“Just stings a little,” I said. It wasn’t exactly the truth, but Aleks was already feeling a shitload of guilt for what he’d done, and I didn’t want to add even another ounce to that.
“He did worse climbing trees in Central Park as a kid,” Con said.
Aleks looked briefly at Con, then back at me. “You liked to climb trees?” he asked.
“He loved it,” Luca cut in. He was still pacing but wasn’t looking at us as he spoke. “He doesn’t have a lick of sense when it comes to heights,” he muttered. “Our mother called the fire department the first few times he did it because she was sure he couldn’t get down. He’d wait until the firemen got all the way up to him with their ladders and then he’d climb right back down the same way he’d gone up… on his own.” Luca waved his hand impatiently. “The neighbors actually used to ask him to go up after their damn cat because he could climb higher than any fireman, or anyone else for that matter.”
My brother’s voice was gruff, but I didn’t miss the admiration in it. It made his betrayal just hurt that much more.
“You weren’t scared?” Aleks asked me.
I shook my head. “Getting to the top of a tree always made it feel like the next step would be to start flying,” I said softly.
“Central Park… that’s in New York City, right?” Aleks asked. “I saw it in a movie once and Dante said he and Magnus would take me there one day. They say it has a little bit of everything.”
“It does,” I acknowledged and was about to offer to show him around someday when I realized he and I would never have a someday. When I figured out how to get him out of this mess, he’d go back to his life and I’d go back to mine. Even on the off chance I found my nephew, I knew I’d never truly be able to get out of the world of kids being trafficked for sex – there were just too many kids like Aleks out there waiting for help to come.
Not to mention I’d never be able to get Aleks’s trust back now. I didn’t deserve it anyway.
The look on his face when he’d put two and two together and realized I’d left him to Marcus’s cruelty, even though I’d had the power to stop it…
Right after that his eyes had gone blank. I’d been trying to talk to him to get him back at the same time that I’d been keeping an eye on Luca and Con, so I hadn’t seen him pull my knife from his pocket. When he’d suddenly darted past me, I’d grabbed him because he’d been heading right for Con and Luca. I’d been so stunned by the knife slicing through my skin that I’d released him and he’d run at my brother and friend.
But I suspected he hadn’t really even seen them in his altered state of mind. Con had rushed to aid me as I’d tried to catch up to Aleks but when I’d closed my fingers over Aleks’s, he’d swung at me with the knife again and I’d barely stepped back out of the way to avoid getting nailed in the side with it.
That was when Luca had intervened.
During the scuffle, Con had grabbed me to keep me from aiming my gun at Luca, probably because he hadn’t been certain I wouldn’t shoot my own brother to protect Aleks – a fact I hadn’tbeen so sure of myself in that moment – and Luca had grabbed Aleks’s arm from behind. Aleks had lashed out at him and the move had taken both men to their knees. Luca had managed to get a hold of the hand Aleks had been holding the knife with.
I’d been certain he’d do what we’d both been trained to do – snap the wrist to disarm Aleks.
That was why I’d knocked Con off me and put my gun to Luca’s head.
But unlike Con, my brother had seemed pretty certain I wouldn’t shoot him, because he hadn’t followed the order. Instead, he’d merely held onto Aleks until he’d managed to talk him out of the blackout that had so disoriented him.
Look at how far he will go for you, no matter what! He’s never betrayed you! You could put that thing in his fucking gut next time and he’d still lay down and die for you!
They weren’t words I’d ever spoken to my brother, but he’d clearly figured it out from my actions.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Aleks had been my weakness from day one and I knew what happened when you had something of value.
You lost it… usually because someone took it from you to use against you.
I’d learned that long before I’d been sucked into the world that had first taken Aleks, then Gio.
But I’d never thought I’d have to worry about protecting something I cherished from my own brother.
Luca and I had a relationship that was anything but traditional, but somehow, despite our father’s intent to keep us emotionally disconnected, we’d become closer than any blood bond could have predicted.
I couldn’t help but look at Luca again as he paced. Normally, I would have been giving him some kind of reassurances that we’d find Gio and he’d be okay and we’d bring him home. But the words got caught in my throat this time.
He went after Aleks,I reminded myself.
“You’re all set,” Con said as he tied off the last stitch. I eyed thefresh bruise on his face but before I could apologize, he patted me on the shoulder. Con wasn’t my blood, but he might as well have been because my bond with him, King, and Lex was just as strong as it was with Luca… well,had been.
I didn’t know what the fuck we were now.
Con went to the opposite side of the table after washing his hands and then stepped in Luca’s path. He said something softly to my brother that I couldn’t hear, then put his hand on his shoulder too. Luca remained stiff for several beats, then nodded. Then he was returning to the chair across from me and Aleks.
