Battle Scars (Gilded Knights Series Book 5) by Emilia Finn

Author:Emilia Finn [Finn, Emilia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Beelieve Publishing, Pty Ltd
Published: 2022-04-25T16:00:00+00:00

12

MICHELLE

EMILIO PASTORE

Troy sits beside me in black slacks and a black button-up shirt that gives teasing glimpses of his chest and shows off his shoulders in the most inhumane way.

Inhumane, because my heart stutters when I see him, and as a result, my brain scolds me for being an idiot.

Tony ordered him to remain inconspicuous tonight; as inconspicuous as any seven-foot-tall, tattoos-on-the-side-of-his-neck, stares-at-me-like-I-hung-the-moon-and-the-stars guy can be. His face is bruised, his bottom lip split from the men he considers colleagues, and still, I can’t bring myself to trust.

Maybe Papa ordered the beating purely to make me think Troy and I are the same. To make us comrades on the same side of this bloody war. Maybe Papa orchestrates everything simply to test my reactions to see where I swing.

Or maybe I’m wrong about absolutely everything. Papa is on my side, Troy is telling the truth, and the world isn’t as bleak as it seems.

I used to be too trusting. Too sweet. The ignorance of youth kept me company for far too long, it made me comfortable in my position in this world, and when what I was told was continually proven to be true, I was content in my bubble of pretending I wasn’t the heiress to a gangster’s world.

Selling drugs is horrible. Selling guns is worse. But I somehow convinced myself these were things I could work around. I could, well… not justify. But I could fix it somehow. I could make it better, and my world wouldn’t explode as a consequence.

But selling women… selling actual human beings for profit…

From the moment Troy told me of the veritable monster Papa was, I haven’t rested in my search for the truth. If it meant walking the hidden tunnels inside my home and listening to secret conversations for six hours a day, then that’s what I did. If it meant sneaking off the estate every single day, I did that too.

And if it means lying and shouting and ostracizing Troy to the point we’re less friendly now than when he first arrived, then that’s the price I’ll pay in my search for the truth.

My life was never intended to be like the storybooks. There would be no fame for me, unless it’s as a mobster’s child. There would be no fortune, unless that fortune came on the backs of those less fortunate. I can’t live with the knowledge that my greatness comes only from the atrocities Papa commits, so I vow to solve the mysteries plaguing my life on my own.

I’ll find out whose side Troy is really on… on my own.

I’ll find out if what he says about Papa is true… on my own.

And I’ll find those who would have me dead… on my own.

When it’s all said and done and the dust settles after the inevitable explosion, then I guess I’ll look around and see who’s still standing. Might be me. Might not.

That’s not something I can know until the time comes.

“You’ll be wearing an earpiece all night.” Troy

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