Page 46 of Vengeful Devotion
“What do you mean?”
I don’t even try to dance around the reason I’m here. “I know the truth. I know who you really are.Gemma De Luca.”
Gemma’s body shivers. The first movement I’ve seen her make since she spotted me. Her eyes dart towards the door. For a moment, I fear that she’ll run. But something about the way her body sags calms me. Like she’s decided she’d rather take her chances with me than risk leaving.
I take a step towards her. She takes a step back. I don’t want to fall into a dance with her, so I raise my hands.
“Just tell me the truth, Gemma.”
“Why does it matter? You’re going to kill me either way.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because I lied to you, and you don’t like liars.”
My big strides eat the distance between us. I take her face between my hands. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’d never hurt you. All I want is the truth, Gemma.”
“But you said—“
“I know what I said. But that was before you became, well, you.”
She gives me a look. “What am I to you?”
Everything. You’re everything to me.The words sit on the tip of my tongue. But I can’t say them. Not yet. I’d risk scaring her away. I’ve only just allowed these feelings to roar to life. I’ve only just now given them a name and accepted them. But Gemma isn’t ready yet. I know that. Just like I know she’s mine.
“You’re important.”
She scoffs, wrestling her face out of my hands. “I’m no one, Declan. You shouldn’t worry yourself about me.”
I sigh. “That’s my choice to make. Now, stop deflecting and tell me why you really left Boston.”
Gemma fidgets with her hands. Her body is so anxious, she can’t sit still. I know the feeling. I know it well.
“Lonny came to see me.”
Her shoulders slump. She looks as broken right now as she did in the photo he showed me. Like just hearing his name shatters her already fragile pieces. It hurts me to see her like this. So timid. So meek. So scared.
“What did he tell you?”
“That you were a danger to yourself and the public.”
“Do you believe him?”
Not a fucking chance. The only danger Gemma poses is to my sanity.
“I’d like to hear your side.”
“Um, I’m not sure how much you want to know.”
“All of it.”
My voice is a snarl. She flinches beneath the harsh tone. I’m pushing her and I know it. But this will go a lot smoother if she’d just tell me what I need to know. I will make sure that Lonny never touches her again. I’ll make sure he never touchesanyoneever again. But to do that, I need to know what he did to her. If there was ever a time when an eye for an eye was the solution, this is it.
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
Gemma
I’m standingon the edge of a cliff, and I have no choice but to go over. To dive into the ominous depths of my past and tell Declan everything. There’s no way of knowing if I’ll sink or swim. No way of knowing if I’ll fall straight on the rocks to my death or float on the waves. There’s no courage flowing through my veins. Only dread. I clutch the blanket beneath my hands. I want to rewind time. Go back to that storage closet when Declan had his hands all over me. Before he met my uncle. Before he found out that I lied. But there’s no remote control for fate.
