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“Look, Aleks!” Luca yelled at me. “Look at how far he will go for you, no matter what! He’s never betrayed you! You could put that thing in his fucking gut next time and he’d still lay down and die for you!”
“Luca!” Vaughn warned.
I looked between Vaughn, Luca and the knife.
And then dropped it when an image flashed through my head. “No,” I cried in a broken whisper as I realized what I’d done.
The knife clattered to the floor and then Luca was pushing it away before completely releasing me and backing away, both hands in the air as he faced his brother. Vaughn was on his knees in front of me a second later. “Aleks, it’s okay,” he said. “You’re okay.”
I wasn’t okay.
I’d hurt him.
I’d cut his arm open with the knife and I barely remembered any of it.
“I’m sorry,” I cried as I tried to get away from him.
I really was going crazy.
“Nothing to be sorry for,” Vaughn said gently as he tucked the gun into his waistband. “It’s barely a scratch.”
I let out a hoarse laugh that wasn’t really even a laugh. Blood was still gushing from the wound, but he barely even seemed to notice.
“Vaughn,” I said with a shake of my head.
“It’s okay, baby,” Vaughn said, then he was pulling me against his chest. “We’re both okay,” he repeated over and over. I was dimly aware of Con tying something around the arm Vaughn had wrapped around me, but he didn’t let me go during the process.
“I don’t know what’s happening to me,” I admitted.
“I do,” Vaughn said as he put just enough space between us so he could cup the sides of my face. “Your mind’s finally ready to start fighting back,” he murmured softly.
I didn’t know what that meant, but I was too tired to give it much consideration. I leaned back into him. “I think the blood loss has made you as crazy as me,” I whispered.
I swore I felt him smile against me right before he kissed the top of my head. “I’m good with that.”
Chapter 11
Vaughn
“Knock it off, Luca,” I snapped as I eyed my brother. Aleks jumped at the sound of my voice and his eyes flitted from where Con was stitching up my arm to where Luca was sitting on the opposite side of the kitchen table. Luca shot me a brittle look before he stood and began moving.
Pacing.
Not something he did often.
That would have meant showing actual emotion and my brother just didn’t do that.
Showing emotion was like exposing one’s throat in our world.
It was a trait that had only worsened for him in the years since Gio had been taken.
“Stay on that side,” I said as Luca looked like he was going to expand his movements to the side of the table Aleks and I were sitting on. I still had my gun out and while I wasn’t pointing it at Luca, it was lying on the table in front of me and aimed in his general direction. Despite the fact that he hadn’t tried to grab Aleks and use him against me when he’d had the chance, I didn’t trust him for even a second.
Luca frowned at me like he was surprised by the command but remained on his side of the table. The fingers on his right hand were twitching and I knew why.
Yeah, he was definitely in a bad way.
But any pity I normally would have felt for him had been made obsolete the moment he’d sent his men after Aleks.
I glanced at the young man next to me. He was trembling, but I didn’t dare reach for him. I was still reeling from his attack on me. I didn’t care that he’d cut me – I was actually happy he’d finally defended himself. But to know I’d pushed him to a place where his psyche had felt the need to lash out so violently was heartbreaking. Even with all Marcus had done to him, I’d never heard of Aleks ever blacking out and fighting back against the man. But when I’d backed him into a corner, both literally and figuratively, he’d responded in the most unexpected way.
“Does it hurt?” Aleks asked softly when my eyes met his. He glanced at where Con was putting in the final stitches. The cut wasn’t overly long or deep, but it was bad enough that it wouldn’t have stopped bleeding on its own.
“Just stings a little,” I said. It wasn’t exactly the truth, but Aleks was already feeling a shitload of guilt for what he’d done, and I didn’t want to add even another ounce to that.
“He did worse climbing trees in Central Park as a kid,” Con said.
Aleks looked briefly at Con, then back at me. “You liked to climb trees?” he asked.
“He loved it,” Luca cut in. He was still pacing but wasn’t looking at us as he spoke. “He doesn’t have a lick of sense when it comes to heights,” he muttered. “Our mother called the fire department the first few times he did it because she was sure he couldn’t get down. He’d wait until the firemen got all the way up to him with their ladders and then he’d climb right back down the same way he’d gone up… on his own.” Luca waved his hand impatiently. “The neighbors actually used to ask him to go up after their damn cat because he could climb higher than any fireman, or anyone else for that matter.”
