Page 122 of Tragic Empire

“Yeah, don’t tell Armani but I kind of sort of cut the soles off, stuffed a tracker chip in and glued them back together.”

“I think if I told him that you cut into custom Italian leather shoes worth more than a mortgage payment, he’d have an aneurysm.”

“Precisely,” she agrees, giving me a conspiratorial grin. “So, it’ll just have to be our little secret.”

“Why do I find it incredibly hot that you chipped my personal belongings without my consent, Wife?”

Ana blushes harder. “Well, if you think that’s hot, I guess I can tell you about the one I stashed in your car.”

I laugh so hard that my shoulder pangs, giving a painful throb.

“I love you so fucking much.”

“Good,” she declares. “Because I love you more.”

I don’t think that’s possible, but I don’t argue.

“You’re never getting away from me, Cassio Moretti.”

“I’d never dream of it, Ana Moretti.”

ChapterThirty-Eight

Ana

“I’m sorry.”

Killian’s head snaps up at the sound of my small voice. His eyes are bloodshot and tired, but they widen as he registers what I’ve just said.

Bewildered, he blinks. “What do you possibly have to be sorry for, Ana?”

“I murdered your father, Killian. Right in front of you. I had to do it, I know you know that, but I’m still sorry you had to see it.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t get to do it myself,” he shoots back firmly. “I can’t believe I didn’t notice his fixation on you. You look so much like your mother, but I thought he was properly besotted by Vivian. He hid it well, too well.”

I try not to smile at the comparison to my mum. Everyone has always said we look just alike, which made my adoption a bit of an inside joke between the two of us. It was pure coincidence that we’re both a mix of European and Chinese heritage. We have no biological connection to be found, and yet she looked like my mother in every sense of the word.

“You couldn’t have known,” I tell Killian kindly. “I didn’t even know, and it was me he was obsessed with. I don’t understand it either.”

Eyeing the tube coming out of his arm, I try not to frown. “Are you starting to feel better?”

Killian and Armani are both hooked up to IV bags, trying to hydrate and flush the remaining sedatives out of their systems. Armani’s lip is pretty purple from trying to fight the guards, and his ribs are black and blue, but he’s mostly just exhausted.

Killian is in fine shape, thankfully. Cassio made sure to force him to get his heart looked at, just in case. I guess Bron wanted him docile, but was careful not to overdo it. He really did want to dispose of my husband and friends, and then whisk the two of us away to London. How could he ever think that would be okay? That we would just accept it?

Killian didn’t need to say it, but I knew he would have found a way to kill his father for what he did to Cole—for what he did toallof us. Killian nearly died himself, and Bron’s actions broke me in ways that might have ended my own life if I didn’t have Cassio to keep me afloat.

And my mother… he may not have lifted a finger to kill her, but his antics led to her murder all the same.

“I’m getting there,” he replies, forcing a smile. “I had Cole cremated a little while ago. I didn’t know how to tell you, or if you wanted to hear about it. But since this mess has finally been resolved, I thought you should know I took care of it. He didn’t want to be buried to becomeworm food, he wanted his ashes to be thrown into the ocean. Ashes to ashes to earth, or whatever.”

Smiling sadly, I nod. “I knew you would know what to do.”

“Gerard called,” Cassio says, joining us. “Sirius is fine, he’s taking him to the vet for you just to be safe, but he’s walking around fine.”

“Thank goodness,” I breathe out, relieved.

I would be so gutted if I lost him. I was hesitant about having a pet, and I really didn’t like knowing that Sirius would probably jump in front of a bullet for me. But I’ve really come to love having him around. He’s my little cuddle bug.