Page 104 of Virtuous Lies

Enzo. Suggested. Leo.

Lorenzo’s face pops into my head, and I close my eyes, ridding the smirk in his eyes from the forefront of my mind.

“You call them criminals,” I say, pulling her attention. “Yet you murdered Andre in cold blood. He was innocent.”

My voice is haunted. The image of Krista shooting Bianca’s driver in the chest without a beat of hesitation, heavy enough to make my throat thicken with emotion.

“I didn’t mean for that to happen.” She pleads with me to believe her, but I don’t.

“What about the second time you shot him?” I condemn. “In the head after he was bleeding out on the floor?”

Shame turns her face away.

“You've lied, manipulated, cheated, stolen, threatened, kidnapped,killed. All in the name of justice.” Krista turns back to me, jaw wired shut, nostrils flaring, eyes glazing over in anger or remorse, I couldn’t be sure. “How does your moral compass differ from theirs, Detective Delaney? What makes their actions criminal and yours heroic?”

She swallows audibly.

“You’re as much a criminal as the men you have fantastical ideals about ridding from society. Only you’re more dangerous because you break the law under the guise of being one of the good guys.”

“Iamone of the good guys,” she implores, the gun waving by the side of her face making me believe anything but.

“Why take me hostage at gunpoint then? Why keep me shackled”—I shake the arm handcuffed to the headboard—“against my will?”

She moves quickly, sitting on the edge of the bed. “You don’t know these people, Gabriella.” Her eyes have lost focus, and her hands shake with a maniacal impetuosity. “You’re right. Your momwasa good person. She got you away from them.”

She’s flipped within seconds. First, my mom was weak. Now, she’s a fucking hero.

“I can keep you safe.” She smiles, and the gesture is more frightening than reassuring.

It’s scary being in the presence of another as their mind gives up reality. Krista’s mental health is wilting right before my eyes. I want to help her, but I’m not sure I can. She’s lost to her fantasies, ready to be swallowed by imminent death.

She wraps a cold palm around my ankle. “I promise I can.”

She believes her statement, and I want to slap the stupid out of her.

“If you agree to become an informant, we can rid the stench of their criminal activity from Manhattan. Gabriella, we can do something good.Together.”

I kick my leg, removing her touch from my skin.

“I don’t want to helpyou.”

She growls in frustration, standing from the bed. “Why? Because you think Vincentcaresabout you?”

Vincent. Enzo.Bianca.

“He does,” I declare quietly. “He’s my brother.”

She laughs. “He has you in hiding because he can’t be certain he can keep you safe.”

My eyebrows pull together.

“Anyone can fucking see that, Gabriella,” she yells at me. “He doesn’t trust Joey Romano not to kill you. He’ll keep you a secret, locked away with no life.Ican offer you more.”

It’s as if she forced her fingers directly into my brain and pulled out my worst fear. Vincent is no closer to introducing me to the family than he was the first day I approached him.

I push my arm upward, relieving the cut of the cuffs on my wrist.

“Yourmoremeans moving back into witness protection, pretending I’m someone else, constantly looking over my shoulder. I’ll be alone. Forever. What future is one where you can’t let anyone in?”

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