Hunter - Blaire Drake Page 0,94

this family. He loves you, but he loves the California girl who'll never have responsibility. Gaige wouldn't know it if it smacked him in the face and gave him a lap dance.”

Well, there was some truth in that. “I don't know what to do, Angelo. I don't even know why I'm here or what you're doing here. Why go along with it?”

“Because it's easier to kill someone when they trust you,” he said in a low voice. His dark eyes captured mine, and I clasped my hands in my lap. “When you're on the inside. And guess what, Adriana? You're on the inside.”

I stared at him for the longest moment before drawing in a slow, long breath that filled me with a twisted sense of hope. He was right! I was on the inside now, in the house. I didn't have to worry about getting in, because—

I had to worry about getting out.

“Yeah, I am. The inside of essentially what is a fucking prison cell,” I snapped, looking down at my wrists. “Look, Angelo. He tied me up like a fucking wild animal.”

“Because you scare him. He knows you'll fight back if you can. Especially with your smart mouth.”

“I still have no idea how this is going to work. Has nobody considered it's easier to let me die? 'Cause, you know. I have. A lot of times.”

“Don't make me punch you for talking that bullshit.”

“Punch me and I'm gonna wring your balls into 2020.”

“There's that fight.” He grinned. “Drink.” He pushed the water toward me and I took it. “I've been trying to keep you alive for the last five years. I'm not letting you die right now. And despite what Gaige thinks, it's not so you can go back to California and make tiny Pontarellis with him.”

I shuddered. I was too young for babies. Killing the man who provided me with half my DNA? Not a problem. Marriage of convenience? If necessary, not a problem. Babies? Hell to the fuck no.

“Exactly.” He snorted. “Your home is here. Always has been.”

“Right, and that's great.” I screwed the cap on the bottle after a drink. “But that doesn't explain how I get out of this basement prison and kill that figa.”

He didn't even blink when I said basement. Smart guy. That's why he was going to one day run the Pontarelli family. “Do you trust me?”

“I don't trust anyone anymore. They keep pissing me off.”

Another grin. “Legit reason. But for my plan to work, you have to trust me.”

“I don't exactly have another choice, do I? Keep Isaiah and his dirty shit away from me, and you'll definitely have my trust.”

He sobered. “He won't touch you. I promise.”

“Okay. Then, yes. I trust you.”

Angelo stood, kissed the top of my head, and made for the door. “I'll be back as soon as I can.”

“Sure.”

The door shut behind him, and I hoped I wasn't making yet another mistake.

Chapter Twenty-Four – Hunter

“Carlo?” Mom's voice breaks through my concentration.

I hate math. I don't understand its purpose—unless these angles are going to teach me how to kill a deer more accurately, it doesn't make much of a difference to me. “Hang on,” I reply, scribbling a—probably wrong—answer in the space on the sheet. “What's up?” I spin on my chair to look at her.

She's pale, except for pink blotches around her eyes.

“Are you crying?” I get up and walk to her, but she holds out her arms.

“Sit down, baby,” she whispers.

I want to tell her not to call me baby since I'm fifteen, but she looks so distraught, I don't care. “Mom, please tell me what's wrong. Is it Dad?”

She shakes her head and squeezes her eyes shut, then pulls the spare office chair in front of me and sits on it. “I need you to promise me you won't lose your temper when I tell you this, okay?”

“You're starting to scare me. Just tell me what's wrong.”

She opens her mouth several times before she closes it. “Carlo...” She takes a deep breath. “Adriana died this morning.”

I don't understand what she just said.

“No she didn't. We spoke just last night. We're getting a movie tonight.”

Mom shakes her head. “I'm sorry, Carlo. Darien took her and Alexandria to the store but they were in a crash. None of them survived.”

I stare at her.

It doesn't make sense.

I don't understand. She can't be dead. Adriana can't be. That's not how it works.

“No.”

Mom nods slowly, more tears spilling over her eyes onto her cheeks.

I shake my head, over and over.