Pretty Little Lies

61. Bay

SIXTY-ONE

bay

“You don’t need to sign anything right now,” Emilio assures me, sitting at my side and patiently waiting to see if I want the expensive black pen he’s holding in his palm. “Feel free to read it, and?—”

“How long will it take for you to get Mae and Ellie back?”

It’s the reason I’m here.

It’s also the purpose of getting Levi out of jail, too.

I have no other option than this. Selling my DNA and using the relationship Emilio wishes for so badly to gain my real family back. Without him and his resources, they’re lost.

I don’t have the power or money right now to yank Levi out of jail.

I’d have to go through the court system to try to fight back on Torin’s allegations with how Mae and Ellie are being handled and, fuck knows, how long that would take.

So, I’m selling my soul to the devil to get back what is important.

Thing is, I’m not sure what dirty little games he’s playing and what he has in mind as soon as my name dries up on this contract.

“Depends on my son,” Emilio replies. “I’d need to get more information?—”

“So, you don’t know.” I crane my neck to Emilio, who’s watching me with ease.

I don’t understand how this happens. How someone like him still gets to live and someone like Dad strokes out, has a massive heart attack, and then dies.

All that fighting and therapy, the careful diet I gave him, I did everything I was told to do. He pushed on to come back to his normal self and it still did nothing.

And, I’m sure, he’d be bitching at me right now not to do this.

Not to agree to anything Emilio Wildes-related. That he was who Dad was trying to protect me from all along.

And we still ended up here.

Dad fought for nothing. Because fate decided to put me down the path of heartbreak, despair, and a whole lot of bad decision-making that I feel as though I have no other choice but to do.

“How about you worry about Roger,” Emilio recites flatly. “While I worry about Mae and Ellie.”

I can’t help but lift a brow because, honestly, the stupidest thing he’s ever asked me to do. “There’s a problem with that when I don’t trust you with my sisters.”

Emilio doesn’t flinch or cower back because, simply, he doesn’t care. “I think I can show an ounce of empathy to two girls who just lost their father.”

I clench my teeth because I lost him, too. However, Emilio doesn’t see that.

He won’t.

Ever.

I’m his blood, DNA, and key to the fifth Titan seat. I just don’t know how he’s going to use me to get there and what he might take from me afterward. Ellie and Mae aren’t safe anymore, and I don’t want them to be used again.

But where do I ship them off to?

“We’re already working on it.”

Ah, yes.

Almost forgot about him and his stealthy silence.

Flicking my focus over to Ramsey from across the room, he runs his index finger around the rim of his scotch, watching me like prey.

His hallowed cheeks, and the slim structure of his jaw, give me the weak reminder that he looks almost like his younger brother.

“I should have them back to you within the week.”

“That’s in three days.”

He nods. “I’m aware.”

“I need them back before then,” I retort. “They need to bury our father.”

Ramsey stares at me, and I expect something sterner and asshole-ish to leave his leaves but he replies, “I’ll see what I can do.”

I drop the piece of paper in between my fingers, unable to bring myself to sign it. “I need them back before I do this.”

“It’s in the contract. If we fail to deliver your sisters to you safe and sound, the marriage will be annulled.”

“Before or after you kill me?”

Emilio scoffs and clicks the top of his pen once, displaying how annoyed he is by that comment. “I’m not going to murder my only daughter. All I’m procuring is my daughter in her rightful place.”

We both know I don’t want to be here and that I have no choice.

However, there’s a lot of shit that’s still gray that I’ve done to this family without even knowing it.

“I want to make sure everything is in the air,” I emit, still staring at Ramsey because I refuse to back down from his weird stalker gaze. “I allegedly killed your brother, Judah.”

He doesn’t break character. His expression is nothing but flat and unconcerned. “I was told Matteo De Leon was the one who put the ending bullet in him.”

I lean back, my spine hitting the chair. “And how do you know that?”

“Why would you lie about it?”

“Several reasons.”

Ramsey quirks a brow. “Like my not killing you?”

