About the gambling. About work. About everything.
I wouldn't put it past him to do something insane and betraying.
"Did you know?" Adrian asks. "About any of this?"
The question makes me flinch. "What? No! Of course not!"
"Sera—"
"I didn't know!" My voice rises. "I thought he owed fifty thousand in gambling debts! That's what he told me! I didn't know about—about any of this!"
"You knew he was working at the docks."
"He told me yesterday when I confronted him! I didn't think it mattered!" I'm practically screaming at this point. "I don't have a reason to lie, Adrian."
Adrian studies me. Looking for lies. For tells. He won't find any because I don't know what the hell is going on. And yet, I'm scared. If he doesn't believe me, what will he do?
I'm pregnant, but that's a temporary situation, and I can't ignore the feelings in my body as I consider what he might do when the baby is born. Would he take it from me? Would he kill me?
"I believe you," he says finally. "I always believed you, but I needed to be sure."
The relief is so intense I nearly cry.
"Alexei thinks you were involved," Adrian continues. "That's why he went after you. Why Dimitri was waiting in that alley. Not because of the gambling debt. He wants his money back."
"But I wasn't." My hands are shaking. I wrap them around the coffee mug. "I swear, Adrian. I had no idea Gabe was doing any of this."
"I know."
"When I went to see him at the safe house, he told me he was just giving the Morozovs low-level information about Nero shipments. That he couldn't get close to anything important and because of that they were coming after him for his debts."
"He was lying. He never would have had anything on us. My guess is that Alexei had just gotten lucky and managed to pay for intel from men I don't have on the payroll yet."
"I know that now." My throat tightens. "I believed him. I always believe him. Even when I know better." This is hardly the first time Gabe has been caught in a lie. This is just frankly, the worst. "I can't believe that he would do this to me."
I wrap my arms around my body, trying to bring some warmth back into my skin.
The weight of it crashes over me. My brother—the person I've protected my entire adult life—sold me out. Used me as a bargaining chip. Left me to die in that safe house.
And I still care about him.
I hate that I still care.
"Do you know where he would go if he were scared?" Adrian asks quietly. "Who would he turn to?"
Twenty-four hours ago, I would have said yes. Now, I'm not sure I knew my brother at all.
"I don't know," I whisper. "I used to know everything about him. But now, he's like a stranger."
Adrian nods. Like he expected that answer.
The coffee mug trembles in my hands. I set it down before I drop it.
"What are you thinking?" Adrian asks.
"My brother." The words taste bitter. "I hate that I still care about him after everything."
"You're allowed to care." His hand reaches across the counter, covering mine. "He's still your brother."
