“Shut up!” I roar and smash the bottle on the floor.
Cassian flinches and takes a step back away from the shards of glass on the floor.
“After what he did to you…” I mumble.
Cassian’s wet eyes look at me in confusion. “What are you talking about, Minnie?” he asks me.
“Don’t call me that!” I sneer. “Don’t call me anything! Get away!” I wave my arms. Tears burn in my own eyes and I look away from him.
“You deserved it, you deserve it,” I say breathlessly.
Suddenly, Tommaso comes rushing into the room with Tiberi right behind him.
“What the fuck is going on in here?” Tommy asks, squaring up with his shoulders as he sees the two of us. His eyes are already flashing with heat and I know he’s gunning to fight someone.
“Nothing!” I step on the broken glass accidentally and growl in frustration as I step back and stumble into sitting on the window seat again.
“Cassian, are you alright?” Tiberi asks him.
I scoff and look to the side. My vision is blurry already. How much longer until I simply black out? Did I really drink that much? My left foot is dripping with blood and stinging from the glass in it, but I don’t care.
“He’s just being a dick,” Cassian mumbles. “What’s new?”
I narrow my eyes, but it’s mostly in an attempt to just see clearly.
“Go, it’s time for dinner anyway,” Tiberi insists.
“Yeah, we’ll handle our brother,” Tommy agrees. “Nothing a little hand to hand can’t work out.”
“Tommaso, relax,” Tiberi puts a hand on his shoulder. “Take Cassian to the dining room. Alessio will be home soon.”
Tommy scoffs. “Right… yeah, Alessio will probably want to kick your ass anyway.” He turns and motions Cassian out of the room.
“I’m fine,” Cassian insists.
We both know the truth.
Once I’m alone in the room with just Tiberi, he speaks again.
“You’re losing it,” he tells me.
“Yeah, yeah,” I grumble. “So everyone tells me.”
Tiberi shakes his head. “I’m serious, Carmine. We’re all grieving, in our own way, but you… You’re a mess.”
“So I’m going heavy handed on the alcohol, so what? Like you aren’t spending more time at the gun range, Tommy ain’t picking fights with whoever he can, and Alessio ain’t out there getting tied up by some man in leather. We’ve all got our vices.”
“You forgot someone,” Tiberi reminds me. “Cassian.”
I sigh and look at the floor.
“This is not his fault, but he’s the one who saw it happen. He’s barely a man, and he’s handling it better than you,” he tells me.
I snort. “Well, thanks for the pick-me-up, Tib.”
“It’s not good, Carmine. He should be grieving too. He should be able to come to you, his oldest brother for fucks sake, and grieve. He shouldn’t be handling it better than the man who’s supposed to be in charge of all of us. Alessio shouldn’t have to protect him from you.”
I blink, suddenly slightly more sober. “No one’s protecting him from me.”
