Page 247 of Saving Her

“Outside,” I snarl. “Now.”

His eyes flare wide. A flash of fear and guilt hits him before quickly being smothered under anger. “What the—”

I yank his shirt, making him stumble, then release him to storm for the kitchen, not stopping until after I’ve shoved open the back door and jumped down the stairs to the loose asphalt.

He’s slow to follow, descending to ground level with stiff hesitance. “Luca, whatever it is—”

“Save it.” I launch my fist at his face, my knuckles colliding with bone.

He jolts backward, stumbling, but I hold him on his feet with an unyielding grip around his throat. “You fucking snitch.” I keep my voice low, too fucking aware of the watchful eyes lurking in the shadows. I shove him, over and over until he’s up against the brick wall. “You were working with Luther.”

He doesn’t fight me. Doesn’t even protest my grip as his face turns red. All he does is hold my gaze, wordlessly spewing guilt in my direction.

“You fucking piece of shit.” I drag him forward and slam him back again. “You stupid, fucking piece of shit. How could you be so reckless?”

“You weren’t here when Luther was around.”

All the air leaves my lungs on a heave. Despite how things were adding up—even though evidence was mounting—I still hadn’t believed.

Not entirely.

Not until now.

I release his throat and stumble backward.

He’s dead.

Benji is as good as buried. No trial. No second chances.

“Jesus goddamn Christ.” I shove my hands into my hair, pulling at the strands to try to make the mania stop.

“You’ve got no idea what it was like.” He straightens from the wall. “You wouldn’t understand.”

I can’t deal. Can’t even fucking fathom his level of stupidity.

Problem is, if I don’t take this to Torian, I’ll be dead alongside Benji. And if I rat out my own blood, the admission probably wouldn’t absolve me anyway.

There’s no way out of the mess he’s created. There’s no possible way I can fix this shit.

“Why?” My question is barely audible. “Why the fuck would you even…” I can’t finish the sentence through the bile thickening at the back of my throat. “How did this all start? You had to have known what he was doing. There’s no way you weren’t aware of those women.”

His shoulders slump, and he throws his hands up at his sides. “He—”

The back door to the restaurant opens, quickly dragging my attention to Layla whose mouth gapes at the sight of us.

“What’s going on?” She slams the door shut and scrambles down the stairs.

“Get out of here, Layla.” I glare at her. “This is a private matter.”

“No,” she pleads. “It’s not. He’s my husband. This includes me, too.”

I scoff. “You’ve got no idea—”

“Yes, I do.” She rushes in front of Benji, acting like a shield to my rage. “I know exactly what this is about.Please,Luca. We’ve been waiting for the news to get out for years. We never thought our actions would cause this much trouble.”

Ouractions

I’m blindsided.Again. Completely and utterly dumb-fucked.

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