Page 58 of King of War

Is this why he suddenly wants me out of the picture? Because if the Bertellis had proof that Rayne was raped by Ethan, then it was only a matter of time before I found out about it. He’s worse than a fucking snake. He knew what happened to my girl and he let me…

“Okay,” Rayne says quietly. Too quiet. But it brings me back to her and out of thoughts of all the ways I’d like to kill Carmine Falcone right now.

“Do you need anything? Some tea? Food?”

She looks up at me, blinking. Fuck, I wish I could make everything better, but I have no fucking idea where to start. “I have some of that cherry pie you used to like in the fridge,” I tell her.

A hint of smile that reaches her eyes. “You got cherry pie?”

“Yeah.” I ordered it in this morning and was planning on telling her that I got it because Angelo was coming for lunch, but the truth is I got it for her. Because she loves cherry pie.

She used to love me. And now I feel like I can’t breathe. Fuck! How did I not see any of this?

“I’m good for now. Maybe later though.” Once again, her voice brings me back from the brink of imploding.

I drop a kiss on the top of her head, inhale the scent of her hair and let it soothe this raging beast inside me that’s foaming at the mouth to be let loose. But not just yet. I leave her to her book and go to the kitchen to wait for my brother.

Rafael shrugs off his jacket and hops up to sit on the kitchen island. “What’s with the urgency, bro?”

I roll my neck and remind myself this man is my brother. We’ve always been there for each other. He knows what really happened to Tommy, and there’s no way he would have stood for what went down if he was involved. “You remember the day Tommy disappeared?”

He simply nods. No hint of panic or anything else to arouse my suspicions.

“Rayne told me what happened.”

He plucks an apple from the fruit bowl, takes a huge bite, and stares at me like he’s wondering what the point of this conversation is.

“She got a text telling her that someone had some information for me.”

He takes another bite of the apple. “And?”

“Did you ever think it was a huge coincidence that I happened to show up that day and caught the two of them like that?”

He shakes his head. “Of course it wasn’t. You were supposed to catch them. That much has always been obvious, hasn’t it? Why else would someone send you those pictures?”

“Do you remember we were supposed to be going to L.A. that day, and at the last minute Carmine sent us to the dog track to collect some money?”

He closes one eye, like he’s trying to remember. “Yeah.”

“So, why did the plan change?”

Rafael shrugs. “No fucking idea. You’re the boss. I just do what I’m told. What the hell is this about?”

“Rayne came back for a video, Raf. A video that shows a very different story than what I was led to believe happened that day. It wasn’t Tommy on those pictures I was sent. It was Ethan.”

He frowns. “His scumbag older brother?”

“The very same.”

“So what the hell did we walk in on?”

“You tell me, Raf.”

His eyes narrow in suspicion. “How about you tell me what the fuck is going on and stop asking me dumb questions? Because I have no fucking clue what you’re talking about.”

I take a deep breath. “Rayne told me someone sent her a message telling her that Ethan had some important information for me. That’s why she let him into the house.” He still looks as confused as I feel, and he’s not that good of an actor. “She said it was you, Raf.”

He sucks on his teeth, not overly rattled by that statement. “Well, you already know she’s a lying fucking bitch.”