Zach swallowed hard. “It’s done. You can’t undo that shit.”
My heart ached for both of them – two brothers who loved each other too much to admit how badly they’d hurt each other.
I stepped forward when he tried to push past me, but something inside me snapped – years of silence, guilt, and distance tightening like a wire around my ribs.
“How could I stand in front of you knowing I was a failure?”
Zach stopped cold. He turned slowly, confusion flickering across his face. “What?”
I swallowed. For once, the truth was right there – no sharp edges, no pride to hide behind. Just the ugly, broken parts.
“How could I look you in the eyes,” I said, voice low, “When I hadn’t avenged them?”
His brows furrowed, anger thinning into something else. Pain.
“You looked at me like I was invincible. Like I could take down the world if I wanted to.” My throat burned. “But I couldn’t. I was sixteen. I was barely holding myself together. And every time I thought of seeing you… Every time I flew to New York and stood in front of the Su Mansion’s gates… I couldn’t do it. I knew I wasn’t enough. Not until I did what I had to do.”
He shook his head slowly. “You’re my brother. I didn’t need you to avenge them, Matteo. I just needed you tobe there.”
The words hit me harder than any bullet ever could.
I drew in a breath, chest tight. “I’m sorry.” The two words came out unsteady. “I was ashamed. Embarrassed. I didn’t want you to look at me and see someone weak. Someone who failed them. Someone who failedyou.”
“It hurt when you didn’t come to see me in New York like you promised.” His eyes weren’t angry anymore. “I thought you didn’t give a shit about me.”
“But I did–”
“I was six, Matteo. What was I supposed to think?”
I didn’t let him look away from me – not this time.
“I cared too much,” I told him quietly. “So much it scared the hell out of me. I’m sorry for disappearing. For making you feel like you were alone. For every time you needed me and I wasn’t there.”
Zach blinked fast, trying to hide how he felt.
I pushed through the tightness in my voice. “I love you, Rafael. More than anything. C’mon, you’re the only family I got.”
His mouth twitched into a crooked little smirk, but real. “You’re a married man now. You got a new family too.”
My eyes slid to Francesca – leaning against the doorway with Maria, soft gaze fixed on the two of us,like she’d been holding her breath since the conversation started. My chest tightened in a different way this time.
“I’m sure Francesca won’t mind you being around more,” I said.
Zach huffed out a laugh. “Yeah… Probably not.”
Then – finally, after years – he stepped forward and pulled me in a hard hug.
I froze.
I hadn’t hugged Zach since he was small enough I had to crouch down to be at his level.
Slowly, like I was afraid he might vanish, I hugged him back.
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m sorry too,” He breathed, voice muffled.
“I love you, Rafe.”
