“But he wouldn’t have had to, if he had gone. If I had let him go, all of the men would be alive and well. You wouldn’t be here. And Enzo wouldn’t be hurt either. He would have protected you.”
“Probably, but it still isn’t your fault.”
“Then whose fault is it?”
“Enzo’s.”
I shake my head. “No.”
“Yes, if anyone is to blame it’s him. But I don’t blame him. This isn’t his fault. He was just protecting those he cares about.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The man who hurt you…”
“Jarod.”
“Yes, Jarod. Do you know what happened to him?”
I shrug. “I assume he still sails on his yacht, taking on new women as slaves in every port and fucking them until he kills them.”
“No, he doesn’t.”
I freeze; my body, heart, and soul stop.
“Enzo hunted Jarod down. We snuck onto his yacht. And Enzo tortured and then killed him for what he did to you.”
I gasp. Why? Why would he do that? He sold me to him. He wanted me ruined, hurt, broken.
Zeke reads my eyes. “Enzo is loyal to the ones who are loyal to him. He protects those he views as innocent. And he gets revenge for those he loves.”
“He doesn’t love me.”
“No, maybe not. But he does care about you.”
Enzo cares about me. He got revenge for me. He protected me.
“I may not understand the relationship you two have. I don’t understand why he would sell you only to keep you safe here, but don’t ever forget he cares about you and will always care about you. That’s why he stayed instead of coming to protect us. He won’t hurt you.”
“Don’t make promises I have no intentions of keeping,” Enzo says from behind me.
My heart sputters—happy Enzo is alive and afraid of what he will do. Enzo may have cared before, but I betrayed him by not letting him save his friend. He won’t forgive me for that. I know because no matter what his intentions were when he sold me, I can’t forgive him.
You can only truly forgive those you love, and we will never love each other.
14
Enzo
She’s holding his fucking hand.
Like that is going to absolve her of her sins.
Her eyes smile at me when she first spots me, as if I’m her favorite person and she’s happy to see me. But as soon as she sees the pain etched, the lines formed from worry now hardened into rage, her smile drops.
And Kai can’t hide the agony streaming through her body as she holds Zeke’s hand. Every part of her body is begging her to let go. Her mind is screaming, her heart pumping wildly trying to get her to flee. She holds her hand calm in Zeke’s, but the rest of her body is on edge as if Zeke’s a lion about to attack her.
Good. She deserves every drop of pain she’s feeling. She’s responsible for Zeke’s condition in the first place.