“But I did. That’s the problem,” she whispers. “I could have prevented this.”
“Mia.”
“I need a minute.” She rips her arm from my hold and grabs her dress, picking it up off the floor, and I watch her enter the bathroom on the other side of the restaurant.
“Will you…?”
“Yeah.” Jasmine and Emilee are already up and going after her before I can finish my request.
“Well, this is a disaster,” Cross states, picking up his scotch and throwing it back.
“I’ll be back,” I announce and start walking off.
Titan stands as well. “Bones, don’t,” he rushes out, but I’m already walking toward the elevator.
Grave and April both have their backs to me as they wait on it.
“Why would you do that?” I hear her ask my brother when I approach them.
“It needed to be said. Haven deserves to know,” he answers her as the door slides open. “She’s using him. Mia has him fooled—”
I come up behind him and shove his back, pushing him into the waiting elevator, cutting off whatever bullshit he was about to say about me.
“Bones,” April squeals, reaching out for me, but Titan had followed me and grabs her while the door closes with Grave and me inside before she can enter.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I get in his face.
He fixes his suit jacket that I managed to knock off his shoulder. “You think I’m going to sit back and let her ruin our lives? What we’ve worked so hard for?”
“She didn’t do this,” I shout, fisting my hands and trying not to knock his ass out.
“Luca could die.” He presses his hands into my chest, pushing me back, and I stretch my neck. It’s been a while since my brother and I have physically fought, and I really don’t want to hit him. “Because of her. Don’t you understand that?” He shoves me again, knocking me into the wall. “And then who do you think they’ll come after? Huh?”
“Jesus, is that what this is about?” I snap at him. “I’m an adult, Grave. I don’t need you to look out for me.”
“I finally have a life.” He points at his chest. “I finally have a reason to live. I love April with all I have, but I can’t lose you, Bones.” Shaking his head, he drops his eyes to the floor. “I can’t …”
“Hey.” I grip his face and force his eyes on mine. “Nothing is going to happen to me. I promise. But I have to do what I need to do to save her. Please understand that.”
Grave has always felt things more than anyone I know. That was why he was an addict. He always said it was to feel alive, but I think it was to numb everything. To forget our mother died when we were young and the fact that our father acted like he didn’t exist. Grave always had a death wish. That’s how he got his nickname. The drugs were going to help him live up to it. He’s clean now, and I’m just realizing how it’s affected him. How much he worries about losing what he’s finally come to realize he has.
“Even if it means ruining all of us?” he asks. “Because that’s what they will do the first chance they get.”
“It won’t come to that.” I’ll do whatever I have to do to make sure she’s taken care of without the Bianchis touching the Kings and their queens. Even if that means surrendering myself to them. “I—”
“You can’t promise that, Dillan,” he interrupts me. “And even if you believe it, I don’t.” He steps back, and my arms fall to my sides again. “You need to let her go again. Ship her off.”
“I can’t do that,” I say honestly.
He stares at me, his blue eyes hardening and his jaw sharpening. “You’ve fucked her.”
It wasn’t a question, so I don’t respond to it.
Throwing his head back, he gives a rough laugh. “Can’t fucking believe it.” His eyes meet mine again, and he pushes a finger into my chest. “Explain to me again how she’s not using you.”
“She’s not.”
“Bullshit!” he screams.
The door slides open just as the identical elevator beside us dings. April comes running into ours the next second. Titan comes into view, standing right outside of it.
“Grave.” She breathes his name.
“Let’s go home.” He drapes his arm over her shoulders and exits the elevator.
Titan steps onto mine, and the door closes once again. He presses the button for the restaurant. “Not going to lie. I expected him to be knocked out on the floor. Thanks for saving me from having to deal with a distraught April.”
I run a hand through my hair. “Fuck,” I hiss.
“Put her first,” he speaks.
I look over at him. “The Kings—”
“We’re fine, Bones. We can handle ourselves. Do what you have to do.”
I flinch at his words. Luca told me those same words, and I’ve already failed him. “It’s not that simple.” Titan makes it sound so easy, but I feel like I’m being pulled in a hundred different directions. I’ve never been this confused about what actions to take or how to handle something. I’m always in control. Mia has thrown everything off. I know I need to protect her, and I will. I’m just not sure how I can.