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“Don’t call me that. We are no longer brothers.”
“I’m not lying. Not about Alexia.” I watch him and I realize he’s not lying. I know his tell. It’s consistent. But no, I’m wrong. I have to be wrong.
“Then who? Who would want to hurt her? She did nothing to anyone!”
“You really don’t want to know, Santos.”
I shove him backward against the dune. “Yeah, I really do. I really want to know before I squeeze the last breath out of you.”
“That’s the thing. I don’t care if I die.”
“I don’t give a fuck what you care about. Tell. Me. Who.”
He looks away for a long moment, emotions warring in his eyes. On his face. When he faces me again, he looks a decade older.
“Our mother.”
I stop dead. “What?” I hear myself ask as my arm drops to my side.
“See, told you that you wouldn’t want to know.” Caius slides down onto the sand. “He came for me. It was me he wanted,” Caius says, and I see the effort it’s taking him to keep his eyes on mine. “When the Commander found out about me, he came to take me. Our mother made a deal with him. She traded you for me.”
His words are like a punch to the gut I don’t understand.
“I told you that you didn’t want to know.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Yeah, you do. You know I have no reason to lie about this. Not anymore.”
“Tell me. Tell me all of it.” My throat is tight. I’m sick to my stomach.
“You’re a fucking masochist. How many times do you want me to repeat it? She sold you to save me.”
“All. Of. It.” I demand.
“All of it?” He asks. I nod. “Okay. All of it.” He takes a minute. “She made an agreement with that bastard, and she needed an event. Something to get you and Brutus into a position where you’d have to make a deal.”
“Our mother is not a murderer.”
“No?”
No. She’s not. Is she? My chest tightens, betrayal twisting my heart. “Why Alexia?”
“Well, I was supposed to do the deed, but got squeamish. Believe it or not, murder makes me nauseous.”
I snort.
He tries for a cocky smile but just turns a little green. “So, she did it knowing you’d think it was Alexia’s father. She positioned her the way she did. Wrote what she wrote on her stomach.”
I watch and listen… and I can’t fucking breathe.
“Voila!” He makes a grand arm gesture. “The Commander had his enforcer.”
I stare at him, trying to make sense of this. “Our father found out,” I say. “That’s why the change in the will. That’s why that cryptic letter.”
“Your father. Not ours. But yes. That’s why. Thiago?” He holds up his wrist where the bracelet sits. “New bracelet. That fucker knew it all. He was going to blackmail us. We were to meet at the lighthouse, but then your wife showed up.”
“You could have hurt her then. Killed her. You didn’t. Why hurt her now?”
