Evil Empire: A Dark Mafia Forced Marriage Age Gap Romance (Ruthless Revenge Book 3) by Kristen Luciani

Author:Kristen Luciani [Luciani, Kristen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-05-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Kristina

“Please talk to me, Mas. Don’t let me leave you like this,” I murmur, closing the door to Patty’s office behind us. “You haven’t said a word since we left the hospital, and now you’re planning some secret mission with an assassin?” I press my fingertips to my temples. “I can’t leave knowing you’re in such a twisted headspace!”

He lets out a dry laugh. “That’s putting it really mildly. Twisted headspace. Fuck, that sounds nice compared to the shit consuming my brain right now.”

I grit my teeth. “We are married now. Do you get that? What it means?” I poke a finger at his chest. “It means I feel what you feel, and it’s even worse when you won’t let me in enough to even explain what’s happening. You’re basically leaving it to me to decode, and that is so much worse.”

“I seriously doubt that,” he mutters.

“Look, I know you’re upset about Joey and his dad. It’s been weighing on you since you talked to him at the gymnastics meet. He obviously has some issues, but they are his issues! Not yours! So why are you letting them choke you to death?”

“Because that story I told you about why Joey’s dad is in a wheelchair and paralyzed? That whole revenge plot?” He leans in close, his jaw twitching. “Joey knows all about it. He knows I could have stopped it but didn’t. He knows it’s my fault his dad got hurt. And now that he’s in such bad shape again? Me again.”

“The revenge plot was to hurt you, not Joey’s dad. He didn’t know it was your place, and you didn’t know he’d been hired by the Russians to take you down.” My voice shakes as I repeat the same words to Massimo, the same ones I’ve spoken over and over since his falling out with Joey at the gym. “It was wrong of him to attack you the way he did, but he’s clearly hurting. Maybe he feels deep down like it’s his fault, that he put his dad in that spot.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

I shrug, really grasping but desperate to find something that will let Massimo release some of his guilt. “Maybe he feels like he could have protected his dad, and because he missed it, his dad got hurt. Maybe he’s just taking it out on you because he can’t admit that he blames himself. He needs an…um…emotional scapegoat.”

Massimo leans against the back wall, letting out a deep sigh. “An emotional scapegoat, huh?” he finally responds with a lift of his eyebrow.

“Yes. Because he can’t deal with the guilt himself. He can’t own it because it hurts too much.”

“I know all about that.”

“You own everything, Mas. You have never deflected anything in the time I’ve known you. You recognize responsibility and take it on even if it’s not yours. Because you’re loyal, the most loyal person I know.”

He walks toward me and wraps his arms around my waist. “You’re a good teammate.”

“I promise you we will handle things with Joey.

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