Page 72 of Devil's Game

“That’s disappointing to hear, but it’s no matter.” He waved off my protest with the bat of his hand. “It looks like I’ll just have to do some convincing, that’s all.”

“Convincing?” I went to stalk toward him, but remembered myself at the last second, keeping a lid on the rage boiling in my veins.

I couldn’t let him get to me like that, or the plan would never work.

“The fact that you think any amount of convincing could bring me back to you shows how truly delusional you are.” I let the fullweight of my disdain for him show. There was no use in trying to reason with him, anyway.

I expected him to snap, to throw the white and gold lamp on the side table in a fit of rage. What I didn’t expect was an amused grin to curl his lips while he ran his heated gaze over me.

“You have your spark back,mi amore.” He took a step closer, and I was so caught off guard by his reaction, I almost forgot to keep that distance between us.

“What are you talking about?” I snapped, shaking myself from his mind games. That was all this was. He was throwing everything he could at me to get me to stay willingly, to try to get me back under his thumb, but it wouldn’t work. Not this time.

Little did he know, I had a few of my own tricks hidden up my sleeves.

“I was willing to hold on to you, even in your darkest days, my love.” His pity-filled mahogany eyes swept over me, and I did my best to conceal the anger raging inside of me, not allowing him the satisfaction of getting a rise out of me. “But this woman, standing in front of me, is more like the girl I fell in love with than you’ve been in the past six years. This is the woman I want by my side, ruling over our empire and lighting the world on fire.”

“You just don’t get it, do you?” I gave him my best condescending smile, loving the flicker of annoyance that ignited in his gaze before he quickly snuffed it out, apparently just remembering he was supposed to be playing a part. “That spark that you supposedly loved so much? It’s because of them. Being with you is what extinguished it. You choked the life out of me so that you could keep me locked away in this damn cage.”

I motioned around me, letting my disdain for him shine clearly. “Don’t you see? Being with them is what brought it back. They brought me back from the shell of a person you made me into.”

“What the hell is the difference, Giana?” Tommaso whirled around the couch so quickly, I barely stepped out of his way before his arms could circle around me.

Using the coffee table to keep some distance between us, I gave him a warning look.

He sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. “Don’t play the moral high ground with me, because they’re no better than I am. You’re precious Merrick built a gang from the ground up in the hopes of rivaling us, and Kellan was there right by his side the entire way. And don’t even get me started on that Spade character. Really, Giana? I have half a mind to take you to the hospital. How could you ever want them over what I can give you—the power, the fortune, my love?”

“Love? Is that what you call it?” I chuckled. “You never loved me. If you did, you would’ve cared about someone other than yourself for one second, and you would’ve seen what you were doing to me and let me go. Instead, you stole the scraps of what I had left, wearing me down until I thought I had nothing left to live for. Holding on to someone until they can’t breathe isn’t love. Love is a partnership, it’s trust, it’s knowing someone so completely, you can communicate with only a look. It’s respecting them and caring for them. But that’s something you’ll never know.”

“You called me delusional.” He huffed in mock amusement. “But look at you, spouting on and on about some fairy tale bullshit. That isn’t real, Giana. You and I? That’s what’s real. I fought to get you back, I showed you my love and dedication, and still, you test me?”

He snatched a crystal bowl off the ornate gold coffee table and chucked it at the fireplace. I suppressed the urge to jump as it crashed against the wrought iron, sending an explosion of glittering shards over the marble floor.

I shook my head, knowing this was pointless. He would never understand, but that wasn’t the point, was it?

“Let’s just forget this whole thing.” He gave me an apologetic smile, as though he was compromising. “Let’s go back to the way things were here in New York. You can get your job back, and I’ll do my best to give you some more space.”

I pushed down the rage building in my chest like an inferno ready to erupt over my skin.

“There’s no going back, Tommaso. Because, despite all you said about not being able to claim moral superiority, we can.” I grinned, striding back behind the couch, ready for the next stage of the plan as I gazed up at the banister separating the second floor from the sheer drop to the living room below. “You don’t care about who you hurt, you prey on the innocent, you kill those who don’t deserve it. Did you really think killing Ryan and dumping him at the shop would win you any favors?”

“I thought you liked that now?” He grinned like this was all a joke, like he knew he was going to get whatever he wanted—it was just a matter of time.

“And that just goes to show how little you know about me.” I shook my head. “You’ve underestimated me. You always have, but that’s because I let you. I let you drown me, but that ends now.”

“Underestimated you?” He chuckled, continuing our dance as he tried to get close to me again. “I wouldn’t call it underestimating when you walked right in here, Giana. How did you think tonight was going to play out? You thought you’d just bat your lashes and demand I let your friend go, and then what? Do you think you’re ever going to see outside of this penthouse again? Do you really think I was just going to let the two of you go?”

He walked around the back of the couch, and I watched him with feigned despair, pretending I was frozen to my spot, forgetting to put that distance back between us.

“If anything, I guess I overestimated you.” He gave me a placating smile as he ran a hand down my arm, trying to comfort me. Or, at least, pretending to. I suppressed the urge to yank my arm from his grip, not wanting to betray the plan too soon. “I thought you’d have some sort of plan, regardless of how foolhardy it would be to go against me, especially with the number of guards I have surrounding your friend.”

He lifted a brow, and it took every ounce of willpower I had to give in. I stumbled a step back, only for his grip to tighten around my wrist, pinning me in place. “Why don’t we stop playing this game, Giana? You came here because you wanted to stop me from killing your friend. You knew you weren’t going to leave today, you knew you were basically trading your place for hers, because that’s the kind of person you are. See, I do know you.”

He tugged me closer to him, his face mere inches from mine, the one who had haunted me for the last six years, invading even my nightmares. I yearned to rake my nails down his face, to scar him and leave his face in ribbons, like the tattered shreds of his soul.

“I knew exactly how to get you back this whole time,mi amore. I just had to wait for the perfect opportunity.” He threaded his other hand through my hair, his eyes shuttering as they played through the soft strands.

I swallowed the surge of bile down that rose in my throat at his reaction, wishing I could plunge a dagger straight into his chest.

---