Bingo.

“There’re a few reasons why I wouldn’t,” he tacks on. “I’d need to see if you knew how to pull a trigger first.”

Guess Torin never mentioned that I shot him when he kidnapped Levi.

Top it all off, Ramsey obviously believes that, since I’m a woman, I wouldn’t be capable of such a feat.

“We still haven’t spoken about the Titan seat,” I convey, watching Ramsey closely to see how he reacts.

He doesn’t, which kind of pisses me off.

I’m having a really hard time reading him. I don’t know if he’s more diabolical and plans things out before he reacts or if he’s a loose cannon, just like his brother.

And me.

“I’m open to discussing it,” Ramsey conveys. “Nonetheless, you are a Wildes by blood, and I’m not so power-hungry as to take it from you. I have my own plans.”

“Such as?”

“You don’t trust me as much as I trust you. However, I’ll offer an olive branch so that you’re not walking in blind since I already know two ways that you’d use this Titan seat, and I can’t say that I’m not curious about either how smart or stupid you are.”

“Same,” I deadpan, because he’s already taken a few subtle jabs at me without pushing the bar to where Emilio would need to open his mouth.

And, he’s right.

There are only two ways.

Either I bring The Landings and South Shore together. Or I have Emilio and Ramsey stripped away before I do the latter.

“I’m using The Void to open up international trade with guns,” he states freely. “If you take the Titan seat, the Foresaken Crew is yours. However, that’d be something you’d have to discuss with Cairo. After you destroyed my brother, that might take some negotiating.”

Ouch.

However, that would need to happen.

“If you went the route of reuniting South Shore and The Landings. I don’t see a problem with that. It’s about time, but it’ll be hard work.”

“While your brother is over the Forsaken Crew and you’re marrying me, do you feel safe without them?”

Because, from my understanding, The Void isn’t that large yet. And if I can get Cairo to side with me, it leaves Emilio and Ramsey vulnerable.

“That’s where I’d like to see if your stupid comes in,” Ramsey replies. “However, Torin wouldn’t turn against me. He doesn’t have the balls.”

“Don’t I, brother?”

Mother of all hell on Earth.

Torin strides through the room with a power that only affects me in the room. Emilio and Ramsey don’t seem to give a flying shit that he’s present, but I do. His light gold eyes lock onto me like a vice and he squeezes.

Hard.

My breathing hitches in turn to that steel and sweeping glimpse. Every piece of the last seventy-two hours has been nothing but difficult, heartbreaking, and gut-wrenching. I was falling in love with him, and he admitted it.

Yet, I don’t know that he knows the meaning of the word.

Not after everything he’s done.

But, with both of us grieving, I’m not sure he and I are ever going to be able to reach a middle ground. A place to heal together.

Because he took from me for no fucking reason at all.

And I hate him for that.

Torin would’ve been my comfort space. Someone who could’ve held my hand through the trauma of having to bury my dad. To tell me that it was going to be okay, that he’s got me through all the emotional and mental turmoil.

Yet, he took that away from me, too.

“Torin, this isn’t the time nor place for you to throw a temper tantrum,” Ramsey drones as though he’s bored at his younger brother’s entrance to the room. “We’re in the middle of a meeting.”

“I’m part of this family,” Torin inserts casually, making his way over to the chair across from us. “Carry on.”

“Then shut your mouth when we’re speaking,” Emilio warns with a glower when Torin rests his palms along the back and bends over a bit over it. Then brings his thumb and index to his lips pressed together as if zipping his mouth shut.

As if that’s going to do anything.

“Now, to answer your question,” Ramsey continues, getting back to business and less of the small talk. “I’m pretty easy to work with.” Torin scoffs, then which has his brother silent for a moment, then tacks on, “Unlike my petty brother. So, you’ll see the difference.”

“She definitely will,” Torin deadpans before his father points at the door.

“ Out .”

Torin raises his hands off the chair. “Keep going. What’s Miss Astor going to do with us now?”

