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Maddox Hawthorne slept with his biological sister, my mother, and then she had me.
And nothing was ever the same for the siblings.
“Where did you hear this shit from?” Diamond asks. His tone is rough and hard, but I don’t flinch. He’s never tried to truly hurt me before and I don’t see him doing so now, even with the accusations that I’m throwing about his father, aboutourfather.
Disgusting.
Diamond was the one who came to me and first revealed that we’re cousins, which technically we are. He didn’t lie as he’d tried to recruit me to his side against the Costas.
And now… now the tables have turned.
Because for once, Giovanni Costa isn’t the person I hate most in this world.
“It’s true.” I tell him. I take a shallow breath, rubbing at my throat. “Your father slept with my mother and she had me. They lost contact but then he found her again and he…” the truth is sitting right on my tongue but it doesn’t want to jump out. “He killed her.”
Diamond’s face twists and he’s shaking his head, yet no words leave his mouth.
This has to be hard for him and I understand that.
I’ve seen the way he is with Maddox. The man irritates him, drives him crazy. They disagree, bicker, bitch. Diamond even hinted at waiting for his father to pass down the reins so that he could change everything the man has created. He doesn’t agree with the alliance between Seven Quad and The Costa Family. He hates it, hatesthem.
And yet, he still goes along with everything his father tells him.
He respects the man.
But how far does that respect stretch when the evidence of how twisted a man his father is sits right in front of him, living, breathing as his sister?
Diamond shakes his head, his locs flying. He takes a swallow before pulling his toothpick from between his lips. He picks up a shot glass from off of the table between us. He downs it in one swallow. Just when I think the silence has grown too long, he stands up.
As he stares down at me, there’s a fire in his eyes and I’m thrown back to the first time we met as strangers. One of the only times I’ve found myself fearing him, despite his reputation. He’d snuck into Delirium, a club the Costa family owns, and a place I work. He’d roughly pulled me into his booth where he’d been with other members of the Seven Quad gang.
I’d been frightened as he’d held onto me, refusing to let me go until Maximo Costa appeared and shot one of the Seven Quad members in the head. He’d promised that Diamond would be the next with a hole in his head if he didn’t release me.
Had he known then that we were related?
I don’t think he did. I don’t think he knew until much later. Because there’d been a change, though I hadn’t noticed it at the time. Diamond had gone from tough, demeaning, with slick and cutting comments to a softer version, at least to me.
He’d gone from purposely terrifying me to trying to comfort me, save me from the world I’d been dropped into.
Even as I look up at him now, I can see the anger fading from his eyes, his shoulders drooping slightly. It only lasts for a moment before he fixes his posture and I know that it’s for appearances. He can’t show any sign of weakness in public. Because while he’s gunning for his father’s position at the head of the Seven Quad gang, there are others who are doing the same thing. Those waiting to take Diamond’s head once he’s in power. Others who are even less patient than that, who’d be willing to take their shotnow.
“Come,” he says, placing his toothpick back in his mouth and gesturing for me to follow him. His body is coiled as tight as a snake ready to strike.
I climb to my feet, wincing at the sharp pain that shoots through my leg.
Not even two weeks ago, I was stabbed, a knife right through my flesh. The doctor assured me there wasn’t any nerve damage, and yet it still hurts like a bitch any time I move around. I have crutches, but I’d abandoned them for tonight’s mission. They’re bulky, inconvenient, and hell, just like Diamond, I find myself trying to shred any sign of weakness these days.
So I forwent the instruments, something I’m already regretting. I clench my teeth through the pain.
Diamond’s already a few paces in front of me, but I follow him at a leisurely place.
I remain aware of my surroundings, looking at the men crowding the stage where a woman with hair as red as her heels is dancing in nothing but a g-string.
There’s a couple of men hanging around who I recognize as members of the gang. More than a few of them watch me as I follow Diamond into a back hallway. I have to wonder where their loyalties lie. Is it really with Dox, their leader of the past, or Diamond, their future?
I jostle as I bump into someone, stumbling back a step as a hand wraps around my arm. Looking up, I come face to face with one of the most gorgeous women I’ve ever seen. Her skin is dark, her chocolate brown eyes just a few shades lighter. She has wavy black hair with brown and blonde highlights that falls past her shoulders. Her plump lips are painted a dark, almost rustic red color. Each nostril holds a diamond studded nose ring.
I look down to where she’s still holding me, taking in her black, stiletto shaped nails. She releases me.
