Olivia’s face was ashen and stricken with grief. It pained me to see it. I didn’t know who Jack was, or what he did to her, but it must’ve been something unforgivable. I guessed Marcus’ involvement painted me with the same brush in her mind, and I’d no idea what I could do to make her see otherwise.

“Olivia.” There was sadness in Marcus’ voice. “It wasn’t supposed to turn out like it did, for that I am sorry.”

“Really?”

Olivia held back her tears, and all I wanted to do was brush them away.

“You sent Jack to kill me and all you can say is you’re sorry?”

Marcus’ eyes widened in surprise. “I didn’t know he tried to kill you. I sent him to keep an eye on you.”

She laughed. “Give me a break, Marcus. You sent him to protect me, did you? Is that why he put his hands around my throat, squeezed until I had no choice but to drive a knife into his chest? I guess that was just character building.”

Marcus shook his head as he stared at the floor. “He was supposed to watch out for you.”

“Spare me the excuses, Marcus. I saw the message, he was ordered to do it.”

He stepped forward and threw his hands in the air. “What? No. That wasn’t me. The last thing I want is you dead. I’d never give that order.”

Anger cut through my bones as I glared at Marcus. “You did want her dead. You gave me that order.”

He balled his hands in frustration. “No! That was different, and I didn’t fucking mean it.”

Olivia laughed. “So, you are playing me?”

My heart sank as I realised how that must’ve sounded. I turned to see the pain in her eyes, shaking her head like she didn’t want to believe it. “No. Olivia, I knew nothing about all this. What we had was real, I promise you that.”

“Your promises mean shit.”

“Olivia, please. You must know how I feel about you?”

She shook her head. “All I know is how much I hate you.”

If she’d have taken a knife to my heart, it would have hurt less. There was no coming back from this. She thought I was another monster, ordered to use and abuse her.

“Why can’t you all just leave me alone?” She backed down the alleyway.

Marcus started towards her. “Olivia, we can’t let you leave.”

She huffed. “Is that for my protection, too?”

“Yes.” He glared at Wallis. “If she leaves. You pay.”

Wallis looked between them, mulling over the consequences. Olivia looked back at him with pleading eyes. Then turned to run as he lunged for her. It took only a few steps before he grabbed her by the waist and carried her back, kicking and shouting.

Marcus ran a hand over his forehead. “Get her back in the club.”

Milena opened the door for them to enter, trying to hide the smirk on her face as she watched her sister being carried inside. How could she be so callous as to find any of this amusing? She caught my stare and straightened herself as she turned to follow them. Marcus was running his hands over his face as I turned to him.

I wanted to punch him. To beat him until he hurt as bad as I did. It took all my will not to.

He pulled his hands down and shook his head as he saw my glare. “Don’t start.”

“What the fuck were you doing?”

“Not now, Aaron.” He sighed then turned to walk into the club.

A brush off would not slide with me now. I needed answers. Chasing him into the hallway, I grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back against the wall. “I said, what the fuck were you doing?”

The surprise on his face didn’t last long. It turned to annoyance as he looked away. No doubt thinking of another way to fob me off.

“Don’t make me repeat myself, Marcus.”

He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw before looking back up at me with a cold stare. “You won’t let this go, will you?”

“No, I won’t. Tell me what was going on.”

He looked to the door leading into the club. Then shook his head. His voice barely above a whisper when he replied.

“Jack wasn’t the only one I sent to her, but he was the one she fell for, unfortunately.” He looked back at me, frustration creasing the lines on his face. “There were a few people I trusted to check in with her periodically.”

“You were using her to get to her father?”

He shook his head. “No. They were just supposed to keep an eye on her. I had others feeding me info on Gian.”

“So, why were you watching her?”

“To see what she was doing. Jack was only supposed to check in once a week or so. Get friendly, but not too friendly, keep his distance. Everything was fine until she got too close to him. I warned him off her and thought that’d be the end of it.”

“It obviously wasn’t.”

“No. I found out two months later that he’d carried on seeing her in secret. I was fucking furious.” His voice raised, but he caught himself with a glance at the door before he carried on. “After I put the word out, I expected my guys to bring him in, but it wasn’t even a week later that I found out she’d killed him. I didn’t know why.” He held my eyes to drill his point. “I didn’t give that order, Aaron. The first I heard about it was today. Jack must’ve been working with someone else.”

I rolled my eyes. “You expect me to believe that bullshit? Why would anyone but you want her fucking dead?”

“I don’t know. But I don’t want her dead, far from it.”

He was pissing me off. “Yeah, that’s why you gave me that order.”

He clenched his jaw. “I didn’t want you getting close to her. I told you that.”

“Why? Why any of it? Why send someone to watch her at all? Gian’s the only fucking reason.”

He rubbed his face in frustration and growled. “Work it out, Aaron.”

His fingers covered his mouth as he glared at me. When I said nothing, he dropped his hands and sighed.

