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“Lance has never met my family.”
“Oh!” I repeat with more surprise. “How come?”
He tilts his head as if debating whether to tell me. “It’s a long story…”
“We’ve got a whole journey through city traffic to get through,” I encourage, hopefully, turning in my seat to face him better.
He looks at me quickly before returning his eyes to the road, but I don’t miss the way his lips kick up. “My mum was brought up in the life, she’s Lance’s father’s sister. Her father had arranged for her to marry a man from another family who was fifteen years older than her, and the deal was made when she was only eleven years old. “
“Oh my God,” I feel sick.
“This guy was not a nice guy, but he did insist on waiting until Mum turned eighteen before they marry. For all his long list of flaws, paedophile wasn’t one of them. Their father died when Mum was seventeen, so she hadn’t married yet and, somehow, I’m not sure on the details, but Mum met my dad. He was older, too, and from a rival organisation, but I guess they hit it off. When their dad had died, the mantel of head of the Daos went to Sydney despite him being three years younger than Mum.”
“Patriarchal much?” I smile, trying to lighten the mood from this much more serious conversation than I had anticipated.
“You have no idea,” he muses, although it’s more disgusted than jovial. “Anyway, when Mum turned eighteen, she told Sydney that she was pregnant with Monica. He flipped out.”
“What did he do?”
His jaw tightened. “He smacked her about a bit, told her to ‘get rid of it,’ and booked a church for the next week to hurry the planned union.”
I gape. “Jesus, Brent, I’m so sorry. What happened next? And how did you end up working for Sydney when he’s such a tool?”
He nods to say that he’s getting to that. “When my dad saw what Sydney had done, he told his brother, my Uncle Declan.”
“Ruby’s dad?”
“Yeah. They broke into Sydney’s house one night and beat the shit out of him.”
Okay yeah, Sydney is a tool but… “They beat up a fifteen-year-old boy?”
“They beat up a six-one, karate black belt with a superiority complex who’d laid hands on a five-four pregnant woman,” he defends, vehemently.
I hold my hand up in surrender and gesture for him to continue.
“Dad told Sydney that he was taking Mum away, Sydney told her that she was dead to him. She cried, she was broken about everything for a really long time, but she married Dad after Mon was born; they were in love. So incredibly in love.” I watch as Brent’s eyes moisten and he swallows hard. My heart breaks for him and if it wasn’t incredibly dangerous and inappropriate to do so, I’d climb into his lap and hug him.
“What happened to your dad?” I ask softly.
He clears his throat. “Uh, he was Declan’s right hand, you know? He managed a lot of his operations, and he was very well respected within the organisation. Mum never wanted to raise a family within the life and Dad agreed. Declan, he’s a good guy and he would respect wishes when it came to family and friends. So, the six of us were brought up in a fairly normal household and were allowed freedoms that others in our position wouldn’t have had.
“We knew what Dad did, they didn’t hide it from us, but we weren’t used as pawns in business deal like Mum had been. Dad was on a drug run; he didn’t normally do them but product had been going missing so he tagged along and ended up in a shootout. He took a bullet to the chest and died before the ambulance arrived.”
I reach out and place my palm on his muscular thigh. “I’m so sorry, Brent. How old were you?”
“Sixteen.”
“That must have been tough,” I squeeze slightly, He looks at me for a moment, so much emotion swimming in his eyes.
“It was, but I dealt with it. I wanted to make sure my mum and my sisters were looked after so I did what I could to make money, but I wasn’t that good at anything. I was a fairly decent boxer, thanks to Declan. I competed a bit before I found there was more money in illegal fights, so I tried my luck underground. I asked my uncle Declan to hire me, but he refused; still respecting my parents’ wishes not to involve us, but it was okay because I was making a name for myself as a cage fighter.”
“You mean the no rules, beat the shit out of each other fighting?” I’m horrified.
“Yeah, princess,” he says with a smirks. “Somehow, Lance heard about me and, although Sydney had never told him about my mother’s existence, he worked out that we were cousins. That intrigued him, so he convinced Sydney to meet and consider for Lance’s personal security as he was starting training to become head of The Daos. He was fifteen.”
“Jesus.” This is so much to take in. Lance has been playing Michael Corleone since he was just a child. Brent has been battered and bruised in the name of protecting his family for years. I really didn’t know these men when I thought I did.
“Sydney liked the idea of hiring me, just because he knew Mum would hate it. Lance was just happy to have someone else to call family and I was satisfied with a regular income to help Mum. So, that’s the story. Lance hasn’t met the family because his dad wouldn’t approve, but I know Mum would love to meet him. Mum would love to meet anyone who is important to me, but I never bring anyone home…until you.”
