Chapter 36 Escape for her brother
Dante POV
Everything he said made complete sense, but it didn’t change my mind. .“She’s family, Rex. I don’t care if she was just a prostitute. She was my mother and did the best she could to take care of me. Now I’ll take care of her.”
He sighed over the phone. “Dante, maybe I shouldn’t have told you.”
“No. I needed to know. You don’t have to be involved.”
“I’m already involved. I’ve got your back you’ve got mine.”
Because we were blood brothers. “Just take some time to think about it. You’ll realize it’s pointless.” He hung up. I set the phone down and balled my hands into fists. Rage pounded in my temple and my heart. The man who screwed my mother and then slit her throat was walking free. I had to dump his body into a dumpster just the way he did for her. Little did he know, he picked the wrong woman to fuck with.
Little did he know, her little boy would grow up to be the foulest monster in .the world and little did he know, I was much worse than my father ever was and he would pay for what he did.
I grabbed the decanter of scotch and threw it against the wall, listening to it shatter into a thousand small shards. Michael didn’t come running in because he was used to these outbursts of rage. I snatched my phone and called Isabella. It was midnight, so she might be in bed by now. .She answered. “Hello?”
I didn’t say anything, keeping my silence over the line. .She knew I was still there. “Something wrong?”
So many things were wrong, but I didn’t think I could tell her. “When will .you be home?” I needed to sheathe my anger, and the best way to do that was to be buried between in her body. “Late tomorrow night.”
I could make it one more day. “I’ll be waiting for you.”
Now she turned quiet. I didn’t ask how her Christmas was because I didn’t care. I didn’t ask her anything because I didn’t want to talk. I just wanted to sit on the line with her, listen to her breathe while she lay in the beautiful mansion her father had bought for his family.
“I gave the painting to my parents… My mother cried.”
I remembered the painting like I was still looking at it. I remembered the details, the joy. The sense of family was overwhelming, the feeling of friendship and loyalty. She expressed so much in that picture, so much that I never had.
“My father really liked it too. They hung it up on the wall right then and .there.”
I wanted to say something nice, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. She had the life I wanted, and I was the one sitting alone in my office, thinking about the man I wanted to kill, thinking about my mother’s dead body eaten by cockroaches in the dumpster.
Life wasn’t fair, and I never got used to it. .She had everything while I lost everything. I hated her but I swallowed my anger as much as I could and kept my fury bottled inside.
I was the one who called her, after all. “That’s nice.” That was the best I could do, so I hung up and turned off my phone so she couldn’t call me back. I had an endless supply of scotch, so I opened another bottle and poured a glass and I drank until I passed out.
I sat on the couch in the darkness of her apartment and waited for the sound of her approach. She said she would be back this evening, and I made the two hour drive so I could be there when she walked in the door. Her happiness infuriated me, and the only way I could numb the pain was by burrowing myself between her legs. It was the only form of revenge I could have.
The only thing that could stop me from thinking these bad thoughts. Voices came louder as people approached. “You don’t need to carry my stuff, Varos.” Isabella beautiful voice came through the door.
“I know I act like I hate you, but I don’t. Let me carry your shit.” Varos deep voice came next. His appearance came into my mind. I remembered how he looked at the Underground, in his finest suit. I’d wondered if he knew who I was, like I knew who he was.
The keys moved in the door. I was tempted to stay put, to let him look at me when he walked inside. He wouldn’t be armed, and his pregnant fiancée would be in the car downstairs. I
could kill him then go after her next. Rhylen would probably be there, but I could handle him if it was one-on-one. Isabella would come after me with everything she had. I’d have to kill her too.
But I wouldn’t break my word to Isabella. She kept her end of the deal and didn’t tell her family what was going on. So I walked into her bedroom and hid out of sight. They stepped inside seconds later. Varos was in a black jacket and jeans, looking so much like his father it seemed like Conti was in the house. “You want me to put these in your bedroom?”
He had her two bags in each hand. “No.” Her answer flew out fast, an instinctive reaction. She knew I was in the bedroom even if she couldn’t see me. She probably felt my presence, felt my possessiveness even in a different room. “I got it. You should get going. It’s been a long day.”
“So fucking stubborn.” He dropped her bags on the floor. “You’d think I would get used to it, but I never do.”
“You’re more stubborn than I am.”
“But much better looking.”
I listened to their sibling-bickering with annoyance. I didn’t have a brother or a sister. Neither of my parents lived long enough for the luxury. “Thanks for giving me a ride home,” Isabella said. “Christmas was nice.”
“It was,” he said in agreement. “Mom and Dad really liked that painting.”
“Yeah…” Her voice softened. “Seems like they did.”
I turned the corner and watched them by the front door. Varos wrapped his arms around her shoulders and hugged her. “Let me know if you need anything. I’m right down the road.”
“I know.” She hugged him back. “Merry Christmas, sis.” He kissed her forehead then walked out. She watched him leave before she shut the door behind him. She turned the lock and kept her position in the entryway, her back rising and falling hard.
She knew I was just down the hall, and getting her brother out of there as quickly as possible was her goal. She didn’t want us breathing the same air. Her forehead rested against the door for a few seconds before she stepped back.
I stepped out of her bedroom and made my way down the hallway and into the living room. She didn’t turn back to me, already knowing I was there before she heard my footsteps.