Page 105 of Hostile Love
I lower to my haunches and take her cold hands in mine.
“I love you, Mama,” I declare, thumbing her knuckles. “You know I’d do anything for you too…anything. Why didn’t you come to us?”
Mama clears her throat and squeezes my hands.
“I couldn’t risk your grandfather hearing it was an inside job. He doesn’t tolerate disobedience or traitors. That man’s word is final,” she says quietly. “They were negotiating with a Russian arms dealer at the time and needed Elias on board. He might have been a horrible man, but he had many powerful contacts.”
She holds my gaze.
“Elias was a valuable asset for my family. He was my father’s puppet.”
Mama laughs at that as if it gives her satisfaction.
“I didn't bother telling your grandfather about the threat on your life. That only gave us a motive. It was better dealt with alone.”
Mama looks at Dani. “Your father had nothing to do with it. No matter how many times my sons brought his name up, I asked for proof, knowing they wouldn’t find any. We were friends once upon a time.”
“I know,” Dani whispers. “He has a lot of respect for you.”
“Why does Blanco think Tommy killed Angelo?” I ask, having heard the truth from Tomás himself.
He’d thought no one else knew.
“The coroner's report detailed a bullet wound alongside fatal blast injuries. Your brother was the only survivor, Matheus.” Her voice wavers. “Knowing Angelo, I’m almost certain he would have ordered my boy to finish him off. That man would have rather died than be left helpless. I tried to speak to Tomás about it afterwards, but he shut me out. He stopped talking for a while after that.”
She pats her nostrils with the tissue scrunched in her hand.
My stomach burns. Dani folds her arms and widens her feet, grounding herself.
There are layers to all of us, and even if the outside ones are thick and ugly, the deeper layers can be fragile and sensitive.
Tomás had already confided in me. He toldmethe truth.
That’s why he stopped speaking straight after the blast…he was traumatized by his actions. It wasn’t planned or intentional.
Tomás was just a boy following orders like he’d been trained to do.
And I’d take a guess Blanco saw the report before Mama had the chance to destroy it.
My big brother has lived in his nightmare ever since that day, much like Dani has lived in hers. She physically escaped the barn, but her mind is still there. They’re both victims of trauma.
We’ve all suffered at the hands of Elias Souza.
When I turn it all over in my head, I was lucky to escape his attention. The cruel tasks my brothers had to endure screwed them up for life.
They became suspicious of everyone––yet somehow managed to let my mother’s influence live within them.
To outsiders, Tomás comes across as cold, and shut off. Some might say evil.
But he took me under his wing when Elias ignored me.
He saved Carina from his father when he gave the order to kill her.
He let Dani escape when Elias would have burned her alive.
We all wanted that bastard dead, but loyalty was bred into us from birth.
Ironically, that same family allegiance backfired on Elias when he threatened my mother’s loyalty to her son.
