Page 65 of Dark Consequences

“Lily! Mei!”

Turning the corner, I freeze when I come face-to-face with the last person I would ever expect to see standing in my kitchen as if she owns the place.

“Emilia?”

She looks at me with a huge smile. “Oh good, you’re home. I was just about to make a pot of coffee. Unless you prefer tea? I’m not sure which is your favorite, but I’ll learn.”

“Emilia?” Michael repeats when he joins us in the kitchen. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Well, I was hoping for it to be a surprise, but I wanted to have dinner with Raphael.”

“What? Why?” I ask.

“So we could get to know one another better before we marry of course.”

I hear Michael softly curse behind me. I don’t blame him. Hearing her say the same thing repeatedly is becoming annoying, and I’m growing tired of it. No. I am tired of it.

“Listen to me closely, Emilia, because this is the last time I will say it.” My voice is low and even and clear so she doesn’t mistake a word I say. “We are not engaged, nor will we ever be engaged. Do you understand me?”

A look of disappointment washes over Emilia’s face, swiftly replaced by a flash of anger in her eyes. “Why not? There’s no one holding you back now.”

No one?

A foreboding sensation crawls up my spine, spreading a chilling feeling across my body. I left Lily and Mei here alone and safe. But now they’re gone, and Emilia is here. Something that shouldn’t have been possible. Because I made sure the penthouse was locked down before leaving.

“How did you get in here, Emilia?”

“The guard downstairs was nice enough to let me up.” Emilia shrugs a shoulder like it’s no big deal. Only it is a big deal. The guards are under strict orders not to let anyone upstairs. Not even the Pope himself in all his grand holiness is allowed.

My eyes snap to my brother. He nods and pulls his phone out to message Enzo to pick up the guard and find out what exactly happened.

“What are you really doing here?” I ask, my tone grave.

“Like I said, I’m making—”

“The truth, Emilia. Now,” Michael orders, and the girl shivers at the authority in my brother’s tone.

“I am telling the truth.”

Alright. I’m done with this.

Lunging forward, I wrap a hand around Emilia’s throat and shove her back into the fridge. She hits the stainless steel door hard enough that she cries out. I said I would never lay a hand on a girl, but I can’t bring myself to care. At this moment, she’s not a girl; she’s just someone who knows what happened to Lily and Mei.

“Where are Lily and Mei?” I shout. “What did you do? Tell me!”

Emilia scratches at my hand, desperately trying to get me to release her as her face grows more red from lack of oxygen.

Michael comes up beside me and rests his hand on my arm. “Brother, release her. We need her alive.”

An unfortunate necessity, but he’s right. If she dies, so does what she knows.

With a last squeeze, I release Emilia and take a step back, watching as she crumples to the floor in a fit of coughing. When it subsides, she struggles to stand, but neither of us attempts to help her.

“Start talking, or I’ll send you back to Italy in a box,” I threaten, my words hard as steel so she understands how serious I am. I don’t care if it starts a war with her father and half of Italy. She is somehow responsible for Lily's and Mei’s kidnapping. I know it.

Emilia visibly swallows hard. “She was in our way, Raphael.”

“What the hell are you talking about? What did you do?”

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