Page 10 of Cruel Secrets

“A father would have to be there, and you weren’t.”

“I didn’t know she was alive! I didn’t even know you were pregnant!”

Gia smooths her hand over the baby’s hair. “You didn’t deserve to know. Not after the way things ended between us. You told me that you never wanted to see me again, so I decided to honor that wish.”

“No. You decided to take away the baby because you knew when I eventually found out, it would hurt me.”

“You left,” she says, her voice wavering, though the look she gives me is hardened with hate.

Or maybe it’s a desire she’s fighting as she squeezes her legs closer together.

“You lied to me for a year. You knew everything there was to know about me, and you still thought it would be better to not tell me who you were. You could’ve helped my family and yet you chose to stand by and watch as your bastard of a brother hid from us. You kept your mouth shut until you knew that he was resurfacing and you couldn’t hide it anymore.” I take a step back, but my gaze is still glued to my daughter. “And the worst part is that if you had told me who your brother was when we first got together, I would have overlooked it.”

“No. You wouldn’t have.” Gia looks up at the ceiling, taking a deep breath as the baby wiggles in her arms. “Bianca is better off without you in her life. She’s spent a year and a half without you. She doesn’t have to know what it’s like to have you and then to watch you walk away.”

Scoffing, I pace into the kitchen, rummaging through her cupboards until I find a bottle of whiskey and a glass. I pour two fingers, downing it in one go.

This woman is going to be the death of me in one way or another.

Gia storms into the living room, setting Bianca down on the plush pink rug. “Look, whatever it is you came for, it’s not going to happen. You’re not kidnapping me, and you’re certainly not going to do whatever you planned to do after you kidnapped me.”

“You still don’t understand what’s happening here, do you?” I smirk, putting the bottle back in the cupboard. “You’re going to come with me whether you like it or not. You don’t get a choice. And you get to thank your brother for allowing you to be collateral damage.”

“You’re really going to kidnap the mother of your child?”

Fuming, I lean closer to her, grabbing her chin in my hand and holding her in place. My fingers dig into the sides of her cheeks, making her wince, though lust flashes through her eyes at the same time. “You can’t have it both ways, Gia. Either she is my child and that means something, or I’m nothing to her. You don’t get to throw around my family like a weapon, even if that’s what yours likes to do.”

Her chest rises and falls rapidly. Each upward swell of her full breasts reminds me of how good they looked when she used to ride me. “Noah is on his way over.”

“I disabled your alarm system before I entered.” I let go of her chin and step around her, intent on getting a better look at Bianca.

Gia sweeps in and scoops Bianca up, cradling her close. “If you’ve been watching me for so long, then how the hell didn’t you know I have a daughter?”

“Because unlike you, I have an honest job to do during the day. I come over at night. Just in time to see you strip naked before you crawl into bed. The other people who have been tracking your routine apparently didn’t see our daughter as an important factor. Not to worry, though. They’ll be dealt with.”

She swallows hard. “Look, just let us go. I’ll pack a bag, and me and Bianca will leave. You’ll never have to see us again.”

“You’re not going to be leaving here without me. You may as well just do what I say instead of making this worse for yourself.”

“I don’t even know what you want with me in the first place.”

My jaw flexes, pulse pounding. “You’re honestly going to stand in front of me and tell me that you don’t know what your monster of a brother has done to my family?”

Her dark eyelashes flutter, sweeping low as she looks down like she’s taking a moment to gather her thoughts.

When she looks up at me, my heart goes crashing through my chest.

She sighs. “The war between our families has been going on for years. It has nothing to do with either of us when you really think about it.”

“I have thought about it, and when I think about us, all I realize is that you put fuel on a fire and now you’re desperately trying to put it out before it consumes you whole.” I shake my head, hoping that it will clear the jumble of thoughts running through my mind right now.

She shifts her weight from one side to the other as Bianca grabs the collar of Gia’s shirt, pulling it down lower. “Royce, you can let me go.”

It’s the first time in twenty-five months that I’ve heard my name fall from her lips and where once it used to feel sweet, now it just feels like a curse.

I could make her beg for me. I could have her saying my name over and over again until she finally thinks that I’m a blessing. Or I could show her who I really am. The monster that lurks beneath the surface, waiting to be unleashed on the world.

She thinks she knows the truth, but she couldn’t be more wrong.

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