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I smile thinking about how much my life has changed, as I move through the hall and round the corner that will lead out onto the terrace because that’s where Marco always has breakfast and meets with his brothers. I’m so excited to see him this morning. I wonder how he would react if I just admitted to him that I love him? I want to. I know it’s going to come out soon. I don’t think I have it in me to keep holding back.
As I round the corner that will lead me to the terrace my steps slow because I hear Elias laughing. I find myself smiling. I like that. I can see the shadows on his face. I also know the scars that was left on him that day. I’m not talking about bullet wounds either. No, these scars were on the inside and you didn’t have to see them to know they were there and because of that I take a moment just to enjoy the sound of him laughing. Once his joy settles down, I start to walk again. Before I can announce I’m there, he speaks and what he says makes my blood run cold.
“Do you really think Marco is that into her, or is he just playing a role?”
I blink. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know he’s talking about me. I shake my head. I shouldn’t be upset I guess, but I am. I kind of feel like I’m sucker punched. Can’t he see how Marco is with me? Sure, he’s never used the word love, but you can’t miss how tenderly he treats me. He makes me feel precious.
“I think he’s making the best of a bad situation,” Gio murmurs, and there’s no laughter in his voice. He’s calm, his voice sober.
“A bad situation? Dude, have you seen Helena? She’s hot and clearly Marco is getting what he wants from her.”
Okay maybe I was mistaken about Elias. Suddenly, I don’t care if he laughs or rises about his scars.
“Yeah, but you know Marco’s type. It is not Helena. She screams high maintenance that is not Marco’s type. Don’t you remember Paulina? Marco was gone for that chick. She’s his time, curvy, big ass, bigger tits, and dark hair and eyes. Marco was in love before our father stepped in and stopped that. She was the complete opposite of Helena. Complete opposite.
“Yeah, she definitely wasn’t high maintenance. She was the stable groomer’s daughter. She wouldn’t know art or designer labels. She didn’t care.”
“Exactly,” Gio huffs.
Suddenly, there’s a knot of pain growing tight in the pit of my stomach.
“You might be wrong,” Elias argues. God let him be wrong. “He could truly care for her. He sure seems like he does.”
“Think back. You remember that day Marco literally crawled out of bed because Aden, Atlas and our father nearly beat him to death the day before? I tried to get his ass back in bed, but he wouldn’t listen. He insisted he needed to send flowers to Helena for her birthday because he couldn’t fucking walk to even think about going to a party to her house. The man was fucking wrecked over it because he said she would try to insist on ending the engagement. He didn’t spell it out, but I knew that was why.”
“So? Doesn’t that mean he does care for her?”
His father beat him? That’s why he missed my party? My hand comes up to cover my mouth. Oh God. I had no idea…
I asked him, Eli. I asked him why he insisted on going through with this wedding and engagement.”
“What did he say?”
“He said father wanted this alliance with Helena’s father and that Helena requested Marco specifically. He said if he bowed out, then father would put one of our other brothers in his place and the man he would pick would decimate her.
“I’m not so sure, Altas.” Elias says. “Why can’t he end it now if that’s true, Gio? There is no Atlas and Aden now. There’s no father. Why is he still going through with marrying her if it’s not because he has come to care for her?”
Gio shrugs and if I could breathe without experiencing pain, I’d walk over there and slap him. “Maybe he does care for her, but I think it probably goes back to the person that Marco is—the ma he’s always been.” The brothers stare at one another in silence before Gio finally finishes. “He’s so used to protecting those he cares about that it is a way of life for him. It’s a crusade that he uses to prove he is not our father. I think he’s protecting Helena to keep her from being forced to go back to her father.”
“Is her father as bad as ours?” Elias asks.
“When Marco came back a couple years ago, he was livid because her father left her alone when she was in pain and didn’t even care that there wasn’t even staff to watch over her. I think he’s still sacrificing himself—this time to take care of Helena.”
