Page 21 of The Forbidden Secret

“It’s the mask I have to wear while I’m… working. It’s the reason so many people come to me for jobs. “They know about my…” He paused as if considering his words carefully. “…past. I don’t let emotions interfere, but today… today was different.Evelina, I wanted to kill them on the spot for touching you. My job is to make sure nobody touches you, and when they did…”

He shook his head.

It was hisjob.Always just his job.

“I don’t want to be someone’s job. Especially when you refuse to open up about anything. I don’t know who I’m with, and I don’t understand any of your motivations for the things you do or the person you are. You say that you’re not interested in art, yet you bought all of my work. You claim you’re not interested in me, but you have flirted with me so many times that—”

“I never claimed I wasn’t interested in you.”

I paused, staring at him as he focused on my hand and dabbed antibiotic ointment on it. It was a fair assumption after everything he had said and the clear disconnect between us. Theforceddisconnect.

“Could you elaborate?” I asked.

“I don’t lack interest in you, Evelina. I don’t have sex with women I’m uninterested in. I told you I’m not interested in a relationship or commitment. I didn’t lie to you.”

“I don’t understandwhy,” I nearly shouted, pulling my hand from his grasp. “You won’t tell me anything. You won’t explain the reason for any of your actions. There has to be a reason because I don’t believe for a damn second that you are as ruthless and unhinged as you acted with those guys.”

I stood to walk out of the room. I was done with his antics and lack of regard for anything other than his damnjob.I had been drawn to him because of how complex he had seemed. Icould see all the layers of him, some hidden beneath the surface so deep that I knew I would never unravel him wholly.

But I couldn’tunderstand.

It drove me to madness, not having a reason for his behavior.

As I took one step into the hallway, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me backward so swiftly that I nearly lost my balance. But he was there. He seemed to always be there. He pulled me into his chest, and the cool wall pressed into my back as I tilted my chin up and met his flaming eyes. So many things were indecipherable there, and I couldn’t unravel a single one of them.

“I was under a contract tokillyou, Evelina,” he shouted down at me. I flinched at his words. “One of your father's enemies lost his children because of your father, and he contracted me to kill you and your sisters. I planned to break into your house and do the hit, even though I didn’t feel good about it. You are a mob boss’s daughter, so how innocent could you really be? I was going to do it and get the paycheck, and I didn’t feel bad about it. But when I saw you sneaking out of your window, I followed you. All the way to the art gallery.”

I gaped up at where his eyes darted back and forth wildly.

“When I told you that I have never failed a job, it was a lie. There was one that I failed, and it was this one. I failed to take you and your sisters out because when I watched you go into the gallery and check each of your paintings, I saw you. I saw an innocent woman with a passion for art, and then I looked at the paintings, and it only confirmed what I was beginning to understand. I looked at them, and I saw myself in them too. In the colors and in the way you told a story of sadness andentrapment. I have always hated art and the people who read too deep into shit, but when I looked at them, I saw myself, and I saw you.

“I went inside to look closer, and when they were auctioned, I bought them all because I couldn’t imagine someone else getting that much of a look into your life and your emotional state. I didn’t know you, but I felt like I did, and I didn’t want anyone else to see it. I wanted it all to myself.

“I felt like I needed to go through with the arrangement because I had never failed a job up until that point, but I needed time to get myself under control first. To justify it. I needed to get out of my damned emotions, so I scheduled a delivery. I picked a house that I would be able to easily clean once I did the job. There were no connections to me, and I knew it would work. I waited for you there, but the moment you walked up to the front door, wheeling in your paintings, I knew I couldn’t do it.

“But I saw the way you looked at me and bit your lip when I looked at you. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of your paint-stained hands and this little mole on your chin. Everything about you was mesmerizing, and I knew the only way I would get you out of my system was by letting us come together. So, I flirted. And I seduced. And you were just as interested as I was. And then… I let you go. I wouldn’t let my life and my job interfere in your life.”

I didn’t realize I breathed heavily, chest rising and falling quickly until he stopped talking and took in my expression. What did he expect me to say? Did he think I would cower in fear because he was meant to kill me and my family?

I wouldn’t.

I raised my hand and stroked a finger down his cheek, feeling the set of his jaw. “You’re not evil, Zeke.”

He blinked in surprise. “I took a job where I was meant to kill four innocent women for someone else’s vendetta.”

“And you didn’t follow through.”

“I would have.”

“No, you wouldn’t have,” I replied, shaking my head. “There’s something inside that stops you from being truly evil. I have known a lot of people who have done a lot of bad things. And there’s something that sets you apart from all of them. There’s a line that you won’t cross.”

His eyes flashed as if what I said struck home.

As if there was something true and significant about my words.

I stared at his lips, full and partially open. The quiet that came from his lack of response allowed me to fixate on every part of my body that touched him. His hand on one of my wrists, pinning it to the wall at my side. His other hand rested on the wall beside my head.

And his entire front pressed into mine, pinning me to the wall.

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