Page 49 of King of War

He kisses my knuckles. “Love you too, Wildcard.”

His old nickname for me makes me snort a laugh. Why can’t his brother, the man who was supposed to love and trust me more than anyone else in the whole world, be as understanding as he is?

Chapter

Twenty-Four

ENZO

Iwatched them together through the whole of lunch, the easy way they have with each other. How she fucking smiled at him. It has jealous rage burning up in every cell of my body. Doesn’t matter that he’s my brother, a Catholic priest, or that there never has been, and never would be anything more than friendship between them, I still hated every fucking second of it.

When she giggles at some lame-as-fuck joke he makes that wasn’t even the slightest bit funny, I make my excuses and leave them to it. I have more important things to deal with than listening to them reminisce about the shit they used to get up to when they were younger. It fucking hurts to think about it, like someone has their hands in my chest and is squeezing my heart and lungs to mush. Because I can’t reconcile the Rayne I thought I knew—the sweet girl who had so many sleepovers at our house that my mom practically adopted her, who lived with us after her dad died, the woman who looked at me like I was the only other person who mattered, who could speak to my soul like nobody ever has—with the bitch who fucked my best friend and tore out my heart. It doesn’t add up. Six years of trying to make sense of it, and still I can’t.

My phone buzzes. A text from Carmine asking me where the hell I’ve been all day and if I’ve heard anything from the Russians. I close the door to my study and fire off a quick reply telling him I’m with Angelo and that the Russians are being quiet. Everyone is being quiet. Too quiet. Then I pull up the text message Micah sent me earlier, telling me they’ve had no luck finding this damn video. There must be something I’m missing here.

I’ve barely read through the message when the door to my study bursts open and Angelo comes storming into the room. “What the hell are you doing, Enzo?”

I hold up my cell. “Working.”

“I mean with Rayne.”

“What I do with Rayne is none of your damn business. So, how about you stay the fuck out of it, Angelo.” I glare at him, free hand balled into a fist that I’d kinda like to punch him in the mouth with right now.

He takes a step closer. “How about no. You know you can’t just keep her here against her will, right?”

Clearly he’s forgotten who he’s dealing with. All that bible verse has messed with his head. “I can do whatever the fuck I like.”

He shakes his head, brow furrowed in concern. “You know that this isn’t right.”

“She can’t be trusted, and until I deal with a problem that she fucking caused, she’s not going anywhere. Besides, she’s safer here until it’s dealt with.”

He snorts. “You’re fooling nobody with that line, brother.”

Now he’s really pissing me off. “What line?”

“You think anyone believes you’re keeping her here for her safety? You’re keeping her here because you’re a jealous, possessive asshole and you still can’t stand to let her go.”

The rage erupts out of me like molten lava. “I fucking let her go.” I jab a finger in my chest. “I’d rather she were anywhere but here, believe me.”

His whole demeanor softens and he takes another step across the room. “So that’s why you stormed out of the kitchen because she laughed at my lame joke, not because you’re a jealous douchebag?”

Our old childhood insult does exactly what he intended, remind me he’s my brother and I love him. “It was a terrible joke. Wasn’t even funny.”

He shrugs. “She’s always loved lame jokes though. It’s how I made her snort chocolate milk out of her nose in front of Parker Bennett in tenth grade. She wouldn’t speak to me for a week. She thought that was the reason he didn’t ask her to his junior prom.”

“Jesus, now he was a fucking douchebag.”

He nods. “She liked him though. And he was into her too. In a big way.” He gives me a knowing look.

“Yeah, I remember, Angelo.” I remember threatening to cut off his dick if he ever went near her. Didn’t realize my kid brother knew about that.

“Not to mention you almost killed Joseph Bertelli.”

“He said he’d break in her virgin pussy. She was sixteen years old, and he was nineteen,” I remind him.

“Yeah, so you’ve always been a possessive jackass when it comes to her.”

I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose to stave off an impending headache. “That’s not what this is.”