Page 29 of Cruel Secrets

Wringing her neck sounds like a good idea right about now.

The throbbing in my leg only gets worse, hot and sticky blood drying, sticking my jeans to my thigh. I won’t be lunging for anyone right now, but once I get my hands on her, she’s going to be sorry she came out of that damn closet.

Her attention is on Jace. “What are you doing here?”

“Noah wants you and Bianca home. He isn’t happy that this jackass stole you out from under his nose.”

“She’s not going anywhere with you,” I say, my voice a low growl.

If I have to cut his fingers off right now to make sure he never puts a hand on her, that’s what I’m going to do. Jace is looking at her like he can’t wait for the moment he gets her alone.

The last thing he’s ever going to do is think he can touch what’s mine.

My gun is on the other side of the room, trapped beneath the body of a man I shot when he was trying to choke me. It would be a long run to try and get there and shoot him before he got his hands on Gia.

Gia walks down the stairs, brushing by me. “When do we leave?”

I grip the railing until my knuckles are white, grinding my teeth against the pain. “You’re not going anywhere with him, Gia! Get your ass back upstairs and stay there like I told you to do in the first place.”

She whirls around, ramming a finger into my chest. “You did enough here. You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do. This isn’t my fight and I’m taking my daughter and going home.”

All I hear is that she’s going to take Bianca from me, and I can’t let that happen. Not again. She already kept her from me once and I missed out on a year and a half of my daughter’s life.

There’s a bloody handprint left on the banister as I push off it, limping toward them. “Get back upstairs now.”

I rip the gun from her hand, pointing it at Jace’s head.

Gia stares daggers at me, looking like there’s nothing more she’d love to do than tear my heart from my chest and crush it between her hands just to see me bleed more.

“If you think that I’m staying here with you, you’re an idiot.”

“Nice.” I sigh and flick the safety off, turning the gun on her. “I’m tired of this fucking shit from you, Gia. Get your ass back upstairs now or the first bullet I’m firing is going straight into your fucking head.”

The smug smirk falls from the corners of her full lips. “Just let me go.”

It’s not her that I won’t let go of, but I can’t say that right now. If she kept Bianca a secret from even me, I have to operate under the assumption that nobody in her life knows who Bianca is related to.

Right now, Gia isn’t seeing the bigger picture to this either.

Her eyes grow wide as she looks at me, but there’s a steely determination to them. She steps forward, pressing her forehead to the gun. “Pull the trigger, Royce.”

And though I want to, I can’t. It’s like my brain isn’t sending the message to my finger. I can’t pull the trigger because if I do, there’s nobody left who can protect my daughter from Jace. I’m injured and he has the upper hand.

Leaving Gia alive is the only insurance policy I have.

Noah is unstable at best. He could turn against her without a second thought. I doubt it would take much for him to decide to kill her.

I’m not going to allow either of them to be taken from me. I won’t leave my daughter without a mother, even if she is one of the most infuriating people I’ve ever met. She could give my siblings a run for their money.

Jace nods to the stairs. “Go up and get Bianca. We’re leaving.”

Gia brushes by me, jogging up the stairs. The little touch is enough to send blood coursing through my body, warming me from the inside out. Maybe it’s the way my anger boils out of control, my focus slipping for just a second.

“You didn’t really think she was going to listen to you, did you?” Jace kicks me in the thigh, sending me down on the stairs.

There’s a dull thud as my head cracks against the step, sending stars dancing across my vision.

The gun falls from my hand, clattering across the floor before he grabs it and tucks it into his back pocket. “Really, Royce. You’re supposed to be better than this. You were the last time we fought.”

---