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CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
Leo was talking, but I could not hear anything over the sound of blood rushing in my ears. Maddy was my sister. I had a sister.
My mother was alive. She was out there somewhere, and she had gone to Leo to ask him for his help.
“Why you?”
Leo stopped talking. Not that it mattered. I had not heard anything that he’d said to me anyway. How could I? He’d just lobbed a grenade into my life and continued chatting like he was reading me a picture book.
“What?”
I swallowed past the dryness in my throat. I needed a large glass of water, but I wanted Leo to keep talking. “Why would my mother go to you?”
“You were still a child. This happened five years ago, and you had not even graduated from school.”
I stopped him. “I’m not asking why she didn’t come to me,” I clarified. “I wouldn’t expect her to. She left when I was just a child, so I don’t see her reaching out for my help. But she reached out to you. Why?”
Leo sighed. “Your father. She reached out to him first, but he did not want any part of it. He sent her to me, and we brokered a deal.”
Though the mention of my father made my head spin, I was starting to put pieces of things together. “He’d make you Pakhan if you handled the situation…”
Leo’s dark eyes turned as hard as onyx. “He would make me Pakhan if I killed Maddy and your mother.”
I gulped. It should not have surprised me that my father would want such a thing. My mother betrayed him, and as it turned out, she stole a child from him. Still, I could not imagine him ordering the death of a young woman. His daughter. My sister.
“He wanted me to gain your mother’s trust. I don’t think he really cared about having Maddy killed. He just knew it would hurt her, and he wanted to cause her as much pain as possible. He’s never gotten over her leaving him.”
“No,” I said. “He hasn’t.”
Apparently, that wound ran deeper than I knew. I rocked forward slightly as I recalled my father’s words. Would he want me dead too?
“Why would he kill his own daughter?”
Leo looked at me confused. “Maddy isn’t your father’s daughter.”
“But you said that she’s my sister…”
Leo released my hands and ran one over his face. “Jesus. They really did keep you in the dark.”
I stiffened as he spoke.
“Your mother was married before your father. She was married to Tomas Carnella.”
“Who?” I asked. The name was not one that I was familiar with. My mother married my father young. She had not been my grandmother’s pick, but now, I understood why. There was no way my grandmother could be happy that my father was married to a woman who not only had been married before, but also had a child.
“Tomas was the Blanchi family’s right-hand man.”
At this point, my mouth was agape.
“He was older than your mother, and from what she tells me it was not a happy marriage. When he died, she met your father, and she wanted to take Maddy and leave. But the Blanchis wouldn’t allow it. They took Maddy from her. They would not allow your mother to have her while she was with your father.”
There was pity in Leo’s eyes as she looked at me, and I wanted to stab him for it. “Don’t,” I said.
“Kat…”
I shook my head, blinking back tears. “I don’t want your pity,” I snapped. “It is obvious that my mother decided that I was the daughter that she could live without.”
“She knew that your father would keep you safe. She was worried about what the Blanchis would do to Maddy, and rightly so, your mother didn’t get her back. They used her, so that they could control your mother. After all, she knew the Bratva better than anyone. I think that they were planning to ramp things up when you took over. Use her to emotionally distract you.”
