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Daniello’s eyes glittered over me. I could feel his need for forgiveness. I could feel the ache between us. Daniello felt my hesitance and closed his eyes.
“When we arrived in Italy, my father was beaten terribly in front of the whole family and almost lost his life. My mother saved him from certain death. Still, he was not accepted as a son or into the family, but he had his children. Matteo and I were accepted, and at my grandfather’s insistence, we took his last name for the protection it brought. Rocco was left with his father’s last name but was never given the same treatment.
“My father saw it as a good sign, but he grew bitter. He focused his life energy on the three of us. He brought us to Cairo often and told us when we were of age we would start our duty as soldiers. He programmed us early to believe it was the only way to truly become a man.”
Daniello sat back in his chair. “Rocco was meant to believe his father died in the army.”
“He didn’t?”
“My father killed him. I overheard him talking to one of his army brothers. My father was Rocco’s father. That is why his biological mother did not protest when he took him away from Egypt. She did not want the truth discovered. She would have been shamed, and she feared my mother’s family.”
“Rocco is your brother?”
Daniello gave me a sharp nod. “I have never told him, neither did my father. And he would never reveal that to the family. It would have ruined his plans.”
“Jesus.”
“Still, my grandfather was no fool. Upon his death, he made certain that Rocco could not have a place in the family. He was a bastard son with no Italian blood.”
“And Rocco has no idea?”
“I will never tell him. I loathe him. Inside of him is the evil that was my father.”
“And your mother?”
“She played blind, but I did not fault her. She cared for us all the same but never interfered with my father’s plans. So, when it was time, my father took us back to Cairo. Matteo and I enlisted with our Egyptian last name, Naifeh. He had three soldiers. It was his biggest accomplishment.”
Daniello’s eyes glossed over as he turned to me. “Matteo knew right away that we were in a very different army than what father had described. He warned us both. Rocco embraced it, and I stood beside my brother and witnessed the true evil of men.”
“What happened?”
“We took part in the corruption in order to survive, but Matteo was not the type of man who could be silenced. One day, Matteo refused orders. The captain slit his throat in front of me.”
I twisted my hands in my lap as Daniello’s body tensed. “When we had served our time, and my grandfather became ill, I was ordered home to take my place in the family. I had other plans.”
He looked over to me with a grief-infused face. “I freed my wife and left Italy.”
Daniello clenched his fists. “I had to change myself. It took several years to execute the man responsible for Matteo’s death and those who watched it happen. I was not ever a suspect. And even when I had finished my mission, I did not stop.”
My whole chest ached as Daniello turned to me. “I am the evil man I despise, Taylor.”
My mirror.
A world away from my life lived a man who fought his family for his own freedom and became someone else for the love of a sibling.
“Since I have returned to Italy, I have been pressed to join the family. And I have refused each time. I have always worked alone. I have no interest in it.”
“Why were you in the States with Rocco?”
Daniello stood. “The first time, I had a contract for someone who used to own The Rabbit Hole. And then I needed a reason to return.”
“A reason to ret—”
Daniello’s intense stare cut me off.
“Me?”
He leaned down and placed his hands on the side of the table, caging me in. “You. Most of my clients are not in the States. And I was growing tired of the . . . job. So I thought of a way to bring peace to my family and return to you.”
