“What did you do, slip adrenaline into our father’s drink?” Stash threw out. “Yeah, you mentioned you wanted to use that on Giovanni Pollizi. I thought you were angry with him because of Kazimir. But you were just greedy. You wanted the money, the contracts all to yourself.”
“No. No!”
Sighing, I pinned my eyes on the love of my life, the woman who’d both encouraged me to find the truth and warned me that in doing so, it would change my life. She was right, but this was something I needed to do.
So I pulled out the phone the Ghost had used, knowing that the person who’d ordered her kidnapping for the upcoming wedding would keep his phone close, as timing, with my reappearance, would be of the essence.
With both Kirill and Rafaela watching me closely, I dialed the number.
The ring was instant and telling.
The phone in Mikhail’s pocket.
“The Ghost was supposed to contact the person responsible for kidnapping her to mention where he was to drop her off. In preparation for the wedding already in motion. In Sardinia. How appropriate.” I fought the building rage.
His look of horror was followed by a snarl from Rafaela as she lifted her arm to slap him. As soon as she did, he grabbed her arm, yanking her around with her back to him, his arm around her waist. “Don’t come any closer.”
I moved quickly, immediately pulling out my weapon. “Don’t do it, Mikhail. I know you didn’t want to betray me. Not really. You simply wanted our mother back.”
“You don’t know me at all. You never did.” He pulled out his weapon, pointing the barrel against her head. “You were a selfish son of a bitch. I hated you. You killed her. If you hadn’t gone off like some crazy kid that day, she’d be alive. She was taking care of me. She knew how I felt and…”
He faltered, his gun dropping.
Rafaela’s face was pinched because she understood what guilt could do to a man.
Including her brother.
Stash had his weapon out, prepared to fire, but I shook my head. This was my cross to bear. “I’m sorry, little brother. I’m sorry I failed you.” The words were easier to say than I’d anticipated.
Mikhail was more distraught than I’d ever seen him, tears falling down his face. Why hadn’t I fully understood what he’d suffered? Why?
Rafaela was calm, squeezing his arm. “It’s okay, Mikhail. You’re with family. We’re all here together.”
“No. No!” He pressed the barrel against her temple. “You don’t get a pass. You don’t get to enjoy your life. You don’t…”
The moment was one that I hadn’t expected. Sadly, I could tell he was on the edge. Too close. His agony was too real. But I’d need her help.
With all her other fabulous traits, I sensed she was reading my mind or perhaps I was reading hers. The moment Mikhail lowered the weapon by a couple of inches, the despair more intense, she jammed her elbow into his stomach, pushing herself away and onto the floor.
In any other situation and with any other person, I would have put a bullet in his head.
But this was my brother.
And I loved him.
So I wrapped my arm around him, pulling him against me as I yanked the weapon from his hand. “I’ve got you, brother. I’ve got you.”
CHAPTER 28
Rafaela
Betrayal.
I’d thought of little else since Mikhail’s breakdown two days before. It weighed heavily on my mind even as I tried to reconcile what I’d done to keep myself and my loved ones protected. But it was too much to bear, the heavy burden something I couldn’t control or keep any longer.
Not from the man I loved, the same man who’d vowed to protect me against all evils of the world.
Kazimir had been devastated in learning that Mikhail had betrayed him, taking the brunt of knowing his brother blamed him for an evil deed he’d had no control over with a heavy heart. I’d seen him harden from his sadness and the horror of not knowing what he should do. Mikhail was family and nothing would change that, any more than the horrible actions taken by the man derailed by grief and the effects of a terrible disease.