“She’s my daughter.”

The statement blindsided me enough to knock the wind from my lungs. I could do nothing but stare at him slack-jawed in utter disbelief. “She’s yours?”

“Keep your fucking voice down. And yes, she is. I’m surprised you didn’t work it out sooner.”

I laughed as I tried to process it. He was her father. When I pieced it all together it made sense. How angry he got when I was getting close to her. How he warned me off her. Why he was so adamant about getting her on side and not letting her leave.

Fuck. I could see the resemblance. They had the same eye colour and skin tone. That realisation made me queasy. Olivia was his daughter, all this time, and I never saw it. “Fucking hell, Marcus. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because no one can know. No one. Imagine what Gian would do if he found out.”

I shook my head as I imagined his reaction. “Shit. He’d do a lot more than kill her. Don’t you think you could’ve told me though?”

“No. I couldn’t risk Olivia finding out either. What do you think that would do to her? I’ve only told you now as you’ve left me no choice. Twenty-eight years I’ve kept this secret. I’d only ever discussed it with Rebecca.”

“That’s why you’ve never made a move on Gian before.”

He nodded. “I had to wait until she was old enough. She was only six when her mother went. I couldn’t take the rest of her family from her, too.” He winced then looked down. I could tell the thought pained him. “As terrible a father as Gian was, he was all she knew.”

How could he leave her with that monster? “But she was your daughter.”

He gritted his teeth. “I knew that, but she didn’t. What was I supposed to do? Roll in, kill Gian and comfort a bereaved six-year-old with the consolation that her real daddy had turned up to save her? Yeah, that wouldn’t have fucked her up at all.”

“You let that psychopath raise your daughter, even after watching what he did to her mother?”

“I didn’t have a fucking choice, did I?” He had to check the anger in his tone. “Believe it or not, I did what I thought was best for her. There isn’t a day goes by I don’t wish it could’ve been different.”

I turned away from his glare, feeling a little guilty about berating him for it. I wouldn’t have made the same choice, but I can see why he did. It couldn’t have been easy.

He sighed and slumped against the wall. Anguish evident on his face. “I’ve kept tabs on her since. She didn’t have the greatest of childhoods, but she was in no danger. As long as I stayed away. Gian was focused on getting her involved with the business. Rebecca told me that’s all Gian wanted, an heir to his throne. She’d be okay as long as she played by his rules. Which she did until you showed up.”

My heart sank. “Until she betrayed him for me.”

He nodded. “That’s why I wanted her out of the way before it all went down. Just in case something went wrong. I didn’t want her caught in the crossfires.”

“I’m sorry.” That little word would never undo the damage.

He shook his head. “It’s alright. I don’t blame you… well, I do, but shit happens. You can’t prepare for the unexpected.”

I sighed. “Okay. What are we gonna do now?”

He shrugged. “Same as before. It’s time to take out Gian. Olivia can’t leave until we do.”

“She doesn’t want to stay. Not now.”

“Yeah, well. That’s where you come in. You’re gonna have to suck it up and keep her under lock and key. It’s not as if you haven’t done it before.”

The thought of it sickened me. The last thing I wanted to do was tie her down and force her to hate me even more. “What are you doing about Gian?”

“Tuesday night. Right here.”

“You can’t be serious. There’s no way you can trust Wallis after this.”

“I didn’t realise he was that close to Olivia, but yeah. I’ll have to go with it. There isn’t many other options now.”

“Marcus, it’s a bad idea. If he’s willing to spill your involvement with Jack to Olivia, then I’m sure he’s more than willing to spill your plan to Gian.”

“I know,” he smiled. “I’ll just have to be ready for it.”

“What the fuck are you planning now?”

He cocked his head and looked away as he kissed his teeth. “Can’t give all my secrets away today.”

“A double bluff?”

“Something like that. Come on, we’d better get inside and sort this out.”

Marcus headed down to the inner double doors, and I followed begrudgingly behind. It made me uneasy to face Olivia again. It hurt knowing how much she hated me. The ache was already heavy in my chest, and it’d only get worse in her presence.

Walking through into the main hall, I expected to see them arguing around the boxing ring, but the hall was empty. Marcus looked back as he scanned the room. His pace quickened as he marched to the bar and flung the doors open.

“Anything?” I shouted as dread crept down my spine.

He shook his head as he came back out. “No. Check the basement, I’ll check upstairs.”

Marcus ran to the cast-iron stairs at the back, and I bolted through the door to the basement, down the stone stairs and into the dark room. I heard muffled sounds ahead. I couldn’t see anything besides dog cages and chains on the wall, but there was a large fighting pit in the centre of the floor. The muffled sounds became louder as I ran towards the pit. It sounded like someone gagged. My stomach dropped as I peered over the edge and saw Milena bound on the floor. Alone.

Fuck.

“Aaron, anything?” Marcus called from the door.

I called back. “It’s something, but you won’t like it.”