Micah sits up in his chair, leveling Evander with the same look he’s been giving me. “Are you aware of why these families feud?”
I’d like to know that myself.
“No, we don’t. Father told us it was from years of fighting for the same land, but he never elaborated.”
Micah looks at Alessa, and she shrugs with a resigned look on her face. Something needs to be said here, or this will end bloody. One wrong word and Ryder and Dexton are going to level us. I noticed we don’t have any guards inside this room; they are stationed outside, not enough time to react before we are dead.
“Your father,” Micah spits the word, “had Alessa kidnapped when she was thirteen ordering his men to,” he pauses visibly, collecting himself, “keep her. All because my brother Luca outbid him on a casino they were fighting for. So, you can see why the fuck this seems a little like bullshit.”
My head whips to Alessa, but she won’t look at me, so I look at Evander and Mateo. They both look pale, but they don’t look like they knew. Did they?
“Mr. Poletti, I assure you we had no idea,” Evander says, then looks at Alessa. “I swear we didn’t know.”
“You’re around my age?” she asks Evander, and he nods. “I wantto believe you didn’t know then, of course, but you could have been told about it later.”
“Our father never told us anything. We figured it out on our own,” Mateo adds. “We discovered a lot after he died, but that was never mentioned. Anywhere.”
“I remember a bunch of his men dying, but I always assumed it was some bad job my father sent them on,” Evander says, and I look between them, seeing the truth all over their faces.
I can tell Alessa is doing the same thing, trying to find even a hint of dishonesty. She glances over her shoulder at Ryder. He and Dex stand up taller, ready for anything.
Alessa’s face is carefully blank when she looks back at Evander and Mateo. “I killed your father,” she announces, just as she did to me. There is no emotion or warning, just throwing it out for the reaction. Evander and Mateo exchange surprised looks before looking back at her.
“Good,” Mateo spits. “He deserved everything he got.”
My brother filled me in on the type of person Frankie was, even with his family. He was verbally and physically abusive to both of them until they were old enough to fight back. That’s what kind of coward Frankie was. I could never quite figure out what the hell my mom saw in him, and she never really talked about that time in her life.
Ryder steps forward, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “You’re telling me that you’re all good with the fact she just told you that she killed your father?”
Evander shrugs. “We aren’t like him, and the world was a better place when we found out he was dead.”
Alessa rubs her temples. “Okay. Say we agree to this cease-fire. What does that mean, exactly?”
“You can’t be serious,” Ryder starts. Alessa flicks her hand up, and he steps back, shutting his mouth. It’s funny to me that she can handle them with a slight gesture or word. It shows the level of respect they have for her.
“No more fighting over businesses. No more fighting amongst our men. We coexist peacefully side by side,”Evander tells her exactly as he told me. “Truth be told, the Perez’s can use all the allies we can get. Father didn’t leave many of those.”
Alessa waves a hand towards Dex’s scarred face. “You do realize that your men did that to him? I see one of them standing in the hallway out there.”
“He’s as good as dead,” Evander assures her.
“Just like that?” She asks with that tilt to her head that makes her look a little crazy and a lot sexy.
“Yes. We thought we weeded out our father’s loyalists, but I see we missed one. We don’t want those kinds of people.”
“What happens if we bid on the same business?” Micah asks.
“We fight for it fair and square. The highest bidder wins. I hope for a bright future between the families, Mr. Poletti,” Evander answers.
Alessa turns to me. “Anything to say?”
“No. I told you everything last night,” I reassure her.
She looks back to Evander. “I can’t let him go.” He goes to open his mouth, and she holds up a hand. “Not until I know I can trust you. This trust will go both ways with you leaving your brother in my hands.”
“I see he’s been treated with the most care,” Evander says dryly, motioning towards the marks on my neck from her knife.
She shrugs. “You’re lucky he’s alive if you want to throw stones, Evander.”
