Page 4 of Stained Honor

“Of course you didn’t.”

Then he starts pacing the room, dragging both hands through his hair in disbelief.

“What the fuck did you do, Emily?”

It’s the same question I’ve been asking myself for hours.

What did I do to my life? To my marriage? To the man I love?

And somehow, I still know I had no choice.

Because if Lucia had died buried beneath that tunnel, she wouldn’t have been the only thing trapped underground forever. My peace, my sanity, every chance I had at a normal life would’ve been buried right beside her.

And there was a child involved.

I know what it feels like to grow up without parents, to carry that emptiness your entire life. I wouldn’t wish that kind of pain even on the daughter of my worst enemy.

I had to make that choice.

And now I have to live with whatever it costs me.

Carlo’s pacing gets faster with every passing second until finally, after several tense minutes, he calls out Maxim’s name sharply.

Any trace of amusement is gone from Maxim’s face now. He looks like a loaded weapon waiting to fire, every muscle in his body tense, his expression carved from stone. Without sparing me so much as a glance, he addresses Carlo directly.

“Two of our men guarding the cabin are dead. Tony’s private jet left Rome for Chicago an hour ago.”

The words hit hard enough to make my vision blur at the edges. How the hell didn’t I think about that? Of course Carlo would’ve had men guarding the end of that tunnel. Which means my betrayal didn’t just help Lucia escape. It got two of Carlo’s men killed.

Maxim takes another breath before continuing while Carlo watches him with a locked jaw.

“They got away, Carlo.”

Carlo lowers his head and squeezes his eyes shut hard enough that the muscles in his face twitch. His fists clench so tightly his knuckles lose all color.

“Any mention of Emily?” he asks without lifting his head.

“Not yet.”

Carlo finally looks up again and starts pacing the room once more.

Meanwhile, I stand there rooted to the floor like something dead growing out of it, completely frozen, with no idea what the hell I’m supposed to do now.

Eventually he stops moving and looks at me. That look. The one I’ve been terrified of seeing. The look of a man whose pride has been shattered. For one brief second, warmth flickers inside his eyes, something painfully familiar, something that almost feels like love. It burns bright enough to fill me with a fragile, desperate kind of hope.

Then it dies.

The fire turns to ash right in front of me, and suddenly I see it again for the first time in years—that primitive look I saw five years ago after his dog dragged me to the ground. That cold emptiness staring back at me from those sinful gray eyes.

A look stripped of affection. Of softness. Of love. A look that promises hard days are coming.

Without taking his eyes off me, Carlo speaks to Maxim. “Take Brando and Lorenzo and go deal with Jonathan. Beat the fuck out of him first, then execute him. Tomorrow morning I want everyone hearing that he was the one who betrayed us and helped Tony escape.”

I have no idea who Jonathan is, but I know he’s innocent in all of this. Whatever roots were keeping me frozen rip out of the ground all at once, and a broken sound tears out of my throat as I rush toward Carlo. I grab his arm desperately. “No, Carlo. You can’t kill another innocent person because of something I did.”

He bends down into my face and growls in a low, terrifyingly calm voice, “That was your choice, Emily. You didn’t want Antonia growing up without parents? Then you better get used to the bloodbath you started.”

Before I can try again, he pulls his arm out of my grip and walks out of the room with Maxim beside him.