I knew these men could add things up.
We’re all rats in Nino’s lab. That’s becoming clear. This experiment with the Russians won’t succeed. No one’s going to survive this study in human nature. Only one organization will remain, and it won’t be us.
Even if everything else with Connor was a mistake, I’ve learned important truths about myself.
I can’t let my brother destroy the family my father entrusted entirely to me.
I won’t.
I’m so sweaty, I feel like I’ve run through a sprinkler. But the perspiration’s not all from fear. I’m energized and exhilarated from calling my brother out.
Without a vote or a single word passed directly between me and the men at this table, I know the majority have started to question him. Publicly disagreeing with my brother is the only way to promote change.
Who knows, maybe Nino will cool down when he replays this in his head and starts to think more rationally.
I don’t necessarily believe that, but I need to hold on to some hope.
After the meeting, I return to my room. I’m in my closet searching for a new blouse when the door bangs open.
“Cat!”
I throw a t-shirt on and walk out.
Nino looms in my doorway, steaming. “What the hell were you thinking?”
Breathe. Stay calm. Reason with him. He’s your little brother.
“I didn’t mean to embarrass you.” I reach out before thinking better of it. Physical contact will only flare his temper like it did in the kitchen when I wanted to treat his eye. “I wish we’d discussed this first?—”
He slams the door shut. “I don’t answer to you.”
“Yes, I know, but we can’t go off half-cocked, with guns blazing, just because of your bruised ego.”
“Our father is dead!” Nino closes the distance between us to yell in my face.
People who claim vodka doesn’t have a scent are wrong. Vodka’s rancid. I don’t like this new angry, half-drunk brother who’s insistent on playing nice with the Russians at the cost of everything else.
He terrifies me.
Connor’s warning rolls behind my eyes on ticker tape, and for the first time in my life, I experience genuine fear from being alone with Nino. “How about we talk about this once you’ve cooled down?”
“We don’t have anything to discuss.” His voice hisses out from between his teeth. “You’re not my boss or my mommy. You’re not anyone, Caterina. You’d better watch yourself.”
My gut urges me to step back, but all that does is make me feel smaller, especially since I removed my heels. “Look, Nino, Connor Gallagher didn’t save our father’s life just to turn around and kill him. You know that makes no sense. Youknowit.”
Some of the color drains from his face, and hope blooms in my chest. Is he listening?
I inch forward to touch his arm. “Don’t you want to find the real killer? Isn’t the truth what matters mo?—”
Nino backhands me. The slap echoes in the quiet room as I cry out and stumble to the floor.
My cheek throbs, and my eyes sting, but the pain is the least of my worries.
Nino has never struck me before. Never even threatened to.
Reality sinks in. My baby brotherhitme.
I scurry away to huddle beside my desk like a wounded dog, keeping my eyes trained on him. Tears stream down my face while I cradle my cheek.
