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“Are you all right?”
“If you’re my…” I bring my fingers to my mouth again, trying to re-order my thoughts into a sequence that makes sense. “If you’re my brother, then… Nicolo?” I whisper his name. Even saying it now feels wrong, forbidden.
Catching on, he shakes his head heavily, a smile playing on his lips. “While I enjoy seeing your panic and fear, I won’t get answers out of you if I drive you down a road like that. So, I’ll just be honest. No, you’re not related to Nic.”
Something eases inside me, letting me go, until I slump forward against the countertop of his kitchen, my forehead pressed to the surface.
“Don’t tell me I hit you too hard?” He speaks more to himself than me as he walks around the counter to loom over me. “I need you to answer some questions before you decide to check out.”
I sit back up and then lumber to my feet just because I don’t like him there staring down at me like that. “No, I’m fine. Just relieved is all. Your brother didn’t care about using me for whatever he wanted.” I don’t bother keeping the bite from my tone.
He steps forward, crowding me. “Let’s be clear. While I don’t want to have sex with you, I have no problem carving you up to get the information I need. Blood might relate us, but we are not family. I’ll kill you the same way I would kill any of my enemies.”
I snort and retreat to the couch, sitting down at the very end. Lucas simply stares at me like he is waiting for a retort from me.
“What? Do you want me to refute that? My sister was my only family as far as I’m concerned.”
Thankfully, he doesn’t join me, only studies me, his arms crossed over his chest, making him appear even bigger in the already small space. “And your father?”
“What about him? He never really cared much about us since we were both girls and pretty much useless to him… other than marrying us off.”
It’s not the answer he wants. His brow furrows further, and he stares off over my shoulder.
“Just ask your questions, so I can get out of here.”
He turns his gaze back to mine.
“Please?” I add, hoping it will buy me points.
When his eyes narrow again, I know it hasn’t. But he doesn’t speak. Instead, he goes back around the counter and digs into his food. Awesome. As talkative as his brother. These Diavolo men have brooding silences on lock.
While he eats, I consider his words. My brother. But how? He couldn’t be more than a few years away from me in age. My parents tried for more children after me but never succeeded as far as I knew.
“How do you know? That you’re my brother? In what way are we related? I mean, do we have the same father or mother?” I rattle off all my questions, daring to interrupt his meal for the sake of answers.
He finishes chewing and eyes me over his food container. “I took your slip the day Nic brought you to the house. I got your DNA tested with mine and with Nic’s. You are only related to me, and since we were born the same year, it has to be on our father’s side.”
“So, who’s our father, though?” The possibility of my father not being my actual father has actual hope blooming in my chest. It would explain so much, and it would be a lie to say I wouldn’t be relieved.
“The man you grew up with is our biological father.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do,” he growls, making it clear he doesn’t want to elaborate more on the subject.
“So, my father had an affair with your mother?”
His snort tells me what he thinks of that theory. “Sorry to disappoint you, but our father isn’t just an asshole. He’s also a rapist. He raped my mother, and she got pregnant with me.”
The horror must be plain on my face because he laughs darkly and shovels more rice into his mouth.
“No, what… How?” My father is many things, and not all of them good I’m learning the longer I’m away from him, but a rapist? “How do you know?”
He narrows his eyes at me now. “Because my mother loved my father, and she wouldn’t have cheated on him, especially not with a man like Ricci.”
His using my family name jolts me. I close my eyes and try to compose myself.
“I think that’s why he killed her. She wanted to reveal the truth. I didn’t understand it at the time, but now everything makes sense. He called me a bastard son once in anger. My mother wanted everyone to know what he did, and that’s what got my family slaughtered.”
His words slowly sink into my brain. It takes me a few moments to make sense of it all, to wrap my head around it. Lucas is my half-brother. Why would he lie to me? He’s kidnapped me and has me under his control. He doesn’t need to lie to me to compound his ownership.
