Page 17 of Cruel Revenge

The chair goes flying as Aiden stands. “Excuse me?”

“Logan just came over with a bogus warrant and tossed my house. He broke a bunch of shit and decided that he wanted to do some digging around in my personal life since he saw me dancing with his brother at the club last night.”

Aiden scrubs a hand over the lower half of his face before crossing the room to the white mini fridge in the kitchenette and yanking open the door. He pulls out an energy drink and cracks the top.

After taking a long drink, he sits down at the desk once more. “You want to tell me what the hell you were doing dancing with Joshua Vitale in a club?”

“First of all, don’t talk to me like you’re my father.” I pace away from the window to sit on the other couch across from him, the corduroy scratchy against my skin through the rips in my jeans.

I shift, trying to find a comfortable position while Aiden’s jaw clenches.

His eyes roll, and he takes another pull of his drink.

“Joshua approached me with a proposition while I was at the club. One that could be extremely beneficial.”

He shakes his head, his gaze hardening. “We’re not having anything to do with that family. Not after the way they screwed us over. Let’s just kill Logan and be done with it.”

“Sure, with the cops already looking at us, and the Rinaldos doing fuck knows what, let’s just go ahead and murder someone.” I give him a flat look, crossing my arms as I lean back into the cushions.

“It would be easier. I could make sure that nobody would ever find the body.”

“I could do that on my own. But he’s a DEA agent.”

Aiden scowls. “And here I thought that was going to be useful to us while you were with him. Damn shame he had to be an even bigger idiot than I already thought he was.”

I bite back a smile. “Yeah, who knew? Now, let’s talk business, shall we?”

He sighs. “Fine. What business?”

“Joshua Vitale offered me an opportunity that could bring you a mountain of cocaine and get a DEA agent off your back.”

This deal means selling my soul to the devil, giving myself over to my ex’s brother.

As much as I don’t want to, eventually, it might have to mean letting someone in and showing them the parts of me that I’ve kept buried for as long as I can remember. The parts of me even my family is ashamed of.

Accepting Joshua’s plan means losing a part of myself because I know he’ll never acceptme. He’ll find out my secret, and he’ll turn it against me.

He’ll shove me to the side just like everyone else has.

And I don’t know if saving my family, as much as I love them, is worth it.

Chapter Five

SKYLA

Aiden’s eyesnearly bulge from his head. “You really think that I’m going to make a deal with that asshole? After everything he’s done to this family, you think I’m just going to trust him?”

“I think it would be for the good of the family if you did, and you know that too.”

He puts the energy drink down on the stone coffee table before pacing over to the fluted glass cabinet beside the kitchenette.

Bottles rattle inside as he searches for something specific in the back.

When he emerges from the cabinet, he’s holding a bottle of white rum and two shot glasses. He sets the neon pink Miami glasses down between us before pouring two healthy shots.

“If we’re even going to entertain the idea of working with the Vitale family, and I’m still not sold on it, then I think I’m going to need a hell of a lot more to drink.”

“Don’t be difficult.” I lean forward and reach for my shot, throwing it back and wincing when the alcohol burns its waydown the back of my throat. “You know this could be good for us regardless of what your feelings are about Joshua. The Rinaldos may have been laying low for the last few months, but you know that’s only going to last so long.”

---