“Isn’t it?”I let out a hollow laugh.“Because it looks a lot like you storming in here and acting like I’m incapable of making my own decisions.”
His nostrils flared.“He’s not just someguy, Tone.”
“No,” I snapped.“He’s not.”
And that was the problem.That was the whole, ugly, bleeding problem.
Raze dragged a hand through his hair, pacing once like a caged animal before turning back to me.“Of all people—” his voice broke then hardened again, “—you had to pickthe Russian?”
I didn’t miss the hint of betrayal in his voice.I felt it settle like a blade between my ribs.
I shook my head slowly, disbelief threading through the pain.“You don’t get to say that like you had no part in this.”
He scoffed.“Don’t twist this?—”
“No,” I fired back, louder now.“You don’t get to rewrite history because it suits you.”
I took another step closer, forcing him to see me.To hear me.
“You brought him into our world,” I said.“You.Atlas.Marcello.All of you.You gave him a seat at the table.You trusted him.You worked with him.You made him—” my voice caught, just for a second, before I forced it steady, “—you made him part of my life.”
Raze’s expression flickered, but I didn’t let up.
“And now you’re standing here acting shocked that I—what?Noticed him?Got attached to him?”
His face darkened instantly.“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t use ‘attached’ and Archie in the same sentence,” he growled.“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I felt the words as they landed right in the centre of my chest.
“You think I don’t know how I feel?”I asked, quieter now.More dangerous.
“You have no idea how you feel!I know men like him,” Raze shot back.“And they don’t stay.They don’t build anything.They take, and they leave you to deal with the wreckage.”
A bitter smile pulled at my lips.“Funny.That sounds familiar.”
His expression shuttered for a second.
“And what?”he continued.“You’re just going to walk out of here?Walk away from everything—for him?”
The question hung between us, ugly and exposed.Because for a second, I had considered it.
I swallowed hard, forcing the thought down before it could take root again.“That’s none of your Goddamn business.”
“The fuck it isn’t, Tone!It’s my damn business when something puts you in danger.”
“I’m already in danger, Raze!”I snapped, my control finally cracking.“That’s the life we live, remember?The one I was born into right alongside you?”
His chest rose sharply.Silence crashed between us.Heavy, final.
“Don’t see him again.”
The words were quiet.Deadly.More than a mere suggestion, they were a command.
I stared at him.Something inside me shifted, then broke.