by Leah Holt
“I don't believe you.”
Sucking in air through thin lips, he rubbed his jaw. “It's the truth, I thought you would know that.”
Angling my neck, my chin jerked up to the ceiling. “Well here's your chance to tell me, if not you, then who?”
I wanted to believe my brother. I really did.
But it's hard to climb out of a grave that's already been dug. If he didn't have a good explanation as to what the fuck happened, I was ready to open his door and shove him out.
Asshole rats belonged on the street or better yet—under it.
Sesto's brow jumped up on his forehead, eyes skittish under hooded lids. He was staring at me like I should have known the answer already.
But I didn't.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” His lip curled up as each word came out filled with such disgust. “It was Remo you dick.”
My chest stopped, all the blood drained from my face and pooled at my feet. “What?” Clutching the steering wheel tighter, a ghostly hue swept in, coating my knuckles.
Remo did that?
“Dante, that motherfucker framed me.” Rolling his head back to look out the windshield, he let out a heavy breath. Watching his hands, his fingers folded up into tight stone. “He's the one who gave the cops all that information, he's the one who set us up. I would never do that to our family—never.”
I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. I had always thought that Remo and my father had worked well together. As much as I've always hated him, I didn't peg him as a traitor that would run to the cops.
Remo had enough of his own shit to be worried about, like the prisoner he had kept locked in his home. Why would he want to risk the police sniffing around?
So he owed us money, and yes, we took our own measures to get what was ours. But for him to go to the cops and tattle just didn't seem like his style.
Is he trying to bullshit me?
How could I be sure he wasn't just attempting to force the blame on someone else, someone he knew I despised with every aching bone in my body. Sesto knew how much I hated Remo, it wasn't like I hadn't shot my mouth off to our father about him before.
But would Sesto risk lying to me to get me on his side again?
The truth was I didn't know. I've heard it all, every excuse, every point of the finger. Every whimpering cry of innocence had always held an odor of false truths. That's what every other man had done to shake off the bite.
Why would Sesto be any different?
“Why should I believe you? How can I even trust a fucking word that comes out of your mouth?” Pushing back in my seat, I rubbed my temples. “Why didn't you say anything before, why now?”
His eyes flicked to my face, settling into a hardened gaze. Each pupil glossed over, turning from vivid color to emotionless defeat. “You weren't listening before, no one was.”
“Then why are you out so soon? It doesn't make sense?”
“Dante, they didn't have shit on me except for a picture of me handing Fillipo a box from that trailer we lifted. They got me on petty theft because they had nothing else. That's it, the other guys weren't so lucky. Remo fed the rest of the guys to the police like he was serving them a damn buffet of mafia meat. He screwed us, it's that simple.”
“Fuck, Sesto, I didn't know. The news—”
Cutting me off, Sesto sliced his hand through the air. “The fucking media are sharks, they said whatever they wanted to and it was only because of who our father was. That was it.”
Was—It was hard to hear him say it like that. My father was, he no longer is. A sharp thorn dug into my chest, twisting ever so slightly. Enough to make it sting, but not enough to make me fall apart.
I felt awful, angry with myself for having doubted my brother to begin with. He was right, I should have known he wouldn't have done that.
But everything just played out that way, even my father thought he rolled.
Remo did a great job working our dad.
How the hell was I supposed to know?
I should've listened.
My stomach ached from the acid bubbling and scorching my insides. He was my brother, I shouldn't have done that to him. The least I could have done was taken the time to listen before believing every rumor that fell in my lap.
Choking the steering wheel, my lips turned razor thin. “Why the hell didn't I see it?”
Sesto's hand latched onto my shoulder, squeezing hard. “Don't, it doesn't matter. Right now we need to get your woman.”
“I'm going to kill that son of a bitch for what he's done.”
I wasn't about to get into detail with my brother about who Ivy was, we could do that later. That was all in the past, she was my woman, and hearing Sesto say it like that felt good.
Ivy didn't belong to Remo, he had no stake on her.
She gave herself to me and only me.
I didn't have to force it, I didn't have to use wicked mind games and torture to take her purity. Ivy had allowed me to have all of her, she made that choice. Exactly as it should be.
“Dante, when we get close, I'm going to need you to listen to me. I've been watching his place for a little while, been planning on taking him out myself. Looks like we're about to have a bonding experience.” Sesto let out a laugh, hitting me in the arm.
“You're a fucking tool, you know that?”
“Ah,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “Mom did always want us to be closer, maybe this is her doing. What gets you closer than killing a man together?”
“That's sick man, I don't think this is what mom had in mind.” I wanted to laugh, but I didn't have it in me.
All I could think about was getting Ivy away from the horror she was about to endure. I hated knowing that after everything I had done to keep her safe, the fucking piss stain had dragged her back.
This wasn't supposed to happen. I was supposed to put her back together, mend the falling pieces of her past and rebuild the woman she was.
And Remo was about to shatter every promise I had made to her. There was no laughter brewing inside. The only thing I had was an empty black hole of hatred.
“No, but she'd be happy we did it together.” Smirking, he let his smile grow into full teeth. “Slow down, slow down, pull in here.”
