39
“Adonis?” I whispered as I fell from the man’s back, my bare feet thudding onto the floor. What was he doing here? What had he done to Toby?
He turned around to face me, blocking my view of Toby. I could hear him groaning, I knew he was hurt. I needed to get to him. I shoved Adonis to one side, but he grabbed me and pulled me back in front of him, his hand reaching up to cup my jaw tightly, forcing me to look at him.
“What are you doing here?” he asked me, his accent thicker than I’d ever heard it.
“Me? What are you doing here? What have you done to Toby?” I threw my head back, pulling my face out of his hold. “Adonis, what the fuck is going on?” I yelled.
“You know him?” he asked, and his eyes widened with sudden understanding. “This is where you ran off to,” he exclaimed, disgust lacing every word.
“Explain this all, now,” I pushed.
“Your friend here is the son of the man who murdered my mom.” He raised his head high, confident, furious. “This is just a little slice of revenge, you should understand that.”
I blinked at him in disbelief, where had he got that idea from? Shay hadn’t been the one responsible for Selene’s death.
The pieces fell together in my head in an instant though, and before I could stop myself, my palm connected with Adonis’ face. “You idiot!” I screamed, “You complete and utter fucking moron. His dad didn’t do it, you’ve been played.” I pounded my fists against his solid chest in frustration.
His hands wrapped around my wrists, and he pushed me away. “You don’t know anything about it. You can’t protect him, he deserves this,” he spat.
“I know everything about it, Don. Why do you think I ran from you last night? Why do you think I couldn’t be around you?” I threw my arms up in exasperation, but he was blocking me out.
He turned his back on me and I snapped, reaching into my pocket for the same blade that I had held against his throat last right, and launched it. It flew through the space between us and sank into his shoulder. He let out an agonised shout and turned back to me, reaching to the place where my knife had pierced his skin and yanking it out. Adonis’ eyes turned darker as they met mine, a breath later he was coming towards me. Heavy footsteps that shook the floor. I backed up slightly before his hand wrapped around my neck and he threw me up against the wall.
“Leave, before I kill you too,” he said through gritted teeth.
“No. I won’t let you make a mistake like this. Don, just listen to me,” I gasped, and his grip tightened. “Don, please.”
His grip loosened for a split second, then tightened again. He pressed his body hard against mine. “Just because you can’t get your revenge, doesn’t mean I can’t get mine.”
“It was Lorenzo,” I choked out.
His eyes narrowed, then he let out a sharp laugh. “Nice try.”
Of course he wouldn’t just simply believe me. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since he said the same thing to me, but he needed to know that I was telling the truth. He needed to know what else Lorenzo had told me in that hotel bathroom.
With a burst of strength I fought him off of me, tearing his hand away from my throat and kicking his legs out from beneath him. He crumpled onto the floor and shock flashed in his eyes. He had honestly believed that he was better than me. Toby had taught me well; I could get myself out of almost anything so long as I had enough fight in me.
Toby let out a whine of pain and Adonis turned quickly, with determination in his face, as he attempted to move to where the noise had come from.
I kicked him onto his back and straddled his chest, pushing my knees down on to his arms to hold him down. “Stay away from him. You will listen to me, Adonis Corone,” I screamed at him, and he pushed his tongue into his cheek.
“Are you going to make me, cara?” he smirked.
I clenched my jaw then nodded before grasping his face firmly in my hand and leaning down, pushing my face so close to his that I could almost taste him.
“Last night, Lorenzo told me he was the one who killed Selene. He told me that she had found out that he was the one responsible for Jase, and that she was going to tell me. He called her an obstacle, Don. An obstacle standing in the way of getting what he wanted. So she had to go. I’m sorry, I am so fucking sorry, he was only going to leave her at first, until she found out his secret. He’s insane, Don, can’t you see that? It was not Shay; he doesn’t even have any motive. Can’t you see what Lorenzo is doing? Sending you after Toby straight after I told him that we were done, he’s using you and your grief to get what he wants.”
I backed up slightly and waited for his reaction. His eye twitched and he shook his head. Idiot.
“I can finally see how his mind works. He knows that I want someone else, so he’s eliminating them. He thinks I want you too, so he’s making sure that you are the one who does it. He’s removing obstacles. You’re being used as a threat to me.” My voice broke as the words came out, and tears filled my eyes.
Concern flashed on Adonis’ face, followed by anger. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?” he asked, and I released his face.
“Why would I lie? You know it makes sense.” I removed my knees from his arms and let my body slump heavily. Adonis didn’t attempt to push me off of him, he just looked up at me and ran a hand over his face.
“He told me exactly what he did to her, Don. I don’t want to repeat it, but I will if it helps you to see that I am telling the truth. We all believed she had just been shot because you made sure of that. You and Sal made sure that no one knew how fucked up her murder had been. If I was lying, I wouldn’t know that you’d done that, would I?”
His lips parted. “Fuck.”