Page 86 of Shield

Vengeance ices out whatever sympathy I once held for Franco, erasing any lingering attachment.

He is no longer my brother.

He is no longer human.

Franco shrieks, writhing in the chains. “FUCK! You fucking BITCH! I should have fucking killed you when I had the chance, you fucking cunt.”

Matti takes a step toward Franco, his fists clenched, but I catch his eye and shake my head slightly. He steps back reluctantly, and I’m grateful. I know he wants to strangle Franco, and he looks tortured that he can’t. But there’s something else on his face, too, when he looks at me. Something that looks like respect. Pride.

“You’re right, Franco,” I say, slashing at his other leg, the broken edged blade cutting into his flesh, blood dripping off the serrated teeth onto the floor.

Franco yells out, and I raise my voice to be heard over him. “You really fucking should have killed me instead of her. Because Emily was a sweet soul, honestly, underneath all the sass. And as much as she would have been heartbroken to lose me, I don’t know if she would ever ‘have the balls’, as you say, to hurt you the way I’m going to hurt you right now. But then again,” I say, slashing at his leg again. “I bet you never thought I would, either.”

Franco pulls against the chains, rattling them against the concrete, his body shaking. He must have ripped open his stitches, because blood starts oozing out of the wound and down his torso.

“No, you dumb bitch. Notinsteadof her. I was so close to killing you that day at the law office.” He grunts out each word, breathing hard. “AJ had you hog-tied, and I was readyto take you out then and there.”

I frown, remembering the look on his face that day. It wasn’t vicious or violent. He looked cowed, powerless. “But you didn’t. You just stood there, Franco, and watched AJ fuck with me. If you were going to kill me, why didn’t you?”

Franco spits and turns his head from side to side, trying to shift the metal ring cutting into his neck. His eyes gleam at me as he pants through the pain. “Curiosity. I wanted to see what AJ was going to do to you first. Then slit your throat. Surprised your little boy toy didn’t tell you. I’ve been trying to kill you for months.”

Matti steps to Franco and smacks him across the face with an open hand, the slap echoing around the concrete room. Franco’s head bounces off the cinder block wall, and Matti spits in his face.

“Show her respect,” Matti barks.

I stare at Matti, my thoughts racing. Another secret.

Matti feels me looking at him, my thoughts drawing him to me like tractor beams. His jaw tics, and he takes a step toward me, but I step back.

“You knew he wanted to kill me,” I say. It’s not a question. It’s more of an acknowledgment of fact. Matti knew my brother was going to kill me. And he didn’t tell me.

“I took care of it,” he glowers, as Franco chortles gleefully.

“Trouble in mother fucking paradise,” Franco spits out with a sneer.

We ignore him. Matti knew Franco killed Emily. He knew Franco was gunning for me, too. Matti flexes his hands into fists, watching me carefully, sadly. Like he wants to take all this away. But he can’t.

Watching him, the realization hits like a bolt out of nowhere.Iknowhim. I know Matti’s reasoning behind not telling me about Franco. He did it because he loves me. Because he didn’t want me to hurt anymore than I already was. He kept it from me because he loves me.

I don’t know if it’s the purge of grief that I’m in the midst of unleashing on Franco or a shift in the universe, but in that moment, I fucking love him for it. I love Matti for all that he is, for how he loves me.

For just a few minutes, there’s nothing and no one else in the world except Matti and I.

We stare at each other, my heart pounding in my throat. A second realization hits me like an ocean wave, washing me out and leaving me limp and beaten on the shore: I don’t just love him. I’m in love with this man.

I’m in love with Matti.

This new awareness must show on my face, because I can physically see Matti’s energy shift as he reads me, sees that not only am I not mad at him but that I adore him and how he loves me.

Franco screams, a bone-crushing screech of pain, breaking our reverie.

“Tell me why, Franco.” I ask, reluctantly taking my eyes off Matti and turning to Franco. “Why did you kill Emily? Why did you want to kill me?”

“Stupid bitch,” Franco snorts, spit flying out of his mouth and sweat running down his face. “You think I started this shit? This has been going on for years, decades, centuries, this Bellamorte/ Demonio war.”

“You, me, Emily: we’re all Bellamortes, Franco,” I spit out. “How does killing your sisters have anything to do with a war that ended the day Aurelio killed our father?”

“I was taking back our family name,” Franco spits out. “On my terms. Not Aurelio’s. But you’re too fucking stupid to see that.”

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