Page 28 of Hostile Devil
14
GIOVANNI
A few years ago
“Where the fuck were you, Gio?” André marches down the hallway and shoves me into the wall, my shoulder clipping Mama’s wall art. “Jesus Christ. I called you like fifty million fucking times.”
I shove him off me. My eyes narrow and I stretch my neck from side to side, hearing it crack twice. “Papá sent me on a job, and I had to lie low afterwards. You know how it works.”
The last hit didn’t end the same way as the others. This time, I did something that would royally piss off our father—something he could never learn about. Not while there’s still a breath in my body. Or in his.
André clenches his fists, his muscles flexed and his nostrils flaring. Over the years Papá manipulated the bond I have with my twin. Using it to bribe me and instill a fear of losing Dré. Ultimately, that threat is how he ensures my loyalty and keeps me on his leash.
My brother is wild. He’s the son Papá tries to control, but never quite has a hold of. And because of that, he tells me my twin’s life is on a rapidly decreasing timer. He considers him to be less important than the rest of us. Or maybe he knows deep down that André resembles him in many ways, and that makes him powerful in his own right.
Papá never openly threatens to take his life. Those whispers are for my ears only. The more my brother pushes his boundaries, the more our father talks about clipping his wings.
So, it’s my responsibility to prevent that from happening, even if it means icing André out at times.
“I thought you were fucking dead,” he spits out. “Even Papá nearly popped a fucking blood vessel, all because he thought you’d failed him and were buried in concrete.”
“He doubted me?” I smirk. “I’m offended. The bastard should know I’m good at what I do.”
“Six weeks, Giovanni.” André scowls. “You’ve been missing for that long. I had Reno kicking up dirt everywhere looking for you.”
I take a deep breath and exhale slowly. “You know I can’t visit family straight away.”
“Yeah, I know the risks,cabron. Two fucking words would have put my mind at ease.I’m oooookay,” he says the words slowly like I’m stupid. “That’s all it would’ve taken, Gio.”
I glance behind him to check Mama isn’t in the kitchen having her traditional English afternoon tea. “Look, I’m sorry, Dré. I had something important to take care of.”
“What was it this time?”
“It doesn't matter. I can't talk about it.” André grunts at that. “I had to keep a low profile. That’s all you need to know.”
“Right, and that means shutting yourself off from us—fromme?”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him what had really happened. That I rescued a kid from a bunch of narco nobodies. Then I had to find a doctor who could run a thorough health check on the boy. All while organizing a construction team to extend Blackwater at the rear, so he’d have a safe haven to grow up in. Somewhere Papá could never reach if by chance he finds out where I live.
I want to offload it all and confide in my brother, I really do. But secrets serve sinners. It’s better for everyone this way, safer.
I shrug. “I’m here now, aren’t I? I flew out to Mag Mell when I heard you were with Mama.”
“She was going out of her mind with worry, Gio. We all were. Tommy was about to choke Papá the other day until Shane stepped in and advised him against it. Why didn't you call me?”
“Forget about it.” My sighs only irritate him.
“Are you fucking serious? You think I can forget about my twin falling off the face of the earth? You used to tell me everything.”
“Life was simpler when we were teens. We were too young to realize our world is just a black fucking hole.”
It is a bottomless hole. One where we’d grown up filthy rich and paid the price with our souls.
At school, the teachers smiled and gave us grades we didn’t deserve, so they didn’t suffer a visit from men with machine guns. Everything we ever did was monitored by our father. Every step we took was accounted for. Every second of our free time taken up with his kingdom.
All of us, we wore blinkers that kept us from seeing the world outside of our father’s aspirations.
André frowns at me. “Yeah, but back then, we were in the hole together. Me, you, Tommy, and Mat. Fuck—even Mama, too.”
