Page 49 of Chaos & Corruption

In that moment all I see is red.

She freezes, her lips parting to form the perfect O. Then she glances around the mostly empty lobby while taking a step backward. For a second, I think back to our first altercation and how skittish she was around me. It bothered me then, but I can give a fuck less now—a point I prove when I lurch forward. She spins around and rushes out of the hospital, but my long legs swallow the distance between us quickly.

I grab a hold of her arm and roughly spin her around to face me.

“Please,” she cries.

As angry as I am, my parents raised me better than this. I’m not a fucking bully. I don’t prey on woman.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” I hiss, loosening my hold on her. “But you don’t get a pass either, Mila. It’s time you start talking.”

Her brows pinch together.

“I don’t know—”

“Whoever raped you almost tried to kill Victoria. Now, maybe you can live with him not paying for what he did to you, but I can’t live without revenge on what he did to her. If she doesn’t pull through…”

My voice trails and I force a swallow.

If she doesn’t pull through, she’ll never know how I feel about her.

She’ll never know how she completely flipped my universe upside down.

How she became the center of it without me even realizing.

If she doesn’t pull through, her parents will be heartbroken.

That rough and tough mobster will fall to his knees.

If she doesn’t pull through, they’ll be a gaping hole in the world.

I close my eyes and push those thoughts to the back of my head before meeting Mila’s tortured gaze.

“You didn’t ask for her help, but she gave it anyway. She worked day and night to uncover the Scorpio Society. Became obsessed with bringing them to justice because she loves you like a sister and it killed her that she couldn’t save you. That she couldn’t erase the pain they caused you.”

“You said it yourself, I didn’t ask for any of that. I told her to leave it alone. I warned her something like this could happen, but she wouldn’t listen.” She pokes her finger against my chest. “Why didn’t you stop her?”

“I guess we’re both guilty.”

“You want to know who raped me, then ask your friend Webber. He was there. He watched the whole thing unfold.”

When surprise doesn’t filter through my features, she clucks her tongue against the roof of the mouth.

“You already knew that, didn’t you?”

“What I knew doesn’t matter. I can’t go ask Webber because he overdosed.”

“Is he dead?”

I shake my head. Last the detectives told me, he was fighting for his life. By now he could’ve lost that battle.

“I don’t know.”

“Well, that’s too bad.”

“Mila, you have to tell me. I give you my word no one will know it was you who told me.”

She stares at me for a beat before casting her eyes toward the parking lot.

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