After I Fall (Immortal Billionaires #1) - Melissa Sercia Page 0,56
and his psycho ex-girlfriend, the secrets and lies would just continue. I was a fool to think Ozi and I could have anything different. “I can’t do this again. Just go.”
“Raven, por favore, please.”
“Ozi, I said go.” I bit my lower lip to keep it from trembling.
He nodded in defeat. “The old me would have thrown you over my shoulder and dragged you out of here. But I don’t want to be that way with you. I will find a way to fix this, Raven. To fix us. Just stay away from Camille. I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.” He squeezed his brows together, his eyes watery when they finally met mine, then turned and headed for the door.
I held my breath until he was gone. Once I heard the click of the door and his footsteps fade, I exhaled out and collapsed into a heap on the floor. And the tears came faster than I was ready for.
The rain came down hard like shards of glass shattering against the roof of my car, streaming down the windows like blood. I closed the partition so I didn’t have to make small talk with my driver. I pulled the brown leather flask from my coat pocket and took a swig. The taste of metal filled my mouth, sweet and bitter at the same time. The blood filled my veins, quelling my thirst, but did nothing to ease the rage that tore at my heart.
I wanted to tell her everything. That I was a vampire, that she was adopted and related to Camille. But she would have thought I was crazy. Or rejected me the way Camille had. I wasn’t ready to turn her entire world upside down. For once in my eternally damned life, I did the right thing. The selfless thing. I let her go. If only she’d come with me… Maybe I would have had the courage to tell her more. It’s hard to trust someone who doesn’t trust you back.
The car slowed to a stop outside of Dolce Sale. Peering out the window, I caught a glimpse of Enzo at one of the tables, a glass of wine in his hand and paperwork spread out before him. I had trusted him, confided in him, and given him wealth beyond anything he could have ever dreamed of. This betrayal stung the most. It was beyond friendship. We were like family.
Cassius’s words echoed in my head—maybe he has an explanation…
Maybe he did. But how could I ever forgive him for lying to me? For keeping secrets about Raven? I stepped out of the car, not caring about getting my thousand dollar suit wet, and walked inside my restaurant.
Enzo looked up, startled. “Ciao, Ozi. I didn’t know you were coming by tonight. Everything all right?”
I clenched my fists at my sides. “That’s the funny thing about vampires, old friend. You never know when one of us is going to drop by,” I said through gritted teeth. “It’s time you and I had a little chat about Raven.”
His face paled as he went for his glass of wine. I knocked it away before he could reach it. Glass shattered at his feet. I slammed my hands down on the table and lurched forward, landing inches away from his face.
“Give me one good reason not to kill you right now.”
Enzo cowered in fear. The first time he’d ever looked at me that way. “Ozi, I was only trying to protect you.”
“Protect me from what? I’m a vampire. There’s not much I need protecting from,” I snapped.
“Your heart. I was trying to protect your heart… Before you met Camille, she had other lovers.” His hands were trembling.
This was going nowhere fast. “So? What does that have to do with me or Raven? Or you for that matter?”
He swallowed hard. “I—I kept tabs on Camille. I wanted to make sure she stayed away from you. Twenty-two years ago, I learned that she had a bloodline. A line of descendants. Humans. And the only surviving one was Raven. Camille was after them. All of them. So Raven’s parents left her on a doorstep in Maplewood. A place that Camille would never think to look.”
A twinge of anger was burning a hole in my belly. “Well, thanks to Cassius and an overly chatty hick bartender, I know all of that now. What the fuck, Enzo? Why would you keep this from me?”