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Adrian had been so-called “special” from a young age. Both my parents saw it as some sort of punishment. She felt it was castigation for cheating, and my father felt it was his cross to bear for neglecting his wife for our clan.
But not me. My brilliant, loving brother saved me and my father, even if Tata would never admit it. Adrian was the only pure thing in our sinning world, and I refused to let my parents’ failings sully him or my love for him.
At first, my father kept my brother for two reasons: Adrian was a boy, and my father could never admit to being cuckolded. It was the same reason he allowed my mother to stay, despite the wrong she’d inflicted on him. Eventually, he came to love my brother. One couldn’t not love my brother. Ironically, it was the adoration of a son derived from a horrible betrayal that stitched together the tattered pieces of his broken heart.
Adrian gently took the violin from my hands and played a sprightly country jaunt to test out my tuning abilities.
He gave me a lopsided smile.
I grinned back at him.
“Pretty good, huh?” I said.
He made a satisfied grunt, and I watched as he picked up the same tune and waltzed out my bedroom door. His music resonated throughout our large house. I loved when he came to me to tune his violin. He didn’t like being touched. Touching and twisting the fine strings of his violin was the equivalent of hugging him.
My brother represented everything good and true in this world. It was up to me to protect him, and protect him, I would. With my last, dying breath.
As if hearing my thoughts, my father said, “You’re doing this for him as much as for the Hagi clan, Clara. The stronger you are, the safer he is. And if you do this, I’ll hand over any domestic problems within or between families for you to deal with. You prove yourself, and it will become your exclusive domain.”
Whew, a double whammy. My father was no slouch when it came to setting up the stakes. Protecting my brother and getting the chance to have the final say on family matters? No doubt, it cinched my decision to stop arguing and go to New York. I’d do as my father advised and find out as much as I could about the Lupu to further my own ambitions. And if I learned a secret or two to use against them?
Even better.
