Lia’s hands shake, her delicate throat working with a swallow. “I spent a long time in that box, sweaty and scared. That box was so dark and tight, but I didn’t dare leave it. I could hear loud bangs from the house before it was silent. I don’t know how long I remained in the box until someone came to fetch me by calling me Little Gueller. I was starved and cold and I wet myself, but all I wanted was Mom and Dad. The man who took me to the airport told me they had died from gas asphyxiation and that I’d be living with my grandmother. He didn’t even let me see them one last time. Back then, I believed they died because of gas, it made me feel more at ease. But the older I grew, the surer I was that there was something else. Otherwise, why would Mom have hidden me?

“I asked Grandma about it and she refused to tell me anything until she was on her deathbed. She said that my mom got involved with the wrong man, a mobster, and became pregnant with me. She was forced to marry my dad so that my illegitimate existence wouldn’t reflect badly on my biological father. Grandma never told me who that was and I never wanted to get involved with him.” She meets my gaze. “But you know all of this, don’t you? You’re well aware of my whole background. That’s why you never asked.”

I tap my finger against my thigh but say nothing, waiting for her to give me what I need.

“Is it true, Adrian?”

“Is what true?”

Her chin trembles and her eyes fill with unshed tears. “Have you been keeping me all this time to get close to my father?”

“Maybe.”

Her expression falters, hurt and something else filtering in.

I need those strong emotions. Let them all out, Lia.

“But why? Why would you go to all this trouble to use me against Lazlo Luciano? He doesn’t even know I exist!”

There.

My muscles stiffen as she offers me what I’ve been waiting for. “I thought you didn’t know who your real father is.”

She swallows, realizing her mistake. “Grandma told me.”

“You just said she didn’t give you a name.”

“She…did.”

I’m in front of her in a second, holding her chin up with my fingers. “I torture grown men for answers, and I know exactly when humans lie. So why don’t you tell me who the fuck really told you your father’s name?”

Her lips tremble, cementing the fact that she does indeed have outside help. Fuck. How could I not have seen it before?

Her sparkling eyes flood with fear as she shudders. “No…one.”

“Lie.”

“I heard you,” she blurts.

“You heard me,” I repeat slowly with clear menace.

“You were talking with Kolya, and he told you to use Luciano’s offspring against him and you said you’d think about it. I also thought back on when you used to ask me about my Italian origins and connected the dots.”

“You’re good, Lia. You’ve become so good at spewing lies that you can make up an entire story out of scraps, but you’re not good enough to fool me.” I tighten my hold on her jaw. “You have one more try.”

“That was really it.”

“Wrong answer.” I release her with a shove and retrieve my phone. “We’ll start with Yan. After I torture him, I’ll know if it’s him. He might lose his dominant hand or maybe his neck, you never know. If it’s not him, we’ll move on to Boris, then to everyone else who’s been near you in the past few years.”

“No!” She lunges forward, holding onto my hand that’s grabbing the phone. “How could you hurt your own guards?”

“They told you or they let you meet with an outsider. Either way, they weren’t doing their tasks and deserve everything that befalls them. You’ll watch every second of it, so when I tell you to talk, you’ll fucking talk.”

A sob tears from her throat. “It’s someone else. Please don’t hurt them.”

Someone else? Someone fucking else? I don’t know why I hoped it was Yan or Boris. If they’d betrayed me, I could’ve dealt with it. It would’ve been even better if she’d overheard them and I could chalk all this up to something trivial.

But someone else is involved? My mind speeds up in a different direction as the worst comes to mind.

Someone. Else.

As in Lia has been meeting someone behind my fucking back.

“Who?”

She shakes her head. “I won’t tell you who he is so you can kill him.”

He.

It’s a fucking he.

Lia has been meeting a motherfucking ‘he’ behind my back.

A red mist covers my vision until it’s nearly impossible to see her through it.

My voice turns deadly calm, hinting at nothing of the raging volcano erupting inside. “Are you protecting him because he’s your lover? Are you cheating on me, Lia?”

She blinks twice, her lips trembling. “If I deny it, you’ll never believe me. You’ll just lock me up and suffocate me more. You’ll kill me slowly, so think what you want, Adrian. Do whatever the fuck you want! You’re using me, anyway, so get on with it.”

“I said, is he your fucking lover?”

She lifts her chin, and all emotions vanish from her face when she says the one word that shatters my world to smithereens, “Yes.”

I slam my fist into the headboard beside her head and shatter it to pieces. Lia remains in place, her face paling and her bright eyes going back to their glassy state.

My hand wraps around her throat, tilting it back and squeezing. “I should kill you right now.”

“Do. It,” she manages. “Dying is better than living with you.”

Her words crash into the marrow of my bones, turning me into a damn fucking beast. A growl slips from my throat, and I’m acting on pure fucking instinct as I rip the nightgown off her. The material turns to shreds and her pink nipples harden while her thighs clench together.

“Did he look at this body, Lia? Did he look at what’s fucking mine?”

She doesn’t say anything, struggling for air as I use my other hand to unbuckle my pants and free my cock.

I’m hard, but it’s with rage, with the need to murder him and punish her. The need to own her whole so she’s mine in every sense of the word.

I’m not an idiot, I know Lia’s never really loved me. It’s evident in the way she’s pulled away from me any chance she gets, how she tried to escape, but I believed she was as devoted to me as I am to her. That she cared enough about the semblance of the family we have.