Page 14 of The Lies We Tell

But that was his best option. Hers too, he was sure. He wasn’t one for relationships, anyway. And certainly not with the daughter of his enemy. It was too messy, too unpredictable, too…fuck. Why was he even thinking about that? It’s not like he was actually going to sleep with her.

She was as off-limits today as she had been when he first saw her in her father’s office. All that had changed was the location. Right across the hall from his fucking room. Apparently he was a glutton for punishment.

He reached for his bedroom door, pausing when he heard Tessa’s open across the hall. Matteo looked over at her framed in the doorway. She’d pulled her hair back in a high ponytail, exposing the bruises on her neck and the cut on the apple of her cheek, but she was still dressed in the same navy top and white pants she’d been wearing before.

“My father won’t care that I’m gone. He’s been trying to get rid of me for years.” She wrapped her arms tight around her middle when he raised a brow. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but the discussion was very…spirited.”

“What do you want? Why did you ask me to take you?”

She lifted her chin, and his eyes dropped to her throat, to the marks her father had left there.

“I want to help.”

His gaze snapped to hers. “Help with what?”

“With taking down my father. Whatever I can give you to help you get rid of him, I will.”

He tried to find the lie in her words, but with the way she watched him, her arms wrapped tight around her as if to protect herself, he saw only sincerity.

“Why?”

“Because he’s a monster. But…”

“But what?” he prompted when she did nothing more than stare at the wall beside him.

“I need to find my mother.”

“I thought…”

There’d been something in the paper about Eliana Antonetti right before Matteo left the island. But his mother had just died, and he was too mired in his own grief then. He couldn’t bring the details into focus.

He tried again. “What happened to her?”

“She went missing. I thought she was dead, but now I’m not so sure. I have to be sure.” Her eyes were big and round and full of tears. “I’ll give you whatever you want if you help me find her.”

“I’ll take that under consideration,” Matteo said and watched her slowly deflate.

She nodded, a small, sad smile curving her lips. “Okay.”

Slipping into his room, Matteo leaned back against the door and rubbed the heel of his hands against his eyes. He might really be insane for bringing her here, for wanting a taste of that mouth, for wanting a taste of everything else on her body. But at least now he might have something. A use for her beyond the things he wanted to do to her in the dark.

Maeve was decent at finding people, and if Tessa had actionable intel on her father’s dealings and associates, this would be a very beneficial partnership. Hopefully one that would shut his brothers up.

Then once her father was dead and she was reunited with her mother, she could be well on her way to living happily ever after, safe from her father’s abusive clutches.

All he had to do was make it through a few weeks of not thinking about her living just across the hall. How hard could it be?

Chapter Six

The cool air sent a chill through her as she stepped out of the shower and reached for a towel. The fogged-up mirror blurred her reflection, which was just as well. Any time she caught sight of herself, all she could see were the ugly bruises on her throat and face.

She wished she’d thought to grab makeup in her mad dash to pack as much as possible in Matteo’s thirty seconds. It almost made her grateful she’d been allowed to hide away in her room since she’d arrived yesterday. The angry voices drifting up from downstairs were loud enough without her having to be in the thick of it.

She hadn’t seen anyone else besides the maids who brought her a covered tray for dinner and came back this morning to collect it and offer her breakfast. But she wouldn’t be able to hide out forever. She imagined Matteo’s hospitality would only extend as long as her information proved useful.

Her father didn’t exactly make a habit out of keeping her in his confidence, but Tomaso had a big mouth, and occasionally she overheard things. She knew enough to give Matteo something useful. She hoped.

At this point, she didn’t care who ended up with control over the island. All she wanted was her mother. And as long as she got what she wanted when everything was said and done, the two of them could fight to the death as far as she was concerned.

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