When I don’t flinch, she sighs. “You guys go on. I’ll meet you later.”
“Don’t fucking count on it,” I say, grabbing one of the guys as he starts to rise. I recognize him as the guy Eliza was sleeping on after our wedding. “You got a lot of balls showing your face here.”
“We’re just friends,” he says, holding up both hands.
“Make other friends,” I say, shoving him roughly toward the door. “If I see you in my house again, or anywhere near my wife, you won’t have a dick left to fuck her with when you try.”
“King,” Eliza snaps as I shove her little boy toy out the door. “Don’t threaten my friends.”
I slam the door behind them, lock it, and turn back to her. “Then don’t have friends who want to fuck you.”
“Tommy doesn’t—”
Before she can finish, I grab her arm and spin her around, pinning her to the door. I wrap a hand around her throat, pushing her head back against the door. “Now you’re going to answer my questions about what happened today.”
Her eyes widen, and I relish the real fear I see written on her face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I think you do,” I say, leaning in until our noses almost touch. “Now I’m giving you one more chance to tell the truth, you little liar. What did you do?”
fourteen
Eliza
“I didn’t do anything,” I swear to King. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
“Bullshit,” he growls, his fingers tightening around my throat. I’ve never seen him this angry, too angry to even toy with. “What did you do?”
“I don’t know,” I say again.
“Your father told you where we were meeting,” he says. “You knew we’d be there. Did you hire those thugs to shoot us? Or was that his doing?”
My mouth drops open in shock. “What?” I whisper. “No. I didn’t—it wasn’t us. Whatever happened, we didn’t do it.”
“If it wasn’t him, then who was it?” he asks. “Who did you tell?”
“No one,” I say, shaking my head. I did tell Bianca, but she wouldn’t do that. We have a love-hate relationship, sure, but things have been good between us for a while. Surely she wouldn’t try to kill my husband just because she’s jealous that I got someone hot and young and her family won’t even tell her who she’s going to marry.
King’s thumbs tighten painfully on my throat, and I suddenly feel lightheaded.
“My family wouldn’t do that,” I manage. “We made peace.”
“Until you told your father I was going to kill you, so he tried to kill me.”
I stare at him, unable to comprehend. Someone shot him, and I should be used to that, living the life I do. Iamused to it. But this is my husband. He could have died. And he was never anything but someone to fuck with, toy with. I don’t know the first thing about him. I never tried. Our marriage has been nothing but a game to me.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper at last. “I didn’t think he’d do anything. I mean, I don’t think he did. But…”
King stares into my eyes with so much hatred it makes me recoil. “But his men fucking shot me,” he says. “I had to fucking kill someone today, Eliza. Do you know what that feels like? Do you think I like doing this shit?”
“No,” I whisper.
“I do it because I’m your fucking husband, and that’s what’s expected of me. It’s my fucking job.”
I nod mutely, not daring to even speak. His fury makes me tremble all the way to my core. He vibrates with it, with rage and danger and a force I can’t begin to fight.
“The last thing I want to do when I come home from work is deal with this shit,” he says. “I don’t want to see your friends around here, or your boyfriend, or anyone else. This ismyhouse, Eliza. Until you do some work for it, it’s not your house. You just live here. Because I let you. And you can’t even respect me enough to clean up your shit or hire a fucking maid to do it.”
“I’ll hire a maid.”