“Here?” Turning the wheel, I slowed to a stop. “But we're still a mile away.”
“Exactly, the dude's got guys set up on the roof outside and I'm sure inside too. Either way, we need the element of surprise, we can't stroll in under a fucking spot light.”
“When did he start putting guys on the roof? Remo never did that before.”
“No, but he never had the Pisani boys after him either. He's not stupid, Dante, he's careful. He just doesn't realize that he fucked with the wrong bloodline. Our father might not have been so lucky, some asshole was able to—”
“He killed him, Ses, Remo's the one who did that.”
I saw his eyes flash, the white enlarging as thick veins exploded from the outside, crashing into his pupils. “What?”
I hadn't planned on telling him just yet because of the hand I had in our father's death. But it looked like it wasn't my choice anymore.
“Remo's the one who shot dad.”
“How do you know that? They've worked together for years, why?”
“Well. . .” Dragging my hand through my hair, I stared out the window. “It's my fault, he did it because of me.”
There, I said it. It's out, Sesto knows now.
“Dante, that's crazy. Why the hell would Remo do that? I mean yeah, he's a fucking asshole, but why would he just kill his business partner? It doesn't make sense, regardless of what you did.” Shaking his head, Sesto rubbed his forehead vigorously. “Look, I know you never liked him, but it doesn't matter what you said, that wouldn't—”
“I stole his virgin.”
“You what?” His jaw dropped open, hitting his chest.
“Ivy, she belonged to him. He was going to use her, make her a sex slave or
some shit. He fucked her up real bad, Sesto. Dad had us take her because Remo owed us money that he wasn't paying. I was supposed to kill her because she had seen some shit she shouldn't have. I talked dad into keeping her around, telling him I could work the deal only if she was still alive. But I couldn't give her back, so I stole her. I fucking did this.”
“You're fucking with me right?”
Hanging my head, the shame of having torn our father from Sesto felt like a kick in the gut. I didn't regret taking Ivy, but he had spent the last year locked up, alone. I only went one time, and it was just to make sure he knew I'd be waiting to kill him when he got out.
And now, his father was gone before he had the chance to tell him his side of the story. Our father died thinking he was a rat. I not only stole Ivy, but I stole Sesto's chance to clear the air with our dad.
I felt awful. All of this went down because of my greedy fucking hands.
I'm a fucking prick.
“Remo killed dad because I ran off with her, I refused to give her back. It's my fault Dad's gone, Ses, it's all because of me.”
I waited for him to get pissed, to fly off the handle and fucking punch me clear in the face. And I deserved that, he had every right to fucking hit me. Shit, he had every right to kill me if he wanted to right then and there.
Bane and Sesto had always been close, he was dad's shining star. As for me, I was always the second choice. If my father was still alive, everything we had would be passed down to my older brother.
“I don't care, Dante, that doesn't give Remo the right to do what he did. Ivy doesn't deserve to be treated like a fucking whore, I know that. I wanted him dead for what he did to me, now I want him dead for so many other reasons. Let's go get this motherfucker, take him out of his misery.” Slapping my back, Sesto opened the door and jumped out.
I wasn't sure what to think. He wasn't judging me for what happened, he didn't care. I had spent an entire year dragging his name through the mud, but he was able to brush off my betrayal to our father like it was nothing. He was still here, ready to storm the gates with me.
He deserves to sit in the throne.
For all of our differences, Sesto was a good guy.
Leaning back over, his head poked through the door. “Are you coming, or are you just going to sit there jacking off the rest of the night?”
“Fuck you,” I said, huffing under my breath. “Let's go.”
Our feet tapped against the pavement as we made our way to the yard. The area was abandoned, filled with a bunch of empty houses. The windows were all broken and boarded up. The vinyl siding no longer held just one dull color, but was tagged in a multitude of badly spray painted dicks and gang signs.
We were like two shadows of a past life walking through the apocalypse. This side of town didn't have the hustle and bustle of sound. The air was cool and crisp, filled with the occasional whip of wind and the silence of an ambush.
I walked watching the empty homes, waiting to spot the eye shine of my enemy. No one seemed to be following us, but it didn't stop my heart from beating fast and muscles hardening, ready to fight.
Flipping up my collar, I drove my hands into my pockets and kept my eyes wide open. We were getting close, I could smell the stench of the ocean with each passing gust of wind.
I hated that fucking scent. The air was a mix of dead fish and chemicals, it flipped my stomach upside down.
Sesto tapped my back and nodded. “Through here, come on.” Cutting into the bushes and brush, his feet snapped twigs like small bones.
“In there?”
“Yup, lets go.”
“Why do we have to climb through a fucking forest to get there?”
“We want to go unnoticed, right?”
“Well, yeah, but isn't there another way?” A thin branched flipped back as Sesto let it go, slapping against my cheek. “This isn't exactly easy. How long have you been doing this?”
“Not long enough, because he's still breathing.”
His dark body scrunched and ducked, shoulders bobbing and weaving around wooden limbs. I stayed close on his heels, trying like to hell to avoid the quick scratch of tree nails.
