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He sneers, looking down at me like I’m filth. “You look fucking awful, Abel. Just tell them where that fucking monster is so we can get out of here. I have some interviews lined up for you. They pay pretty good.” He pauses to look at me, probably wondering why I’m not eager to go with him. “Come on, little brother. Where is he?”
This can’t be. There’s no way this is real. No way. Cris is looking at me, beaten to shit on the floor of some shitty warehouse and all he’s worried about is money. Which tells me two things. One, Cris knew I was getting my ass beat and two, he didn’t give a fuck.
While I knew Cris barely cared about me, I didn’t know it was this bad. For fucks sake, I can barely see him for my eyes practically being swollen shut. And all he’s worried about is me making money. Holy fuck, my brother really doesn’t give a fuck about me. You would think that after raising me for so long—if you want to call it that—he would have a bit of affection for me.
“Cris,” I start, trying to make my voice as strong as I can muster. It hurts to speak and breathe, but my brother needs to hear me and he needs to hear me well. “That monster, as you call him, he’s the love of my life.” My brother scoffs, but I keep talking. “I’m in love with him. The man I was only with so you would be set free. Remember that? Remember I promised a year of my life for you? This is how you repay me? By letting some goons torture me?” I stop for a second and analyze what little of his face I can see. “You set me up? You did this to me?”
He stands up to his full height and paces in front of me. “I saw you with him at your graduation. How you could be hugged up with that piece of shit after what he did to me? After he fucking kidnapped me?”
Unbelievably, I utter, “Cris, you broke into his house. You tried to steal from him. He’s a Benavelli. What did you expect, you dumbass?”
My brother waves me off and continues to pace like what I said means nothing. That he was slighted for no reason. “You didn’t even look for me at your graduation. But you jumped into that bastard’s arms like a slut for him. How long have you been fucking the enemy?”
“Have you been working for the Russians?” That can’t be right. Cris works alone. But why would he call Savage “the enemy?”
He nods. “For a while now. I knew that if we got you, he’d look for you. I can tell he’s in love with you.” He looks down at me in disgust, like someone loving me is so gross. I don’t want to dwell on it, but Savage doesn’t love me. He would have told me if he did. He likes me, sure. Wants me, yes. Cares about me, definitely. Not love, though. Which is fine. I’ll be dead soon. It won’t matter how he feels. “I knew whose house I was breaking into. Everyone in my circle knows that the younger Benavelli doesn’t have guards patrolling like his father.” I squeeze my eyes shut when I hear that. Savage told me why he doesn’t like people walking around his home at night. Unfortunately, that’s the reason all of this was set in motion. Fuck! “After he let me go, I asked around and did some digging. I found out he only has beef with the Russians. Apparently, he and the other bosses have a truce while they deal with the Russian bullshit.”
“How … do you—” I stop talking to hold my middle, which is throbbing.
“How did I know what to ask?” He smiles a creepy smile and for the first time, I’m genuinely afraid of my brother. “I’m a criminal, baby brother. I know how to move in those circles. A subtle question here, a quiet inquiry there. I have all the information I need.
“When I got what I needed, I went to the Russians, who were easy to find, and we hatched a plan. The plan was to get him at the docks they took me to.”
My mind goes back to the night I had to clean Savage up after the travesty with Paddy. I squint up at my brother, wondering how he even knew about it. Savage told me he only met Paddy there. Then I think about what Cris just said.The docks they took him to.He must have told the Russians, and they went check it out. I groan and hold my stomach. “We almost got him that time. I didn’t think he’d be there himself. I thought we would only burn his hangar down and fuck up his business for a bit. It was just our luck that he and the fucking Irish were there.”
“How do you know this, Cris?” Maybe if I keep him talking, he’ll realize it’s me asking him these questions. His brother. His family.