“I don’t think you can handle this conversation,” Ramsey clips back. “This is for grown-ups only. And the contents are going to make you lose your shit.”

“I think I can manage.”

Ramsey waltzes forward, but Torin doesn’t turn around to face him. Undeterred about anything his brother might do. Like reaching for a knife and stabbing him literally in the back. “Then welcome my future wife into the family, brother.”

My blood runs cold as Torin lifts a brow. When I expect him to flip the damn chair over, he only easily keeps his focus on me. “Wife, huh?”

“Watch the next words that come out of your mouth,” Ramsey warns flatly. “And always remember who you’re speaking to.”

“Oh, I do,” Torin agrees. “Couldn’t forget if I tried. She’s the one you’d turn a blind eye to, Pops. You’re blood. Fuck that Judah wasn’t your DNA, you’ll gladly shove his death down the shitter because your true heir is sitting at your side right now.”

“This changes nothing,” Emilio leers. “She’s a link to South Shore. This helps us end?—”

“End what?” Torin returns, looking unimpressed that his father would even think this was a good idea. “Are you so out of it that you think you’re going to be welcome in South Shore? That she’s going to take you with her? The man who put Penn Northcott away?” He snorts with a slight shake of his head. “Get a grip, old man. It’ll be a civil war when she turns her back on you because we both know she wants nothing to do with anything you can offer.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Ramsey interjects. “We’re taking a big risk with her, regardless of whose daughter she is or not. This ceases a war where Wallace will see how well we take care of her. That we want to try.”

“You wouldn’t know because he’d be the first person he killed, Rams. You wouldn’t live to see any of that.”

“Don’t be so sure about that when you’re the one who had him thrown in jail.”

The corners of Torin’s eyes coil a bit, as if impressed by his work. “Eh, Wallace is tactful.”

“Quit making things harder on yourself, son,” Emilio insists. “I know that you’re grieving your brother, but?—”

“And you’re not,” Torin points out, defeat laced in his tone. “I can see that I’m the only one who gives a fuck about him. That wants to see his death avenged. But, my bad, you’re still probably pissed at him for leaving. For him not wanting to be a part of your stupid ass crew that you were building. The new life he wanted for himself.”

“Judah would’ve come back,” Emilio answers confidently. “I wasn’t going to hold him, only for him to push more. That’s what you kids do.”

“And parents don’t welcome their child’s murderer into their home either.” Torin’s heated gaze falls back on me, and I actually cower back a bit. “Would you have married me without this? To take possession of The Landings so you could filter out the people you didn’t want? I know you’d kill Emilio if you had the chance. That, or you’d just have Levi do it.”

I inhale deeply, hating how my body is still drawn to him in ways that I’m fearful I’ll never be able to sever. This isn’t the way I wished for this to go and, currently, I’m barely holding on by a thread.

“Why Emilio when I can just have you assassinated?” I solicit evenly, holding his pretty eyes that promise that he’s going to strangle me the next time the opportunity strikes. “I want to make sure the bullet counts.”

The corners of Torin’s lips lift again in a cruel smirk. One that’s not very tickled with the fact that I’m sitting in a room with the people he grew up with.

I’m an outsider and we all know it. Regardless, if I’m blood or not.

“That’d be fitting,” he replies, straightening his spine and alluding that he’s not going to make it through the rest of this much longer. “Since you shot my brother.”

“Leave it,” Ramsey orders, the first sign of annoyance seeping through his words. “I’m not going to go back and forth with you when you’re fucking with my future wife.”

Torin flicks his tawny eyes to Emilio, and I can see the confidence blanketing over his features. “You might want to cover your ears for this. We wouldn’t want you to stroke out like Bay’s old man.”

My whole body deflates as if he just punched me in the gut.

Does he know? Did Emilio tell him that my dad died?

My sperm donor slowly pushes back his chair and rises in his expensive suit and haughty demeanor. I don’t need him to save me, would rather him not, but Emilio knows that I’m not a stranger to losing my shit and Torin is the wrecking ball that might have me throwing this whole deal away.

