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The serious and determined note in Atlas's voice tells me he's not joking.
"You threatened to kill your brother?" My voice rings with disbelief I cannot hide.
"Yes." Atlas settles a cloth wrapped icepack on the back of my hand. "Hold this in place."
I do as he instructs because it's what is best for my hand, not because he tells me to. "But you wouldn't, and he has to know that."
As theiranax, Zeus is the one person none of the Hades Brotherhood would consider killing. Especially his own flesh and blood.
"I would andheknows me well enough not to doubt that like you do."
"But the mafia comes first."
"No." He closes my door before I can respond to that ridiculous denial.
Once we are off the property, Atlas asks, "Why are you so determined to keep Leonardo in that facility? You implied him staying there keeps him free, but isn't it the opposite? Are you enacting your revenge against him for hurting you?"
"What?" I gasp. "No! I can't believe you think that of me."
"It's what I would do."
"Well, I'm not you."
"No. You aren't. You're filled with kindness and grace. I deal in cruelty and death."
"Is that how youfacilitatefor your family?" I ask with bite.
"Explain about Leonardo," he says without answering, but his silence is answer enough.
If he's in charge of racketeering for the Greek mafia in Portland, then he hurts people. Even kills them when necessary.
"He goes by Lenny."
Atlas shrugs, like Lenny's preference for what people call him doesn't matter. And I suppose it doesn't under the circumstances. Atlas will never meet my brother-in-law.
"When Tino and Agustino Sr. died, I became responsible for Lenny's wellbeing, not just his care. I had promised Tino to keep Lenny safe as if he were my own brother."
Atlas makes a sound of displeasure. He really doesn't like me mentioning my dead husband.
Possessive much?
Ignoring the little flare in my belly that thought gives me, I continue my story. "After Tino and his dad were killed and our house was blown up, Lenny and I were presumed dead. Incinerated in the blast."
"That explains how you got away from the Cosa Nostra, but not why you wanted to leave."
I'd already told him all the reasons, but not in connection to the action, so I spell it out for him. "First, the only way I could get Lenny the specialized medical help he deserved was to take him away. Second, I knew if I stayed in the Cosa Nostra, eventually, I would be expected to marry again. To make more Cosa Nostra babies."
"The Detroit Cosa Nostra are backward," Atlas says with judgment.
"The Detroit mafia, my family and the Revellos especially, have very traditional views of the roles for men and women. I was allowed to work, but only to get me over my grief after losing my baby." Tino would have expected me to quit my job as bookkeeper if I had gotten pregnant again.
"So, you ran?"
"Yes. Tino left me money in offshore accounts no one else knew about. It was his failsafe for me."
Atlas growls again.
"I was married once. He left me money to start a new life." Even if that was not how Tino expected me to use the money. "Get over it."