The laugh he lets out is pure evil and I wish I could cover my ears to block it out. “I was parked in a car down the block. I wanted to see him ruined, so I tagged along. When they said he was inside, I wanted to go in when they captured him to let him know it was me that ratted him out. But when the men didn’t come back out and we saw the Irish speed off, we knew we wouldn’t have any luck with that plan. But then I thought about you.” My stomach clenches and fresh tears prick my eyes. “I know how much you fear something bad happening to me, so I used that. I knew you would hurry to my side if I was hurt. I had the idea to tell Sean to say I was in an accident. But we had to wait until you were both comfortable. A month was enough time, since I knew you would be there with him for another six. He would fall more in love with you and when we snatched you, he’d move heaven and earth to get you back. And these guys promised me ten grand to bring you to them. Easy money.”
If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it. But this is Cris. This is the real him. The greedy man that only cares about himself and money. Not even his little brother is safe from his greed. It shouldn’t, it really shouldn’t, but it fucking hurts. My heart hurts, thinking that the only family I have left turned on me for fucking money.
Dropping back to the floor, I curl into myself, letting the tears fall. I shouldn’t cry about it, but my body and heart hurt so bad. I didn’t think Cris could sink this low. But here we are. “Cris, I need a doctor.” I know he won’t care, but I’m obviously a masochist. I want to see if he’ll eventryto help me.
I don’t open my eyes to see, but I hear the sneer in his voice. “You need an ice pack. When the swelling goes down, you’ll go on the interviews, get a job, and pay your dues.”
My dues. What dues? He’s my brother. I didn’t ask for this. God, how could I have been so blind for so long? I knew he was greedy, but fuck. How did I ever love this asshole? I fucking hate him for this.
“Why are you doing this, Cris? I’m your brother.” I can barely raise my voice above a whisper over the pain in my body and heart.
“Because you’re a spoiled little shit that’s held me up from my life. Mom and Dad forgot all about me when you were born. They pushed me aside for you. I tried to get their attention by acting out and running the streets, but you were all they cared about. Then you got mom and dad killed. You! Now it’s time for me to take someoneyoulove.”
That fucking hurts more than my wounds. Knowing he’s doing this more out of spite than anything fucking hurts. They were my parents, too. I didn’t want them to die.
I tuck my head down to my chest and close my eyes. I want to get away from him the only way I know how. Cris isn’t having that. He grabs my wrist, the one that’s broken, and jerks me up. I cry out and try to snatch my arm away, but it hurts and his grip only gets tighter. “Let’s fucking go, Abel. Tell me where—” The sound of gunshots and yelling cuts him off. Cris drops me and I cry out again, trying with all my strength to scoot back to the wall.
Cris looks around frantically, then fumbles with a gun that he has tucked in his waistband. With wide eyes, he stares at the door. When the sounds get closer, he raises a shaking hand up to the door, gun pointed straight out. I stare at the door too, bringing my knees to my chest in nervous anticipation.Please let it be Savage or the Irish. The Irish will help me. Savage told me about the Irishmen. They work together. They will get me out of here and back to Savage.
As door flies open Cris fires his weapon, squeezing the trigger over and over. Bullets bounce off the walls and into the space where the door was. When there’s only aclick, click, clickfrom his gun, Savage fills the doorway. I let out a sob and try to hustle over to him. Before I can, Cris snatches me up, hauling me against his chest. “Don’t come closer,” he says to Savage in a nasty voice. He tosses the gun and pulls out a switchblade, putting it to my throat. He presses in hard enough to pull blood from me. I know Cris doesn’t really care for me, but it’s fucked up that my brother would use me as a human shield. My lip quivers and I go limp. I have no fight left. Not after this.
Savage looks back and forth between us, his gun by his side. Then he fixes his eyes on my face. He stares at me while gunshots and shouts ring behind him, like nothing is more important than me and this stupid standoff. When he speaks, he asks me a simple question, but it hurts my heart that he has to put himself in the position to ask. “Will you forgive me?”
Knowing there’s no other way, no other option, I nod as much as I can with a knife to my throat. Quicker than a breath, Savage raises his gun and shoots. I feel blood splash over me as he shoots my brother, who immediately falls to the ground, taking me with him.
I land heavily and everything becomes a blur. I can’t hold on to consciousness no matter how hard I try. All I’m aware of is crying out as I’m pulled against a broad chest … shouting … sounds of angry disbelief … being jostled roughly and stuffed in a car … a loudboom… heat crawling across my skin … My world catches on fire as I’m pulled under into darkness.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Savage
