“Lorenzo manipulated all of us,” I say finally. “He turned us against each other while he profited from our pain. The question is, what do we do about it now?”
Tony meets my gaze. “We make him pay.”
Sophia squeezes her brother’s hand. “Together. As a family.”
The word “family” does something strange to my chest. I’ve spent so long focused on avenging the family I lost that I haven’t considered building a new one. But looking at Sophia and Tony, I realize that’s exactly what we’re doing.
“Then we need a plan,” I say. “Lorenzo won’t expect us to work together. We can use that.”
We spend the rest of the day strategizing, mapping out Lorenzo’s operations and identifying weaknesses. Tony’s insider knowledge proves invaluable. He knows things about Lorenzo’s organization that I never could have discovered on my own.
As evening falls, Sophia excuses herself to take a shower.
Tony and I are left alone, and the silence stretches between us, heavy with unspoken words.
“I need to know something,” Tony says finally. “Do you love my sister, or is she just a convenient weapon against Lorenzo?”
The question deserves an honest answer, but I’m not sure how to respond.
How do I put to words the deep obsession I have for her, for keeping her alive and by my side?
That I want her to smile every damn day.
“At first, she was revenge. A way to hurt your father through his daughter. But somewhere along the way, she became…important to me.” I meet his eyes. “If I could go back and undo what I did to her, I would. But I can’t.”
Sophia comes into the room just as Tony stands and starts to walk toward his bedroom. He pauses. “I love you, sis. No matter what happens, remember that.”
“I love you too,” she says, confusion clear in her voice.
Tony disappears into the bedroom, and Sophia turns to me. “What was that about?”
I don’t get the chance to answer. The sound of Tony’s bedroom window opening spurs me into motion, my thoughts furious and disbelieving at the same time.
I’m moving before my brain catches up, bursting through the bedroom door.
The window is open, curtains billowing in the night breeze. Tony is gone.
On the bed, he’s left a note written in hasty scrawl.I’m sorry. I can’t let you risk everything for me. I’ll end this with Lorenzo myself.
“No!” Sophia pushes past me, staring at the empty window. “No, no, no. Tony, you idiot!”
23
SOPHIA
The safe house feels like a tomb. I stand at the window, watching the rain streak down the glass, my reflection a ghost staring back at me.
Behind me, I hear Mikhail pacing, his boots heavy against the hardwood floor.
He’s been doing that for the past hour, ever since we discovered Tony was gone.
“This is my fault.” The words escape before I can stop them, my voice barely above a whisper.
The pacing stops. “What did you say?”
I turn to face him, and the fury in his green eyes makes my stomach clench. “I said it’s my fault. I let him go. I believed he was ready, that he’d broken free from Lorenzo’s conditioning, and I was wrong.”
“You’re damn right you were wrong.” Mikhail’s voice is cold, controlled, which somehow makes it worse than if he were shouting. “I told you he needed more time. I told you he was stilldangerous. But you insisted on treating him like your brother instead of the weapon Lorenzo turned him into.”
