Page 69 of Lethal Lover

Seconds pass and she’s back on the bed next to me, a whiff of her sweet fruity scent drifting under my nose. I uncover my eyes so I can watch her work. Her eyebrows knit together when she removes the bandage.

“I need to stitch you back up.” She holds out two more morphine pills and a fresh bottle of water. “It won’t help too much now, but it will once they kick in.”

I slowly raise myself up and swallow the pills down with some water. “I can handle it.”

“I know you can.” Her lips lift. “Okay, so let’s talk and get your mind off what I’m doing. Tell me about your family.”

“Oh, great. You want to put me through a different kind of torture.” I wince when the tip of the needle punctures my skin. “Tell me about your tattoo first.”

Val glances down at the two camellias on the side of her hip. “You’re deflecting.”

“Damn right. Now speak.”

“Camellias are my favorite flower. The black one represents the past.” Her shoulders sag. “It was dark. Bleak. A reminder of what I never want to experience ever again.”

“And the white one?” I can barely choke out the words because the pain is so intense.

“It represents the future. What I want it to be. Light, bright, and perfect.”

“So, kind of a pipe dream if you keep living like this.”

She chuckles. “I guess. Now, are you going to tell me about your family or what?”

“I don’t know if I can think right now.”

“Fine. I’ll tell you about mine.” She pauses to take a breath. “My oldest brother Dima totally betrayed our family. He was in line to take over for my father, but it was never enough for him. He craved power and control and didn’t like when he was left in the dark, like he was the night when Charly was killed. I told him as little as possible because I didn’t want to break Dad’s trust. But he knew there were secrets my father was keeping. And he decided to take even more control by working with our enemies to sabotage us at every turn.”

“Sounds like a real dick,” I grumble.

“He wasn’t, though. Not always. He and I were really close when I was younger. He was the one I called from the hospital where I’d been dropped off by those guys who saved me. Dima was upset and worried and desperate to find the people who hurt me. But after that night, something changed. Shifted. I know he confronted Dad but never found out what happened. He just iced over after that. Shut us all out. I hated losing what we had and not being there when he died.”

I clench my teeth and clutch the comforter as she continues the needle torture. “I had two other brothers. Conor and Niall. Conor was always a total fuckup. Drug addict, booze hound, manwhore. He was neck and neck with Heaven to be boss of my family. My dad picked him and married Heaven off to the Villani family. I guess he figured giving Conor the reins would keep him close, but he went off the deep end. Died here in Vegas after selling out my entire family.”

“Jesus,” Val says, stopping to stare at me. “What about Niall?”

“I could have saved him,” I mutter. “He was jealous when Patty took over for my dad. Thought it should have been him. So, he fucked us over. Cost him his life.”

“Why do you think you could have saved him?” Val brushes her fingers over my newly taped wound.

“Because if I’d have been paying attention, I could have stopped him from going to our enemies. I could have pulled him into Sportsocity, shown him that there’s more important stuff in life than being king.”

“You can’t save everyone, Q.”

“Is that what you really believe? Because one thing I’ve learned over the past few days is that you think you can save everyone, too. Maybe we’re more alike than you think.” I slowly raise myself off the mattress, my heart pounding when I grasp her hand. “And maybe we were supposed to—”

My next words are eaten up by a blaring ringtone. Val grabs the phone Alek gave us before he left and answers.

Her brows furrow, and she hands it to me.

“Yeah?” I bark, figuring it’s Alek giving me shit for breathing.

“Q, it’s Massimo.” His voice is thick and tight. My gut clenches with his next words. “There’s been an accident.”

Chapter27

Valentina

“Mas, what the fuck is going on?”

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