Like it’s going to bring back any degree of order to my life.
I roll my eyes, gritting my teeth as my feet take the stairs two at a time.
One, two, three…
I let out a deep breath at the top of the staircase, the stress knot a little looser than it was only moments ago.
Four-five-six…
I open the door to my room, fish through my drawers for some lululemon and pull it on. The stuff gives me a fight, and sometimes I feel like it’s a harder workout to get it on and off than the actual workout itself.
Seven-eight-nine…
I take a few deep, cleansing breaths.
I will figure out who destroyed our family.
Ten, eleven, twelve…
I will find them. And I will avenge the deaths that permanently scarred our hearts and souls.
Thirteen.
Chapter Eighteen
KRISTINA
I take a good, long look at myself, wondering if I will be enough to uncover his truth.
I feel so underhanded right now, posing in my full-length mirror in an outfit carefully curated to make Massimo’s blood boil, all in the name of finding out who murdered my parents.
With a quick shrug, I grab my phone and head for the basement.
We’re all playing a part.
I jog downstairs, scrolling to one of my favorite Spotify playlists and hit play. It’s nineties alternative rock — Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, Jane’s Addiction, Alice in Chains. I love them all, the underground grunge, the raw emotion, the unapologetic broodiness.
I turn the volume all the way up and tighten my ponytail before slipping on my hand wraps and preparing to attack the heavy bag. I fly into a flurry of punches and kicks, leaping around the circumference of the bag and assaulting every inch of it as if I am avenging the deaths of my parents.
Which I absolutely will as soon as I figure out exactly who will be the target for my rage.
It isn’t long before beads of sweat pebble my forehead and cleavage and I am gasping for air and water after a grueling match against the hundred-and-thirty-pound weight hanging from the ceiling. I grab a bottle of water from the small refrigerator set up in the corner of the basement, twisting off the cap and gulping it down so fast, the cool, crisp liquid drizzles down my chin. I use my forearm to wipe it away and grab a towel to mop the sweat off my brow.
I glance down at the time on my phone.
Half an hour? Really?
So much for protection. I guess I should feel lucky that there wasn’t an assassin lurking in the closet down here, ready to pummel me with a set of dumbbells.
I pull off my wrist wraps and dump them onto the bench next to the heavy bag, guzzling the rest of the water on my way back up the steps. Part of me is angry as hell that I didn’t get to enact my brilliant plan, the other part is disappointed that he wasn’t interested enough to find out why I decided to rock the foundation of the house with my music.
“What an asshole,” I mutter, pulling open the door to the kitchen. Already, my brilliant plan has been derailed.
“Who’s an asshole?”
My head pops up, the intruding voice startling me just enough that I have to grab onto the railing to keep myself from tripping backward and tumbling down the steps.
Massimo’s eyes meet mine from across the room. He’s sitting at the table with a can of soda and a newspaper in front of him, his legs stretched out under the table as he reclines in the chair. I resist the urge to bite down on my lower lip.
“I asked who the asshole was.” He lifts an eyebrow and I walk to the refrigerator in a huff, pulling open the door and grabbing a can of seltzer.
Oh, I want to give him such a snarky response but that would just thwart my efforts even more. I need to seduce him, not alienate him.
I smack my lips, turning slowly as I pop off the top. “Based on our conversation in the driveway a little while ago, I didn’t think you’d care.”
“And based on the fact that you showered as soon as we got home, I didn’t think you’d have gotten all sweated up again downstairs.”
“I forgot that I hadn’t gotten my workout in. And I was feeling like I needed to channel some of the ugly stuff I’ve been bottling up. I’m sure you know what that’s like.”
“I’m no stranger to ugly stuff,” he mutters.
I swallow down every single word that I want to spew at him, slowly sauntering toward the table. A tiny shiver of excitement ripples through me as his eyes trace over the outline of my legs and ass in these ridiculously constricting leggings that inhibit my ability to breathe freely. “I shouldn’t have lashed out at you before. I don’t know your deal, and our deal just includes protection. Expecting anything more was stupid and uncalled for. I guess I was just anxious to have found a potential lead. But it’s not your job to help me chase them down.” I stretch my arms overhead, being sure to puff out my chest as much as possible.
That’s never been a problem for me since I have triple Ds.
But just to be sure he notices, I take my sweet time lowering my arms and then stretching them behind me, really putting focus on the sports bra straining against my boobs.
He picks up the can in front of him and takes a long gulp of the carbonated drink, his gaze never straying from mine.
Impressive. Even with my chest about to explode out of the stretchy fabric.
“I can’t get involved, Kristina,” he says, his fingers sliding up and down the side of the can. “As much as I want to make the people who did this pay, I can’t. I shouldn’t have gone to the high school with you today. I could have brought more danger on you and your sisters by doing that.”
I nod, twisting my ponytail around my finger. “I understand. I won’t ask you to do anything like that again.”
Wow, this is just not going as I’d planned.
And I can’t lie.
It’s a total ding to my ego.
He almost kissed me last night. I know he feels something even if he’s trying to deny it to himself.
I just want to exploit that, dammit.
Why is this so hard?
Sofia has the skills to slay this kind of manipulative tactic.
My skillset is a little different.
More anatomical than sensual.
I mean, I can’t very well recite all of the bones in the body, thinking that it will get him all hot and bothered.
And let’s face it. My ‘moves’ are questionable.
One might call them a little contrived.
My shoulders sag slightly and I back away from the table.
I need to know his agenda and other than coming out and asking him directly, I don’t see how—
“Kristina, watch out!”
Crash!
My funny bone cracks into the corner of the granite countertop and I scream, dropping the can of seltzer. It hits the floor, clear bubbles fizzing all over the ceramic tile.
“Ahh!” My leg catches in the rung of the wrought-iron counter stool before it slams on top of me, cracking the side of my head. I lay still on the cool tile for a second, blinking fast to eliminate the fuzzies that have commanded my vision.
I repeat my name over and over to make sure I still remember it.
A sharp sizzle of pain explodes between my ears and I clutch my temples, wincing from the pressure.
“Kristina! Shit, are you okay?” Massimo drops down next to me, rubbing his thumb over the side of my skull. “Damn, it’s already starting to bruise. We need to get some ice on it.”