Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 92702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92702 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
I wave off the offer of a driver and get behind the wheel myself, the tires squealing as I back out of the driveway, then swing around and peel down the street. She’s going to regret lying to me. Again.
17
ALICIA
Where is she? Dammit, is she deliberately ducking me? I look around the room as we all stand, ready to go the second the instructor ends the lecture. Maybe Elena slipped in when I didn’t notice. But no, she’s not here. It’s like she knows I have it out for her.
Normally, I would brush off a thought like that and call it paranoia. But I don’t think I’m being paranoid now. It’s been a few weeks, and I still haven’t managed to pull Elena aside and talk to her. This is our only class together. How am I supposed to reach out to her without looking obvious?
What if I text her and ask why she’s been a stranger? It’s as good an idea as any. One friend being worried about another friend is totally normal. I have to figure out the right way to say it is all.
I can’t help but drag my feet out of the room. I’m the last person to leave, in fact, and by the time I reach the door, even the instructor is gone. It’s just me in this otherwise empty lecture hall, trying to come up with a way to sound natural when I ask Elena why she’s ducking me.
Until someone joins me, grabbing me by the arm before I can step through the door and shoving me back into the room. He’s slammed and locked the door before my brain can catch up to what’s happening. Then he whirls on me, and everything comes into sharp, terrifying focus.
I’ve seen Enzo like this before. On our wedding day, for example, after his grandfather died and Alvarez dropped the truth. When I knew he wanted to kill me and was afraid it would happen at any second. He looked this enraged then. Wild. Like he was holding his self-control by a thread.
“What are you doing?” I ask him in a choked whisper. My heart is going a million miles a minute, and a cold sweat breaks out because I know exactly what he’s doing. I can read it in his eyes, the way they blaze. I’m surprised I don’t burst into flames on the spot.
“Is there something you need to tell me?” he demands. “And I need you to think very seriously about the next words that come out of your mouth, Alicia. I need you to consider them carefully. Don’t even think about lying to me or coming up with some bullshit story. It’s time for the truth.”
“The truth about what?” I ask. It’s obvious I’m stalling. What do I do? How does he know?
His laughter makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck. “Wrong answer.”
“I don’t understand. Where is this coming from? You can’t just barge in here and lock us in an empty room, Enzo. We’re going to get in trouble.”
“Right,” he sneers, pacing in front of me and blocking the door. “Because that’s all you care about, isn’t it? Doing the right thing. Being a good girl. Obeying the rules.”
“If obeying the rules means security not throwing us off campus and telling me to never come back, then yes, I would like to obey them.”
“I guess none of that mattered the night you sneaked into that warehouse, did it?”
“I already told you why I did that. Why are you throwing that in my face now?”
He comes to a stop before lunging at me. “What are you hiding from me?” he bellows. His voice echoes in the large room, and I recoil from it, both hoping somebody hears and wants to help and dreading the idea. This will get so much worse if anybody else becomes involved.
“Okay, okay,” I whisper as I back away, lowering my backpack to the floor and holding up my hands. “This doesn’t have to be a big thing. We’re in public.”
“Fuck the public!” He bends down, picks up my backpack, and hurls it across the room. I jump when it hits the wall; glad my phone is in my pocket. He would have crushed it otherwise. “Do you think I give a fuck what anybody else thinks? I don’t have to. I’m not some pathetic nobody. I am Enzo De Luca, and I want the truth from my wife. For once. Just tell me the fucking truth!” He takes the random textbook lying on the table at the front of the room and throws it up into the seats, where the bang it makes reminds me of a gunshot.
He’s not going to stop. I know that much. It’s useless to stall. “You want the truth?”
His breath comes in big, heaving gasps. “What the fuck have I just said? Yes.”