“You may leave the room, Torin. Your level of disrespect has reached its limit today.”

Pretty Boy surprisingly doesn’t fight, pushing off the back of the wooden chair and striding backward. With two fingers, he salutes me, and when he pushes off, gives me the middle finger.

My nostrils flare and tears start to creep back up to their familiar place before Emilio takes a seat again and plucks the marriage contract between Ramsey and I, from in front of me, to place it in a folder out of my peripheral.

But I can’t stop staring at Torin until he disappears behind the door and leaves me alone yet again.

Literally and emotionally.

“Read this later when you’re not going to be distracted,” Emilio mutters. “And take your time. I’ll text you if we receive any word on your sisters.”

I nod curtly. “I’ll have this brought back to you tomorrow.”

“Would you like me to come pick it up?” Ramsey asks me. “If you feel comfortable, maybe we can grab a coffee.” I open my mouth to tell him that I have plans to scramble my brains with a fork when he adds on, “In a public place, of course.”

Coffee is thirty minutes, tops. And I can feel him out more, I guess.

“Sure.”

“I’ll get your number from Dad, and we’ll plan a time.”

I stand from my chair. “Sounds…great.”

“And I’ll bring the marriage certificate for you to sign so we can get it recorded.”

My body cringes, and I think he sees it because he frowns.

Oops.

“Bring a pen,” I tell him, trying to lighten the awkwardness. “I never carry one.”

“Don’t you go to school still?” Emilio asks me, sounding as though it’s as big of a deal as it was Dad’s.

“Don’t need to anymore.”

Emilio doesn’t press the matter and begins to rise again. “I’ll walk you out.”

“I know my way.” And I know Torin is waiting for me out in that foyer.

If it’s one thing, it’s that he’s becoming predictable, and I couldn’t miss that look of challenge when I said I’d put a slug in him before Emilio Wildes in his eyes.

I exit the room before I suffocate, shoving my hand into the pocket of my sweatshirt while I stride for the door of Emilio’s office.

And, what do you know, I’m grabbed from behind.

A large arm wraps around my middle and yanks me back against a hard body in the middle of the foyer, where no one is magically around. I can smell the melon and cedar scent off his body. The soft strength that he has around me when he wants me to stay, but it’s just enough to where I can leave.

He shouldn’t have done that.

“Did you think I was going to let you leave without saying goodbye to you, Wildfire?” Torin whispers in my ear, sending a shiver of lust and hate through my body.

It’s confused, let just say that.

My ass arches into his frame while the other half of me has my palm gripping the handle of my 9mm in my waistband. A weapon Juice demands that I carry around.

“Of course not,” I mutter back. “I’m sure there was more you’d like to say.”

“Don’t marry my brother,” he deadpans, splaying his fingers over my diaphragm. It’s a plea, even though I’m fully aware it could mean that he doesn’t want to deal with the fact that I’d be around.

My lips part as I remain still, waiting for either the ball to drop or for my body to get on board and pull away from him.

Neither happens.

“I’m not going back and forth with you, Baby Wildes. You fucked up.”

“So did you.”

“Did I?” I slowly spin in his arms, noticing how he keeps his hands on me as they glide along my rips and into my back. “You know, if I would’ve done something, I wouldn’t be standing here.”

“You’re a pretty little liar, baby.” His other hand cups the side of my face as if he can’t help himself. “And, if Matteo did pull the trigger…why didn’t you stop him?”

“I was in shock, Torin. Judah has never acted like that before.”

“Which makes this so much more confusing. I know that Matteo has a fuckin’ hard-on for you. That he might be blackmailing and getting into my head…but how do I justify you? How do I understand him being in a wooded area that’s so perfectly staged to end my brother’s life? You wouldn’t leave Matteo?—”

“I was young and dumb ,” I clip back. “And I thought I loved him.”

“Did you love him when I came around? Is that why I was always able to be around? Did Matteo want you to lure me in, too, so he could take me out?”