“We'll cut through here and come out right behind the building. There's a door on the side we can jimmy open to get in.”
“You really have been busy, huh?”
“Like a fucking night stalker.” Holding up his hand, he stopped me. Turning over his shoulder, Sesto held his finger to his lips and nodded forward.
I could see the yard right over his shoulder, two black silhouettes stalked the roof, each one holding a gun. The men were pacing back and forth, but I couldn't tell which way they faced and where their eyes were set.
“What now? How the hell do we get past them?” Whispering to my brother, I rested my hands on my knees to stay hidden behind the thick tree line.
Sesto glanced back at me, his smile bold and bright. Reaching into his waist, he pulled out his gun. “I've been ready for this.” His fingers spun on the muzzle, twisting fast and fierce.
“When did you get a silencer?”
He didn't answer, he just kept smiling like a fucking schoolboy about to show his best friend the nudie magazine he stole from his old man. “Just watch.”
Lifting the cool metal to his eye, Sesto lined up and cocked the trigger. “Bye bye,” he said, whispering under his breath.
His finger slowly slinked to the pin, clicking off the safety. I swear I saw his mouth arch up to his fucking eyeballs. I don't think I'd ever seen him with a grin that huge and that sincere in my life.
I heard the click of the trigger first, followed by a loud thud that rattled my ribs. “I thought that was supposed to silence the sound?” Rubbing the back of my ear with my knuckle, Sesto started laughing.
“Are you fucking kidding me? You watch too many movies. It only makes it so they don't know where it came from, it doesn't make it sound like a kitten jumping on a fucking pile of towels.”
“Looks like we're spotted.”
“Look again, Dante.” Sesto yanked my shoulder forward and guided my head in the direction of the man he took out.
The other guy had run over and was frantically turning in fast circles. He had no clue where the shot came from.
“Your turn.” Holding out the gun, Sesto kept his face on the wild man doing fouettés on his toes like a damn ballerina.
The heavy metal was hot in my hand and damp from Sesto's excited sweaty palms. “My pleasure,” I said, lining up the shot.
Pop!
The second guard went down, his body falling limp and lifeless over the ledge of the roof. And I won't lie, my smile was just as big as Sesto's.
“Nice, let's go.” Kicking his head to the fence, he stayed low and crept to the thin metal rungs like a feral animal. Curling his fingers through the holes, Sesto pulled back a small opening.
I had never seen this side of him before. He was so smooth and silent, creeping like a snake in the grass. I liked it.
He's always been bold, never taking any shit and always the first one to raise his weapon if he felt the extra muscle was needed.
Sesto had never been afraid to get dirty, he never shrunk into the shadows, trying to shy away from a bad situation. But this was different.
Right then, I saw a different determination on his face, and I was glad to have him on my side.
“Seriously? You leave a fucking gangster, you come out a fucking assassin. Who are you and what did you do with my brother?”
“Knock it off and stop pussy footing around, let's go.” Waving me in, he held open the fence.
Squeezing through the hole, Sesto was right behind me. We stayed in the deepest shadows, stealthily making our way to the door.
The lookouts on the roof weren't any help to Remo now. One of their arms was hanging over the side, twitching from whatever nerves were still firing off as his body slowly crumbled around him.
I shouldn't have been so intoxicated with the power that taking a man's
life could give you, but I was. It was the worst type of drug you could take, holding your brain and making you giddy. It's fucked up, it's horrible, but that was the truth.
And it never got old.
My skin was a flurry of tingles, each one prickling up and making the adrenaline feel just as good as getting off. It was a fucking rush.
Sesto's hands felt all over the door, looking for a crack in the armor. “Shit, I don't know—”
“I got this, move.”
Stepping out of the way, Sesto fanned out his arm, welcoming me in. “Be my guest, but are you sure you can get that?”
Winking, I smiled at my brother. “Are you seriously asking me that?”
Clink.
“We're in.”
“Well ain't that some shit, nice.” Patting the top of my head, he rustled my hair.
“Don't do that.” Peeling the door open, I said, “Come on, no time to fuck around.”
The two of us slipped into the dark and empty hall, eyes popped open, trying to adjust to the low lighting.
Sesto leaned into my ear and whispered. “I think we should go that way.” His eyes flicked to the left, finger out straight.
“When was the last time you were in here?”
“Fuck, I don't know, before the bust.”
“Exactly, follow me.”
Taking soft steps, I lead us in the direction of Remo's office. This building was a fucking maze of halls and turns, rooms and inlets. It was an old factory that to the outside observer, appeared like a normal shipping yard.
But it was far from normal.
Over the years, Remo and my father had made connections overseas. We had so much stolen freight carted here, it was insane. Between the barges of black market goods and the shit we lifted off stolen trucks, we had built our own underground Macy's empire.
“His office is up this way now.” Turning the corner, I heard a loud thunk, followed by a deep grunt. Spinning on the balls of my toes, Sesto was on his back, knocked out cold.
A thin trail of blood was trickling out from under his head, pooling around his shoulders. Snapping my neck, I looked around, but there was no one.