“All right.” She lifts her chin, making a good show of appearing brave. “If that’s how you want to play it.”
She gropes for her bag, but I still her with a tsk and a shake of my head.
“I need a fucking smoke.” She rolls her eyes. “Jesus.”
When I don’t stop her again, she rummages with trembling hands through the bag and takes out a packet of cigarettes and a zippo lighter.
Watching me, she shakes a cigarette out of the packet. “I suppose you want names.”
“That would be a good start,” I drawl.
She slips the cigarette between her lips and says around it, “I’ll give you one name now.” She plays nervously with the lighter, turning it around between her fingers. “You’ll get the other one when you’ve paid me.”
I raise a brow. If she thinks she has any power to make demands, she has another think coming.
“The driver is in place,” Ulysses announces through the comms system. “We’re ready to move.”
Holding her gaze, I give the man with the dart gun the go-ahead with a slight tilt of my head.
Ms. Foster caresses the lid of the lighter with her thumb. “That’s my offer. Take it or leave it.”
“On three.” Reino stands and stretches, glancing around as he moves closer. “One. Two.”
Before he gets to three, a pop sounds, and Naomi’s head explodes like a melon in front of me.
Chapter
Twenty-Five
Tatiana
* * *
Noah is playing soccer with the men outside. I stand on the veranda by the back door, keeping an eye on him, but my mind is wandering again.
I’ve been thinking about my brother a lot recently. He’s always been mean to me. There’s no love lost between us. Yet I can’t help but wonder how he’s doing. Where’s he living? I know absolutely nothing about my only sibling.
When I talked to Dante about it, he’d cupped my face between his hands and stared into my eyes with a dark and intense look in his, telling me, “You’re estranged. It happens in families. Leave it at that.”
As my lips parted around but, he cut me short with a harsh command.
“You’re never to contact your brother. I told you already. He’s my enemy.” His gaze was cold and hard. “If you reach out to him, you’ll be betraying me. Understand?”
I nodded because my loyalty to my husband wasn’t negotiable. I couldn’t imagine ever betraying him. I loved him too much.
No matter what happens, I’ll always choose him. Besides, I’ve never been under the illusion that my brother actually cared about me. I won’t throw the family Dante and I built to the wind for the likes of Leander.
But still… Dante’s explicit order to cut all ties with my brother doesn’t stop me from having questions. Maybe Leander is at the forefront of my mind because I’ve been thinking so much about my mom too.
I glance at the new phone in my hand. I checked Leander’s social media accounts. He hasn’t posted in weeks. He’s always shared photos of his glitzy lifestyle compulsively. It’s strange that he’s suddenly gone so quiet.
Emily steps outside, wiping her hands on her apron. “I’m making tea. Would you like some?”
I smile. “I’m good, thank you.”
She comes to stand next to me. For a while, we watch Noah kick the ball in the fragile atmosphere that surrounds us. It feels like a breakable thing, like something frail we’re nurturing back to life.
After our talk, our relationship has been improving, but she’s walking on eggshells around me. Maybe it’s my condition. Many people don’t know how to deal with it.
