Luca looked at me. “Why are you sorry?”
I opened my mouth to answer, then found I couldn’t give voice to my shame. He sighed and looked away.
“I never should have done it,” he said quietly as he flicked his cigarette away and then started looking for another.
“Done what?” I asked.
“Take Aleks. It was a mistake. Just like asking you to…”
“To what?”
When he didn’t answer, I got in between him and the bench and snatched the new cigarette he was about to light.
“What?” I bit out. “To help you find your son?”
He didn’t answer but he dropped his eyes.
Something Luca rarely did.
“You didn’t ask me or our family to do that, Luca,” I said. “We all love that boy and we all want him back. That shit I said the other day about never asking you for anything… that was my fear talking… I would have spent the rest of my days in that life to find Gio.”
Luca turned his head away but fortunately, he didn’t turn away from me.
“Iwillspend every day looking for him until we bring him home. Every. Fucking. Day,” I vowed.
He still wouldn’t look at me and I knew it was because there was something he wasn’t telling me.
“What?” I whispered. “What is it?”
He shook his head.
“Tell me,” I almost pleaded.
“There was a boy, Vaughn,” he began as his dark eyes lifted to meet mine. The agony and shame I saw swimming in them was a punch to the gut.
“When I first went in after Gio without you guys. He was only thirteen or fourteen. I had to… to prove I was who I said I was.”
I swallowed hard because I knew what he was trying to say. The people who’d stolen Gio would have wanted to make sure Luca wasn’t a cop or someone trying to expose them.
“I didn’t touch him,” Luca quickly said. “I knew there were video cameras in the room, so I couldn’t justsayI’d fucked him… They wanted me to prove I wanted a little boy. I’d told them I wanted a younger kid… someone with light hair and fair features, but they put me in with him and told me to have fun while they checked their ‘inventory’ for someone who matched what I wanted and was closer to the age I was looking for. That’s the fucking word they used, Vaughn. I knew it was a test and I knew what would happen if I failed it.”
I knew too.
He never would have been shown any other boys.
And they likely would have killed him even for just suspecting he was a fraud.
“What happened?” I asked.
“He was terrified… he was crying in the corner and begging me not to touch him. Kept saying he wanted to go home.”
I watched in horror as my brother actually wiped at his eyes.
“I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to his feet… we were in full view of the camera so it had to look real. But I swear to God, Vaughn, I didn’t hurt him.”
My brother was so distraught that I put my hands on his upper arms. “I know you didn’t, Luca. Tell me what happened.”
He sucked in a breath to collect himself. “I turned him aroundand made him face the wall. I knew they’d only be able to see my body from behind. I leaned down and whispered in his ear that I wouldn’t hurt him and that I’d find a way to help him go home. I told him I needed to make it look real and to not be scared. He… he nodded and asked me to promise him I’d take him home.”
