Chapter 16: Next Time I Ask

Livia's POV

He told me all of it in the greenhouse, standing between the benches with the roses black in the dark.

He told me what the card said, and what he had answered.

He told me his men were already behind the warehouse walls.

He had meant to sit at the head of the table and let Silvio walk in.

I listened with my arms folded.

When he finished, I said, "And you planned to put me on a night shift."

"Yes."

"Without asking."

"Yes."

"Because I'd stay."

"Because I couldn't stand to have you in the room."

He said it flatly. It was the most honest thing he had said all week.

"I'm not going anywhere," I said. "It's my sister's trade they're using. It's my family's dinner. I'll be at that table."

"I know."

"Then why did you lie?"

He was quiet.

Then he said something I hadn't expected.

"Do you want the real reason, or the one that makes me look better?"

"The real one."

"On Wednesday you stood at that gate and looked at my hand before I'd said a word."

"You told Massimo my name three days before I came. You said yes to a man you'd never spoken to."

"You never asked who I was, or what I wanted with your family."

"I've turned that over every night since."

His voice dropped.

"I want to believe you chose me."

"I keep thinking you chose a name, and I happened to be the man attached to it."

I stared at him.

"A tool," I said. "You think I picked you as a tool to hurt Massimo."

"I think you picked me for a reason you haven't told me. And I think when you've finished using me, you'll go."

It hurt more than I could have said, because it wasn't stupid.

From where he stood, it was exactly what it looked like.

"There's a reason," I said. "I won't tell you tonight."

"Livia."

Keep reading free with an account. Start He Let Me Die for Her, So I Refused His Ring from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.