Deadly Love (The Deadly #1) - Erin Trejo Page 0,3

arms behind my back but she doesn’t allow me the space to do so. Instead, she grabs them in her hands and pulls them in front of my body so that she can look them over.

“This is not okay, Tessa. None of this is. Valentino I thought better of you. I thought allowing you here in my home, you would help her,” she says turning her attention to him. His head slowly lowers. He’s not usually one to back down from anything but from her and the hell they were forced to endure, he will. Maybe it’s too much for him. Maybe he regrets what he had to do more than we know.

“It isn’t his decision, mom. It’s mine.” Her head snaps back in my direction as she blows out a breath.

“This makes no sense. It’s the past, Tessa. Nothing good can come from the past and you know that. Why can’t you let it go?”

“Have you?”

“What?” She looks at me, the broken empty shell of a woman she once was.

“Have you let it go?” She straightens her back and swallows hard.

“Yes.”

“You’re lying! Do you think that I don’t hear you? The both of you?” She looks at me like I’m her saving grace and her demise all at once. It’s a pain filled gaze that will forever be burned into me.

“This was because of me, Tessa. I made mistakes. I messed up. That doesn’t mean that you have to fix it!” Licking my dry lips, I nod my head and take a few steps closer to her.

“Don’t you deserve peace? Don’t I? Valentino?” I ask glancing in his direction briefly before pulling my gaze back to hers.

“We all find peace at different times, Tessa. It isn’t up to you to dictate when that happens,” my mom says.

“I’m not dictating anything. I’m fixing a problem that plagues us all. Don’t you see that?” When she doesn’t answer me, I shove past and her and head for the door. Tino’s hand stops me, resting on my stomach.

“You can’t run away from this, from her.” I slowly raise my head, my eyes meeting his. They are so intense, blazing.

“I’m not the one running from the truth, Tino. You know your place is out there somewhere. Your life, your freedom. Your revenge.” I can see it in his eyes. He wants to taste it, all of it but he’s afraid of the repercussions that come along with challenge. That’s where he and I are different. I don’t care. I will stand up to the devil himself.

“There’s a time and place for everything.”

“Is there? Well, as soon as I find them, I will take my revenge for all of you.”

“We aren’t your redemption!” He roars. There it is. The words that I’ve yearned to hear from someone, anyone. No one would say them to me. No one dared but Tino just did and now my heart beats a little harder. My pulse races a little more.

“No, you’re not. No one can redeem me, Tino. The things I’ve done, that I still do and that I plan on doing. Those things can never be forgiven.” Moving his hand from my stomach, I walk out the door as my mom bursts into tears. It doesn’t take me long to make it down the hall and into Ania’s room. Moving closer to the bed, I grab her warm hand in mine, squeezing it to let her know I’m here.

“I know what they say. I know what they want but they don’t understand the need to make things right. What happened to you, God I will never forgive myself, Ania. I have tried. I have prayed but nothing works. The anger, the regret, it all just stays there locked in an angry vortex inside of me. I don’t know how to make it stop. I don’t know how to calm it. The only thing that works is revenge,” I tell her. Tears stream down my cheeks but she will never see them. Not after what they did to her. She will never look at the blue sky, the birds flying. She will never see the light of day because of them.

Taking a deep breath, I shove away from the bed and lay her hand on her chest. One last look at her and I turn and walk away. I will get revenge. I will seek vengeance in every form of the word. Someone is going to pay for the hell that this family has lived through.

As soon as