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“Correction. She will keep me on my toes because I'm walking out of here with her once this is done.”
“You know, you could both try to listen to me.” I wish I could do something, anything but sit here in this damn chair. I'm sick of being helpless. There's nothing I can use but reason. I have to get through to at least one, if not both of them, and fast. Enzo is too wild, far more unpredictable than I thought even Christian could ever be. Like handling a live grenade.
“Both of you. Think about this for a minute.” I turn my attention to Enzo. “Your father tried to have you killed. And Christian.” I look his way next. “Now you know he wants you dead, too. Do you find that hard to believe? Because I don't. I don't think your brother is lying.”
“She's right, you know,” Enzo agrees. “That is part of the deal. As much as I want to kill you for personal reasons, this is his order I’m about to carry out.”
“So you see? Who does he actually care about? Who is the only person Samuele Russo has ever given a shit about in his entire life? Christian, don't pretend you don't know the answer. You told me already, remember? It's him, first and foremost, only him.”
Christian grunts. “She's right about that,” he mutters. “You haven't spent all these years with him. I've seen it time and again.”
“Enzo, think about it. You came back into the picture after such a long time of being away. He thought you were dead. And what did your father want from you when he found you alive? Did he encourage you to get to know your twin? Did he bring you into the fold or teach you the ways of the family business like he did to Christian?”
“Of course not,” he snarls. “Why would he? He decided I wasn’t good enough a long time ago before I was old enough to prove myself. I was too young to even know I was being sized up. I never had a choice, dammit. Because of you.” He bares his teeth in a snarl, glaring at Christian.
I might have taken that a little too far, too fast. I need to dial it back. “I’m so sorry your father did that to you. He’s a cruel and stupid man. I think we can all agree on that. He might run a big family and have a ton of money, but he’s stupid when it comes to people.”
He’s breathing hard, but at least his finger isn’t tightening around the trigger. “We can agree on that.”
“What Samuele did to you had nothing to do with Christian. It had to do with him. You are a tool for him. You've systematically eliminated all his competition. All his foes, or friends who he was only using until they stopped being useful to him.”
“Listen to her,” Christian urges.
“Shut the fuck up,” Enzo barks back.
I have to raise my voice to be heard over them. “Please, I know it's hard to hear, but you seem like a logical person. You're smart. Now think about what your father has made you do. Think about what it means to get Christian and me out of the way next.” I glance at Christian and hope he manages to keep quiet while I handle this. All he’s going to do is exacerbate the situation.
“It means I get what's been mine all along!”
“It means he'll find a way to get rid of you, too,” I murmur. I actually feel sorry for him because I'm not making any of this up. None of this is much of a stretch, considering who I'm talking about. What would it be like, knowing my father wanted me dead? Not only that, but he went out of his way to arrange it? It's enough to make me want to cry for this lost, twisted soul who never had a chance.
“That's not true,” he grunts out. “You don't know what you're saying.”
“He wants to protect what's his,” I remind him. “Do you think he would give it to you? I don't think so. It has nothing to do with you. I’m speaking historically. All this time, Christian thought it would go to him. And Christian has only ever done what his father wanted him to do.”
“Except for one very important thing.” Enzo lifts his chin, gazing at Christian over his nose. “Isn't that right? You let him down by putting your feelings over his wishes.”
“And do you think there will never come a time when you won't make a mistake like that? Eventually, he's going to want you to do something that you can't do for one reason or another—and even if that never happens, he'll make up something. He's a wicked, cruel man. And he's greedy. He wants, and he wants, and it doesn't matter who he has to get rid of. He's a black hole sucking the life out of everything around him. No matter how much he sucks up, it’ll never be enough. Do you really want to be just another one of his tools?”
