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She let me down fast and hard.
I wasn’t aiming to get in her pants. Not that night anyway. I just wanted to get some alcohol in my system to relax. It was almost 2am, and it had been one, fucking long night. Both of us were exhausted. More than that, she hated my guts. Maybe she hated me a little less than Matteo and Cesare, but I could make no mistake. Piper’s name wasn’t really on my list of fans. Not after what happened with her brother.
21
PIPER
I hadto admit Leo’s visit was a pleasant surprise.
I wasn’t expecting this from a man who had completely ignored me just minutes ago. Also, his demeanor was nothing like Cesare had described. He was perfectly respectful to me and his surroundings. He didn’t raise his voice even once, not to mention he didn’t use foul language.
Perhaps I had earned some of that. I hadn’t been nice to him or his buddies. My anger had led me to insult them and call them names. I had been mad at them for good reason, but that didn’t justify name-calling. Despite this, however, Leo had exhibited a cool head. He could have easily snapped at me, but he had done no such thing. Instead, he chose to disclose the circumstances under which Felix got wounded. To my disappointment, knowing didn’t change a thing. My stepbrother had screwed up once again in his life. He had mixed with the wrong people. I was curious to hear who he would blame this time. I didn’t think he would accept any responsibility. Not Felix…
I walked into his hospital room after another, short chat with Kayla. According to her, he was stable. He had lost quite a lot of blood, but the transfusions had resolved the issue. He would have to stay in at least another twenty-four hours so the doctors could monitor his condition.
I should have been feeling relieved. I should have been happy. My brother had survived, right? He had looked at death in the eye and had lived to tell the tale.
Still, no sense of relief came over me. Happiness? No.
Because I knew Felix.
Sooner or later, he would be back out there, doing the same, crazy crap. It wouldn’t matter who he did it for. It could have been the trio or not. The bottom line was that he would try to make some easy money again.
A large bandage was wrapped across his abdomen, disappearing under his back. Portions of his hair had been singed, while the left side of his face was covered in soot.
“Well, well, well,” he sneered, making me pause by the foot of his bed in surprise. “Look who it is. My little sister. Not.”
“Excuse me?” I said, my voice high-pitched. “Didn’tyouask for me?”
“I did when I heard you were right outside,” he answered, his ironic smile staying on. “Look at me, Piper. Look what you did. And think about what could have happened if those guys I work for hadn’t brought me in quickly enough.”
“WhatIdid?” I asked, pointing at myself. “DidIsend you out there tonight? DidItry to blow you up? No, you stupid moron!Youdid all that! So, don’t try to pin this on me!”
“I wouldn’t have had to stick my neck out if you’d been there for me!” He yelled, slamming his palms into the sheets. “Don’t you get that?”
“Go to hell, Felix.” I shook my head in disgust. “I shouldn’t have come here in the first place. Next time you screw up, don’t expect me to be there.”
I didn’t give him a chance to verbalize.
I knew this conversation—if one could even call it that—was over.
I flipped around and headed back out, regretting my decision to be there for that ungrateful jerk. I had been a fool to think that my presence would be appreciated. Felix was not going to change. He’d keep on being the same, reckless idiot. It was a shame really. He had the potential of becoming something better than what he was. A failure. Not to me, but to himself. He was the one he’d been letting down all these years…
In the front yard of the hospital, I located an empty bench near the gate and sat down, with tears welling up in my eyes.
I was in shock and disbelief.
That joke of a brother had blamed me for his predicament for the hundredth time.
I knew I shouldn’t have been shocked. Felix just loved to put the blame on other people. No one else was making his life choices but him. I wasn’t aware of what he had been up to for the past eight months or so. Hell, I didn’t even have his new address.
Tears rolling down my cheeks, I sniffled and leaned back, a gust of wind tossing about pebbles and dry leaves alike. The wind rustled through the trees behind me, bringing their delightful scent to my nostrils. It was too bad I couldn’t enjoy a single whiff of that smell.
“Talk about shitty.”
A male voice interrupted my sobs. More melodic than Cesare or Matteo’s, but with an unmistakable masculinity I could recognize with ease. It was Leo. Standing just a few feet from the bench, he had his hands in his pockets. The light from a spotlight behind him was silhouetting him against the dark, making his brown hair look a shade lighter.
“It’s that obvious, huh?” I said, my voice riddled with sorrow.
