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“I’m sorry to hear it, darling. Mine passed away when I was a kid. It’s not something you ever really get over, is it? It’s always just there inside you.”
It made my insides jolt a little, the way he’d hit it on the mark. That was exactly how it felt. “Si, it is.”
He was silent for a moment, looking around at the half dozen other pictures until his brow furrowed and he turned to me.
“If you grew up in LA, you weren’t really raised in… this life,” he said, with a general sweeping motion, probably encompassing crime and cartels, Lucianos and Costas.
I shrugged. “ZiettoVito came to LA with Raven when I was a kid. He asked me to look out for her at school, and a few years later, he told me why.”
He cocked an eyebrow, waiting for the reason.
I shrugged. I supposed there wasn’t much point in keeping that secret anymore. With Raven reunited with her family, it was pretty much water under the bridge.
“You know Raven’s mother, Maria, was the matriarch of the Luca family and Enzo Luciano’s sister?” I asked, but went on without pausing. “Maria had sent Raven away with him to keep her safe. Vito dedicatedyearsof his life to doing what Maria had asked, just because he was loyal to the Lucianos… to Maria. That washugeto me—that kind of dedication. I wanted to be a part of it—to be a part of ‘this life’. Maybe there really is something wrong with my brain, because the criminal aspect of it never bothered me.”
He nodded. I had a feeling the “criminal aspect” wasn’t high up on things Brute worried about either.
“What about you?” I asked.
He cocked an eyebrow.
“From what I know, your father was the club’s president, so you were raised in that life, but was it always what you wanted?”
He smiled and shook his head. “Life’s what happens when you’re busy making other plans.”
Interesting. “And what plans were you busy making?”
He eyed me for a second. I wasn’t sure if he was weighing me or his answer.
“Fire,” he said eventually, but it kind of looked like someone had ripped the word out of him with a hot iron.
What? “I know you’ve got a thing for fire, but I’m not really sure if that counts as a life plan.”
He smiled, but it wasn’t one of his easy-going smiles. He kind of looked like someone was poking him with a hot iron.
But just as he opened his mouth to say more, a knock sounded at the door.
He shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair, coming up short like always. “I guess that’s a tale for another time, darling.”
Hm, maybe. But a man whose life plan was “fire”? That was not a topic I had any intention of leaving alone for long.
Chapter Nineteen
Brute
“We handled it,” Greta snapped, glaring daggers at Gabe.
I couldn’t blame the girl. I don’t think Gabe was trying to come across as the overprotective big brother, but it was definitely the vibe rolling off him in the Costas’ office at the moment.
He smiled, not quite indulgently, but the “big brother” vibe was still there. “He could have answers,amica,and you’re not used to—”
“The asshole’s currently a guest at my clubhouse,” I interjected, meeting every eye in the room. I’d worked with them often enough, I recognized all of them. Enzo and Deo Luciano. Vito Agossi. Nico, Gabe, and Caio Costa. “If you have any questions you want to ask him, my friend, then be my guest, but I agree with her; the asshole’s too low on the totem pole to have answers.”
Gabe sighed and scrubbed his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry, Greta. I’m not trying to second-guess you. I’m just…”
“Frustrated?” she filled in, nodding. “I know the feeling,amico.”She smiled like all was forgiven. It seemed the crazy girl wasn’t one to hold a grudge.
Enzo Luciano cleared his throat and sat up impossibly straighter. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was sitting so straight, there had to be a rod shoved up his ass. “I care less about where he is currently situated,” he said, “than I do about why he was here to begin with.”
