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I decide my best bet is to play it safe and act like I always have. If I start crying and shaking...he'll know something's up.
I gesture around the SUV. "Seriously, Mio Amore? I've been with you for how many years now? I know that black SUV's with tinted windows are used when you want to kill someone."
His expression turns callous but I fold my arms across my chest and stare him down. "You go
His eyes soften and I know what I said hit a nerve. "No, Bambina. I'm not going to kill you."
"Then why the SUV?"
His lips turn up in a snarl. "Just because I'm not going to kill you...doesn't mean I won't hurt you," he replies icily.
I sit back against the seat and rub my palms on my jeans. "W-why would you do that?"
My heart pounds in my chest as I wait for him to answer. I know he's going to accuse me of cheating on him. I open my mouth, ready to deny everything.
"Because I need you to do something for me. I also need you to understand what will happen if you don't."
Emilio was right after all.
"Why couldn't you just ask me? You know I've always done whatever you wanted me to."
"Because once I tell you what it is...you'll feel like I was keeping something from you again." He pins me with an evil smile that goes right through me. "And you remember what happened the last time you felt betrayed by me...don't you, Bambina?"
I swallow the lump in my throat and force myself to breathe as I give him a nod.
Then he holds a picture up.
My breath vanishes and my heart falls to my stomach when I notice the picture he's holding is a picture of my father—during what I can only assume was when he was ru
And as disturbing as seeing that is...there's something else equally disturbing.
He's holding some woman's hand...and although the woman has the unmistakable hint of fear in her eyes...it's not my mother. It's a woman I've never seen before.
That's when I see it and my blood fucking simmers.
Because the other girl standing beside him? Yeah, I've seen her before.
It's that girl, Alyssa—she looks pristine and perfect. She's waving to the crowd while wearing a pretty, pastel dress and smiling.
What the actual fuck? How come I've never seen this before?
Oh, that's right.
I clench my teeth and it takes everything in me not to lose my shit.
Because after that day in the conference room, DeLuca forbid me from using the internet and watching television.
It wasn't until very recently that I got those privileges back. And the only information the internet gave me about him is older stuff that I already knew.
In other words...there's a reason I've never seen my father with these women before.
"You lied to me," I whisper. "He's still alive." I glare at him and my voice cracks. "You fucking bastard."
Emilio sighs and gives me a look but I pay him no mind.
DeLuca's face grows red with anger and he moves closer to the screen. "Don't you dare sit there and accuse me of lying to you, you little ungrateful bitch," he sneers. "That photo was from a few years ago. He's dead, Bambina. I killed him for you, remember? I saved your sorry ass when no one else gave a fuck about you."
I avert my gaze away from him, hating the small part of me that knows he's right.
"Lucia
I have no choice but to look at him. "Why was that girl down at the club working as a ring girl? What is she doing with him in that picture? What the hell is going on?"
He clears his throat. "That is—or rather was your father's new family. And believe it or not, I sent Alyssa to the club for you," he tells me.
That makes no sense. "I don't understand."
"I wanted you to meet the girl who had the life you should have had."
I rub my temples, still not registering at all what he means.
Until he says, "Your father never touched her, Lucia
I feel my entire body tense as he continues, "He allowed her to have friends. He allowed her to go to school dances and on dates. He allowed her to go to college. Hell, he even paid for it. She was his pride and joy, not his little plaything night after night."
I bat away the tears starting to form but it's no use. He's just managed to rip the scab off of the biggest wound that scars my soul.
My mind can't help but wonder the questions it so desperately wants the answers to.
Why did my father do all these heinous things to me and not to her?
Why was she protected from the monster....and I wasn't?
Why did I have to suffer time and time again, enduring the most horrible things night after night...while she got to smile, wear pretty dresses, go on dates, and go to college.
Why did he choose to make me his victim?
Why did he make me dirty and ugly inside—while she was made to feel special and beautiful?
The tears start falling faster and I have to bring my sleeve up to my face to wipe them away.
"You see now why I'm enlisting your help for the favor I need?"
I shrug because I really don't. All I know, is that I don't like her even more now. In fact, I downright hate her.
Good thing she's gone for good.
"I need you to issue a warning," he says.
"I haven't seen her since that night but...fine. What do you want me to tell her?"
He gives me a sinister laugh. "You're not going to tell her anything. The warning isn't for her. You're just going to play a little video tape in front of Jackson and my son."
I want to ask what in the world Ricardo has to do with this, but that will only make him suspect something.
So, I go with the next best question. Or rather, questions.
"Why? What kind of warning is it if she's not there to witness it? What did she ever do to you?"
"None of your goddamn business."
I open my mouth to protest but slam it shut. I'm not going to waste my time defending her.
Hell, she has enough people doing that for her as it is.
But I am curious. "Can you at least tell me what's on the tape?"
He wiggles his eyebrows. "Well, during her stay at NYU—she managed to cause quite a stir with a sex tape she starred in."
I'm flabbergasted. "No way. She's not the type."
"Things aren't always what they seem," he says. "But that doesn't matter—the point is, I need you to play that tape."
"Okay. But she hasn't shown up in weeks, though. Jackson's not seeing her." I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. "I just don't understand what the point of this whole thing is when she's not in his life anymore."
Jackson and I don't exactly get along but it doesn't mean I'm going to sell him down the river. He's a jerk, but he's important to Ricardo, which means I need to try and protect him when I can.