There had never been a moment in my life that Lydia and Luc hadn’t resolved an argument. Usually, Luc was in the wrong, and after a day or two he would swallow his pride, but this time around, both had dug their feet in and neither of them were ready to concede.
“You don’t need to leave,” I repeated.
“I won’t stay where I’m not welcome.” There was a good reason as to why pride was a sin and it was being displayed perfectly in my kitchen. Lydia crossed the space and dotted a kiss on my cheek. “I’ll see you next week. Call if you need anything before then.”
“Thanks, Lyds.”
As she left the kitchen, Luc stepped out of the way, leaving enough space to ensure that neither of them brushed against each other. I would have liked to have banged their heads together in hopes that they’d both see some sense.
“Since when did you hide things from me?” Luc asked, when the front door clicked shut signaling that we were alone. We were standing at opposite ends of the kitchen. There was no desire for a repeat of our fight, and yet I still found myself balling my hands into fists. I wouldn’t let him catch me off guard for a second time.
“We don’t exactly have an open-door policy anymore.”
“You work for me. You do what I tell you to. You should have told me you went looking for her and that you found her.”
“Not sure if you noticed, but we haven’t exactly been on talking terms, Luc. Especially where Mia is concerned.”
“I’m your boss!”
“You’re meant to be my brother!” We’d gone from fist fights to yelling at each other like kids across the space. My words settled a blanket of silence over the room.
“Where did you find her?” Luc said, calmly. He didn’t want to address my statement. He was after answers. Luc was more focused than I’d seen him in months, but I grew curious about why he needed them now. He’d told her to leave, made me pick a side, and then hadn’t breathed a word about her. I had vowed to Mia that I would keep her safe from him. That was never a vow I thought I’d have to make; however, it was one that I would never allow myself to break.
“Why?”
“Answer the damn question.” Calm only lasted so long, but this had to be a new record.
“Carmen,” I told him. He’d find out eventually, and Emilio wouldn’t take any of the shit that Luc was trying to pull as of late and I was too curious to let this go.
“Emilio knew,” he hissed.
“No,” I corrected him. “No, Carmen did this all on her own. Thinking about it, Carmen and Mia might actually give us a run for our money with how long they managed to hold out.”
“This isn’t a joke, Dante.”
“Apologies for trying to stop you suffering an aneurysm in the middle of my kitchen.”
“Why is she with Gabe?”
“How do you know that?” Mia’s reappearance was bound to become public knowledge, but I hadn’t realized how quickly the news would get out. It was strange to think Gabe might have gone to Luc when things hadn’t exactly been smooth between the pair.
“Answer my question first. Why is she with Gabriel?”
“Where was she meant to go, Luc?” I asked him. “You made me choose and I chose you. What was I meant to do? Send her back to the house that her father was murdered in?” He flinched at the words. That had been the only other option: sending Mia back completely unprotected to the house she had discovered her father’s body in. As sick and twisted as people painted us to be, I wasn’t a monster. There was no way that was happening on my watch, and so Gabe had been the most favorable choice. The only choice.
“Is there anything else you need to tell me?”
In the depths of my mind there was an alarm bell that went off. We placed so much focus on the way questions were phrased, took in every nuance and change in body language. Luc was not asking me because he was in the dark. Luc was asking because he already knew the answer and wanted to see if I would give it to him. There would be no point in lying to him. A well-placed lie could save a life, but a lie in this situation would only add further strain to our crumbling brotherhood.
“She’s pregnant.” The sentence hung in the air between us. We were still picking out pieces of shrapnel from the fallout of this mess, and every time we thought we were done, something else happened. Only this time, it wasn’t something to tidy up. It was something to be excited over. A flicker of emotion passed over Luc’s face. He’d come to me for confirmation. Whoever had told him—it could have only been Gabriel—Luc hadn’t believed them.
“Your dumb ass is going to be a Dad,” I reaffirmed, the ghost of laughter lacing my words. Imagining Luc as a Dad was a slight stretch. Having a baby to raise and care for would be a steep learning curve for all of us.
The stony expression settled back into place. “You should never have kept that from me. I could have done anything to her.”
Was that a breakthrough? News of the pregnancy had chipped away at the impenetrable anger enough so that he cared if he’d hurt her. All I needed was to get them into the same room again to talk over everything that had happened. I could tell him and get the ball rolling. The last secret that I’d kept from him bubbled in my chest and almost spilled out of my mouth. Luc deserved to know what was going on, but he needed to digest this information first. He needed to at least speak to Mia before we decided to rip away an integral part of his life. Everything had to be handled delicately, no matter how badly I wanted to rush in. Pulling the rug out from under him when he was already questioning things in his life would not be the best idea.
“I would never have let you,” I told him honestly.
