t hearing it or understanding it?

” I flung my arms out, exasperated with the logic of these people.

“We are listening. But you’re not listening to what we’re saying either. Talking to you wasn’t an option. Wooing you—”

“Wooing?” I howled.

“Courting.”

“Okay, we’re heading in the wrong direction. How about ‘dating’? That also works.”

“Dating. Fine. How long would that have taken? Bee needs a mother now, not in five years’ time.”

“Bee deserves someone who wants to be her mother. I can assure you, that’s not me.”

“You were practically a mother to that boy, weren’t you?” Vienna shot right back.

“No, I wasn’t. I was contracted. If Dante is looking for an au pair, we can talk about money and hours. But I’m not wanting to be anyone’s mother. I don’t want any child of mine coming back in nearly thirty years’ time and burning my house down.” I said dryly, attempting a joke.

“Homes can be rebuilt.” Vienna shrugged his shoulders. I looked at him then, leaning back on the bike as I assessed him.

“The point is, I want to be wanted for me. Not because I’m going to be a good mother to someone else’s kid!”

“Dante does want you. There’s a million women who would be a good mother to Bee. He chose you.”

“Vienna,” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose. “You don’t treat someone like this if you want a relationship with them. In fact, I’d argue you should be doing the exact opposite of all of this.”

“I don’t think either of you has given this a fair shot. But, look on the bright side. You stabbed him, he burnt a house down. You’ve already shown each other the worst you have to offer. It can only go up from here.”

“That’s not true. It could get a hell of a lot worse, and you know it.”

“I choose to believe in happy endings,” he shrugged.

“Then why haven’t you got one?”

“Not my time yet.”

“I don’t think it’s Dante’s time either. He’s forcing a new timeline that wasn’t in the plan.”

“Dante makes his own plans.”

“You really would defend him no matter what he did, wouldn’t you?

” I said, frowning at him. In a way, I had to admire it.

No-one had ever had my back like this. The best I had was people pretending to be my friends, but they would stab me in the back the second they had the chance.

I could never let my guard down with anyone.

And yet here Vienna was, ready to defend Dante to the death.

“We’re brothers. You don’t break that sort of loyalty.”

“And yet he doesn’t extend the same sort of loyalty towards his actual brother – I’ve heard the way he speaks to Macbeth, and there’s not a smidge of the respect he shows you. What’s the deal there?”

“They’re brothers . It's sort of the way it works. Hang around here often enough. You’ll see we’re always winding each other up.”

“Nah, I feel like there’s more to it. What aren’t you telling me?”

“Not my story to tell. You’d have to ask him. But since we’re asking questions, I’ve one of my own.”

“Fire away, I suppose.”

“Who did you kill? And does Dante know?”

“Wow,” I whistled softly. “You’re going straight for the big guns, aren’t you?”

“I don’t beat around the bush.”

“Hmm. You and Dante have that in common.”

“It’s a club trademark,” he grinned at me. “So, I’ll ask again. Who did you kill, and does Dante know?”

“That was two questions.”

“One was more an extension of the other, but humour me. You owe me for avoiding the question the first time I asked.”

“No,” I sighed, and folded my arms. “Dante doesn’t know, and it’s not really any of your business, either.

As I said to Dante, had he taken the time to get to know me, he could have found out these things before he brought a murderer around his child.

” I threw my leg over the bike and kick started it.

“I take it we’re going back to the club?

” I waited for Vienna to nod and then put my helmet on.

“Come on. Those sirens are getting closer. I’m sure you want to deal with the police about as much as I do.

Oh, before I go… How did you know I was here? ”

Vienna gave me a lopsided smile. “Trackers, lovey. Everything is chipped.”

“Trackers? But… I checked—”

“We’re mechanics, Darlin’. I assure you. You didn’t check where we placed them.”

“Of fucking course I didn’t,” I sighed. “Race you back. Last one there has to be Dante’s old lady.”

Arriving back at the club fucking sucked.

Dante wasn’t there – surprise, surprise, the pussy didn’t want to face me. But everyone else was. And they all looked at me with disgust as I entered the door with Vienna.

“Oh, won’t somebody call the church elders!

” I said dramatically, throwing my hands over my eyes and pretending to faint into Vienna’s arms. “The skank decided to run out on our amazing, lovely, loving Dante. Oh, the humanity. Get fucked, the lot of you,” I hissed, pushing back to my feet.

“I’ll be in my prison. Don’t bother disturbing me.

” I walked through the bar with my head held high, refusing to let the bastards get to me, despite all the whispering I heard behind my back.

When I got back to my room, I saw my mobile on the bed with a note underneath it.

Went ahead and charged this for you. I’ll be at poker tonight. If you need me, call me. It’s the only one in the phone book – I deleted all your other numbers. I think we both need a night away from each other to cool off. D.

Yeah, you’re a fucking D alright.

Who the fuck did this guy think he was, deleting all my numbers? Who was I going to call? The Gellers? I think they made it perfectly clear where I stood in their life. I had no other friends, and he’d just completely alienated the only other family member I could call.

Or should I make a call to daddy dearest in prison?

Moron.

But then, a wicked smile played on my lips as an idea came to mind.

There wasn’t much I could do to get revenge on Dante. I was hardly going to burn his house down, was I? Though the idea had crossed my mind. But what I could do was play on his insecurities.

Dante saw himself as the Alpha male – touch her and you die sort of man.

And oh boy, was I about to test that resolve.

I pulled out my phone and loaded up Amazon, praying they did Prime same day delivery in this area, and actually whooped out loud when I saw they did.

My bank details were already saved, so I set about loading up Google maps, found the address, and quickly pressed order. The delivery time was in a few hours.

Grinning even harder, I threw the phone to the bed and sashayed into the bathroom, ready to wash all this soot off me. I had to look good for what I had planned.

Dante might have started a literal fire, but there was no one on this earth who knew how to play and dance in the fire quite like I did.