I never thought of it that way, but I could see why Torin would assume so. I can’t believe that Torin was never caught when things got more intimate. Yes, Matteo would find him when we were talking, but anytime Torin couldn’t resist not touching me, we got away scot-free.

So, did Matteo really see it, or did we just luck out?

“I didn’t know Judah was your brother.”

“But Matteo did.”

I rock my head back and forth. “He didn’t include me in gang stuff. He was fucked up and cruel.”

“And Ramsey is worse.” I step back, but Torin tightens his grip on me. “I’ve told you that, Wildfire. I’ve already warned you to stay away from him, so why are you doing it now? You didn’t have to make up some arranged marriage to get my attention.”

My palm falls to his chest, and I shove, not getting anywhere. “I don’t want your attention anymore. Unless you’re lookin’ to make a deal.”

Torin’s golden ebbs fall to my lips. “And what deal is that?”

“My sisters. Levi.”

His focus slices up to mine and heated rages glimmers in them. “Fuckin’ Wallace again. I’m getting really tired of hearing his name off your lips.”

“Too fuckin’ bad.”

Torin tightens his hold and digs the pads of his fingers into my ass then, only silently reminding me who I belong to.

“Marry my brother and I will make sure you never get a resting moment. Marry him, and watch me turn into someone you’ve only imagined in your dreams, baby. Because if you think the stories you heard about Emilio were bad, wait until you meet mine, Bay.”

While this dumbass is talking, he doesn’t notice that I’m removing my pistol from my sweatshirt and aiming at his cock. And when he’s done spewing out all the scary-ass things he plans on doing to me, I shove it into his crotch, getting a nice little look of surprise when his eyes widen a tad.

“ When I marry Ramsey,” I recite, making sure I make my next intentions clear for the backlash of what he’ll receive if he keeps fucking with me. “You better stay the fuck away from me. When I walk into a room, you leave it. When we’re forced to spend a dinner together, I want you to keep your dirty-ass glare off me and eat like a good little boy because that’s what you are. Your Emilio’s bitch. You’ve ruined everything we could’ve had together by taking my weaknesses and exploiting them. You made all of this happen?”

“And how did I fuckin’ do that?” he solicits, pressing his body and crotch deeper into me and the gun. “Would you make it hurt, baby? Wouldn’t it be fuckin’ something if you took out every single one of the Wildes men? That victim card you’re playing doesn’t fool me. I just had to dig up my brother. I had to watch you kill him.”

“I’m not explaining this again.”

“Then tell me how much it didn’t hurt you losing me. Did it break you like it did me?”

Yes.

As much as I loathe it, Torin is always on my fucking mind. I want to console him and comfort him. Stupidly, I want to be there for him.

I want him to be here for me.

“You don’t break,” I retort. “You don’t have an ounce of pity in your soul. Those words that you said to me about falling in love with me were pure bullshit. You don’t and didn’t love me. You lusted after me. Just like Matteo—” Torin’s hand snatches up to my jaw and clenches it hard, boring that famous glower into my head like a blazing fire.

“I loved you alright,” he claims confidently and with steel to his tone. “Because I haven’t fuckin’ killed you yet.”

“Then why don’t you?” My body leans closer, unable to help itself to feel his warmth. But it looks as though I’m challenging him above all else. “You’d be doing me a favor. Yeah, Mae and Ellie would have lost two people to them this week, but what am I to them but useless at this point?”

Torin frowns, face twisting a bit in confusion. “You think losin’ Wallace is that big of a fuckin’ dealbreaker for them?”

“No,” I recite calmly, surprising even me with the sound of my voice. “My fuckin’ Dad is, though. He’s dead.”

And then I pull away from his grip easily enough because Torin loosens it, gaping at me as his brain picks up the words I just said and pieces them together.

But, before he can gather his thoughts, I leave the house and focus on the shit that needs to be done.

And this dumb-ass paper in my hand that I need to sign.