Page 96 of My Craving

“You were right about one thing. She took your family’s money. What you never knew was where she went afterward.”

Something changes in Alina’s face as Alessia glances briefly at me before continuing. “She came to Philadelphia. She married Duncan, had Declan and spent years making them believe she loved them while she was stealing from them too.”

“What happened to her?”

“She poisoned them.”

Alina stares at her, and Alessia doesn’t look away. “Duncan and Declan. Declan was five years old. Maria intended to kill both of them and leave with the money she’d taken.”

“No. You’re lying.”

“I was there. Duncan called Kieran after Maria poisoned them, and we got there before either of them died.”

Alina’s breathing changes as she looks around the room again. “Where is she?”

“I killed her.”

For several seconds, Alina only stares at Alessia before jerking against the restraints. “You fucking killed her? She was supposed to come back. My family spent years looking for her because we thought she had the rest of the money.”

“She couldn’t come back. She was dead.”

“Because of you.”

“Because she poisoned two people I loved.”

Alina starts shouting about everything Maria took from her family, the years Ion and Elena spent looking for her and the money they never recovered. Alessia doesn’t argue with any of it because Maria did those things. Alina’s family had every reason to hate her for what she took from them, but none of it changes what Alina chose to do years later.

“You knew what Maria did to your family, and you still became exactly like her,” Alessia says when Alina finally stops long enough to hear her. “You killed your own parents because you thought they were hiding money from you. Then you came here, went after Duncan and nearly got Nash killed because you wanted what you thought belonged to you.”

Alessia reaches for the knife on the table, closing her hand around the handle as she moves closer. “Maria destroyed your family for money. You had every reason to hate what she did, and you still made the same choices.”

Nash slips out from beneath my arm and steps into Alessia’s path. Every instinct I have tells me to pull him back, especially when I see the way he favors his injured side, but I stop myself when he puts his hand over Alessia’s.

“Nash, move.”

“No. You already did this once for Duncan and Declan. Alina didn’t come here twenty-two years ago. She came here now. She went after Duncan, and when I got in the way, she came after me.”

Alessia looks at him. “That doesn’t mean you have to do this.”

“I didn’t say I have to.” Nash glances at Alina before looking back at her. “I want to.”

I move closer until I’m directly behind him and rest my hand against his lower back. After watching him bleed on a ballroom floor a week ago, this is as far away from him as I’m willing to be.

Alessia holds on to the knife for another few seconds before looking at me, then back at Nash. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” She releases it. Nash takes the knife and leans back against me for a moment. “Stay with me.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Alina starts struggling against the restraints as Nash approaches her. The anger she had for Alessia is gone now. She offers him money, then information, throwing out names we already have and access to accounts that no longer contain anything before finally telling him none of this was supposed to happen.

Nash stops in front of her. “You’re right. Adrian was supposed to get me out of that hotel so you could use me to make Duncan give you what you wanted.”

“You don’t understand what Maria promised my family.”

“I understand that your parents didn’t have it. Duncan didn’t have it. I sure as fuck didn’t have it.” His grip tightens around the knife. “You killed your own parents because you thought they were hiding more money from you.”

"They lied to me."