Page 88 of Deathless & Divided

“Nothing,” Lily replied too quickly for it to be true.

“Nothing, right. That’s why you drove around aimlessly for twenty minutes, pulled over on a random street, and then proceeded to make a phone call to your brother while you paced back and forth. Come on, Lily. Do I look like a fucking idiot to you?”

Lily refused to look at him again. “No, but it’s not important. Leave it alone.”

“Look at me.”

“Damian—”

“Lily, look at me right now,” he demanded.

Lily blinked up at him, a wetness shining in her brown eyes. Tears saturated her bottom lashes, threatening to fall. Instantly, Damian’s gut twisted with anger and an unusual rush of sadness and confusion.

Christ.

He hated it when women cried.

“Happy?” Lily asked as the first streaks of her tears tracked down her cheeks.

“No. Why would I be happy over your tears?”

Lily sniffed and wiped at her eyes, but it didn’t stop the second flood of wetness that came right after.

“I am not a crier,” she mumbled.

“You said that once before, but I’m starting to wonder.” Damian tried to will away the odd sensations balling in his stomach. Like a shot of rage straight to his veins, all he could think about was finding out who had made Lily cry and forcing whatever goddamn apology he could out of them for it. “What happened?”

“Bad week,” she said in explanation. “All of this crap reminds me of my parents and what my brothers and I went through as kids. I called Dino because I couldn’t understand how one person’s death could cause so much uproar around us like Mia’s has. I get she was loved and that she didn’t deserve to die, but so was my mother. She was loved, too. Her death was nothing more than an accident, too.”

“And no one said a thing about her being killed,” Damian finished for her.

“Yeah, in a way. And it makes me feel awful to even think about it.”

“I get that. Nothing is ever simple, right? What did Dino tell you?”

“Blame the man, not the gun,” she said quietly.

“And who is the gun in this situation?” he asked.

“The Outfit.”

Ah.

There it was.

Dino had forewarned Damian before he even met Lily that she had her issues with the Outfit. Most of them could be drawn straight back to her parents’ murders.

“He has a good point,” Damian said.

Lily didn’t bother to wipe the tears from her cheeks as she said, “I know, but it still bothers me and I feel like a fraud.”

“Why?”

“I told Eve someone else’s mother might die because hers did and at the same time, all I could think about was why didn’t someone die for mine, too?”

“You know why though, don’t you?” Damian asked.

“My father.”