I’m unprepared forTíaElle to come to Vita’s rescue. “Kiko, that’s a story for another day.”
Only mytíacalls him that. No one else would dare. Sometimes,Mamá,Papá, and my othertíoandtíascall him Rique, but never the other diminutive.
My gaze meetsTíaElle’s, and I realize she knows more about Vita than I guessed. She must be aware of what happened to Vita’s brothers and what happened to Rafael. She’s protecting Vita in front of my father. I dip my chin, hoping it’s an unnoticeable movement to anyone but her. However, both of my parents andTíoEnrique’s eyebrows shoot straight up.
For fuck’s sake, can no one in this family have a private thought or moment?
It’sMamáwho jumps in. “What isn’t Elle telling us?”
TíaElle shoots Vita a questioning expression, but instead of watching her, Vita looks up at me. I release her hand, and there’s a flash of fear in her eyes that I hate. It’s not what I intended, so I’m quick to wrap my arm around her shoulders and nudge her closer to me.
“Do you want me to explain?”
She shakes her head. “I wish you could, but it’d be better if I did.”
She swallows before turning to look at my parents.
“I had two brothers, an older one and a younger one. They were both murdered. My older brother died in Monte Carlo.”
She pauses to see whether my parents can infer what she’s talking about. I see recognition in both of their gazes, but they give nothing else away. I’m not sure if they’re giving her enough rope to hang herself with, or whether they wish to hear things from her perspective.
“Rafael De Santos Rúiz murdered my brother.”
The declaration’s met with silence, which I suppose is better than yelling and knives drawn. She must agree because she continues.
“I grew upMala del Brenta. Rafael grew up cartel. He knew who my brother was, but he did it anyway.”
My gaze locks on my father while I hold my breath. This can only go one of two ways.
“I’m surprised that little shit lived as long as he did.”
I wait for my father to say more, but that’s it. I rub small circles over the back of Vita’s shoulder, trying to calm her, since I can tell she’s still unsure of how things stand with my family.
I can guess her thoughts. She’s probably wondering if my father’s trying to fool her into believing he’s fine with what happened, but all the while plotting her death.
I shoot my father a look he understands. While I bear the closest physical resemblance toTíoEnrique, my mannerisms, expressions, and speech mirror my father. It’s the same expression he’s always given me, and it means “make this right.”
“Vittoria, Rafael was more trouble than he was worth for most of his life. It surprised no one when he died. It had only been a matter of when and how, not if. Even if no one in my family knew the mercenary who did it, it was obviously a hit. You did a clean job, but you sent the message.”
My brow furrows since I knew about Rafael’s death, but not all the details.
“What do you mean?”
“It was obviously a professional job, but she also made it obvious that it was only about him, not about our family. We all thought whoever commissioned it had a personal grudge with Rafael and that it had nothing to do with business. Rafael made a lot of stupid choices in a short time. There were too many people to count who’d likely want to off him, so nobody dug that deep to find out who orchestrated it.”
“I worked alone. Even my parents don’t know for sure that it was me. They heard he died, but no one came out and said it was me. It would be speculation anyway, since before admitting this to Alejandro, the only person who knew was Rafael himself. My parents wondered if someone had done them a favor, but when no request for reciprocation came, they figured he’d angered someone else. It was just a pleasant surprise for them.”
WhenTíoEnrique nods, it catches my attention. “Is there anything else we should know?”
I glance over at Vita, and I can tell she’s flashing through her memories, considering whether there’s anything else that concerns my family.
“I can’t say that there isn’t, but nothing comes to mind. There might be something that involved your family that I didn’t know connected you to me. If anything comes out later, it wasn’t because I intentionally hid it.”
“That’s fair.”
Vita looks at my parents. “We all know why I met Alejandro. I can’t change who I’ve been any more than any of you can, but this job ended well before today. I’ve had assignments that have taken me weeks to accomplish because of the amount of surveillance I’ve needed to do and evidence I’ve had to gather. Ones that were far more logistically complicated than this one. I didn’t want to admit it to myself and certainly not to anyone else,but the job was over when I met Alejandro. I’ve never hesitated before.”
She speaks clearly and without reservation. I know my parents won’t entirely believe her yet, but I can tell they recognize her sincerity. If I attempt to vouch for her, they’ll accuse me of being biased, which I am. My gaze locks withTíaElle, and it’s her turn to dip her chin.
