“There weren’t any children,” Lorenzo interjects, and I look at him then.
“Not when you arrived. You think just because you left with Luca Armani that I wasn’t still in the know with locals? That I wasn’t still connected? You left me behind, thinking you took the Moretti name with you, but I stayed in the town we were raised in. I looked after our people. Do you really think they were more loyal to you than me?”
His jaw grinds.
I continue. “They were… fiddling with the children.” I shift uncomfortably in my seat. “Those children had been kidnapped and abused. So, I gave those sick fucks a deserving end, and I made sure the children were looked after by people I trusted, people who could help them. We all know I’m not the best choice for that.”
"It’s only because of how many I killed that one of the men in town alerted Luca, which is how you caught wind of it, Lorenzo."
I inhale deeply, then exhale slowly before going on.
"No matter the aftermath, I wanted to make sure the children were left out of it. You came to clean up the mess but only saw the bodies, and you accused me of being messy,” I say to Lorenzo, point-blank.
I bark out a humorless laugh, thinking after all these years I might as well just say it all. It’s not like it’ll change anything anyway. I’d long given up on my relationship with my brother.
“There was a part of me that always thought you’d come back to claim me. It’s like you kept me on a leash, and I waitedobediently. “
"But when you looked at me for the first time after all those years, you only saw me as a nuisance. I waited for you… and for what? For your approval? For your acceptance? You justleft after you killed our father. Gave some righteous declaration about how you’d create a better life for us, but you were no better than Dad. At least he was there. You just left.”
Lorenzo’s grip tightens around the armrest of the chair. “I didn’t want you to follow me into this life. This isn’t a good life, Dante.”
“That's bullshit, and you know it!” I snap, my true anger for my brother rising to the surface. “You love it just as much as I do. I’m not in denial about who I am or what my nature is, Lorenzo. You are, and you’ve always projected that onto me.”
His mouth snaps shut, and Romi's and Lily's gazes move between us carefully, as if at any moment we both might explode. I wipe at my still-bleeding nose again, looking down at the blood on my thumb.
“You never once asked what I wanted. You barely ever even checked in. You just sent me money, hoping I’d build some prestigious life. But I had nothing after you left. Mom and Milia were dead. And Dad…" I pause for a beat, then go on. "You tookhimfrom me. The only thing I could focus all my hatred on was years of cultivating my training and talents to kill our father after taking his beatings for so long, and you took that away from me. You left me with nothing!”
“I was doing us both a favor,” Lorenzo growls. “He wasn’t going to stop hitting you that day.”
“He was meant to be my first kill. You took it away from me. Did you think I endured all those beatings for the both of us for nothing?”
“That’s twisted, Dante, and you know it,” Lorenzo says, and I choke out a laugh.
“Yes, brother, I’m twisted. And you wanted me to become a surgeon. You thought it would change me that it wouldfixme. The only one who saw me for what I really was was Luca. Butyou were always in denial. Why didn’t you become the surgeon, huh?”
“Because I’m not as smart as you, Dante,” Lorenzo grits out, and my eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “You’re the smartest person I’ve ever known, and I just wanted you to focus on something meaningful. I thought you stayed all those years in our hometown because you didn’t want to make anything of yourself.”
“I was waiting foryou,”I growl, and I hate the dip in my voice. I hate how weak it makes me sound. I’m uncomfortable with all these truths, knowing that it leaves me wide open for him to mock me. I’d been such an idiot forever believing I meant as much to my older brother as he did to me. Romi’s warm hand settles on top of mine, and I soak in her comforting touch, grateful for having met her. For her seeing the real me, and still accepting me.
I roll my shoulders back, still uncomfortable by all of this shit.
“I looked up to you once,” I admit. “But you’re right, I am smart, and I learned my lesson.”
His eyebrows dip slightly as he stares at me, honestly looking at me. “And the most recent bloodbath you left behind in Italy before coming to New York?”
I chuckle. “Ah, Lorenzo, always about business.”
“I’m trying to understand,” he grits.
“It kills you to know that Luca and I have a relationship and secrets without your knowledge, doesn’t it?” I say rather smugly. My brother has dedicated most of his life to Luca, and I know it hits him hard that I now stand in his stead.
I’m still not entirely sure why Luca hasn’t filled Lorenzo in about us wiping out a few of the Bratva members on Luca’s territory in Italy, but it makes me feel victorious for once. Like, I finally have something that Lorenzo doesn’t.
My phone buzzes, and I watch Lorenzo, soaking in his irritated expression as I pull it out. When I see Luca’s name, I answer it.
“I need you and Lorenzo at the Armani mansion now,” he barks, then hangs up.
My eyebrows shoot up, and I pocket my phone. Okay, so Luca is aware of Lorenzo’s arrival. That was fast.
