Chapter 3 Chapter 3
My fist crashed into Vito’s face so hard his head snapped back, my knuckles cracking like a gunshot. “You don’t say another word about her, you hear me? Not one goddamn word.” I grabbed him by the back of the neck, yanked him halfway toward me, my eyes burning, my voice breaking under my own hatred. “Maybe I’ve fallen, Vito, but I’m not dead. And I’ll walk into hell myself before I let that bastard even look at my sister.” Vito’s head jerked to the side, blood spraying from his lip, dripping onto the floor like a ticking clock. For a moment there was only silence. Then he slowly turned back to me. “You fucking asshole,” he wheezed, wiping his mouth and spitting red on the ground. “Was that serious? Because I told you the truth?” I glared at him, my fists shaking with adrenaline. “I warned you.” “You’re a fucking parody of what you used to be,” he growled, stepping forward. “If that’s all you’ve got left, then Selena really is lost.” I roared and charged him, shoulder first, slamming him into the wall. Vito hit it hard, gasped for air—but not for long. “You wanna fight? Then come on. SHOW ME YOU’RE STILL SOMETHING!” His fist drove into my ribs, hard and precise. I staggered, but hit back. Straight into his stomach, then his collarbone, a kick to his leg to make him buckle. He countered with an elbow to my temple, I dragged him down with me and locked him into a messy ground fight, both of us panting. Blood mixed with sweat on the black gym mats covering the floor. Neither of us even thought about holding back or showing mercy. “You’ve gone weak, Nicolai!” “And you’ve never been more than a dog doing whatever Father says!” Another punch, then another. I shifted my weight, used a shoulder throw and slammed him into the punching bag, yanked him back toward me by the hair while his breath rattled. “Say one more word about Selena and I swear I’ll forget we’re family.” With a quick move Vito tore away from me just to come right back at me, but I trapped both his arms. In one last move he smashed his forehead against mine and we both crashed to the ground, groaning in pain and drenched in sweat, Vito ending up on top of me. Neither of us had the strength left to move another muscle. I closed my eyes, almost losing myself in an old memory before Vito’s voice dragged me back to the present. “You know, sometimes I fucking hate how much I miss having you at my side.” “No, man. You don’t miss me. You just miss the buffer between you and my father when a job didn’t go the way he wanted.” Vito gave a short, dry laugh, without any real amusement. “Maybe. But you were damn good at that role.” I snorted in contempt. “Bullshit. I just killed faster than you, that’s all.” “And cleaner,” he muttered. “You never shook. Never hesitated.” “I just hid it better.” For a long time neither of us said anything. After a while I felt his hand brush my hair out of my face. When I opened my eyes he was so close that I flushed instantly. I slapped his hand away and got up. “Don’t touch me like that, asshole.” Vito gave a crooked grin, licking the dried blood from his lip and staying on the floor like he was satisfied with my reaction. “There he is again… the little devil with the big mouth.” I grabbed my towel, wiped my face, only smearing more blood than sweat. “Just shut up, Vito. I swear, if you one more time—” “What? You’ll kill me?” He sat up slowly, his look mocking. “You almost did. That enough to make you feel like a man again?” I turned back to him, slowly, my gaze sharper than any blade. “You have no idea what it’s like to wake up at night knowing you used to be everything you hate now.” “Yes I do.” His voice was suddenly serious. No grin, no mask. Just that cold tone I already knew. “Every fucking day.” I stared at him. A second too long. Then I shook my head, grabbed my water bottle and walked to the door. “As soon as Selena stands there tomorrow in her white dress, looks at you in desperation and you can’t do anything about it, she’ll hate you. She’ll say yes because she has no choice, and you’ll let her go because you have no choice. I give you a week, and then I’ll have my Nicolai by my side again.” I kept walking without looking back, even though the rage in me was starting to boil again. I wanted to go to my room, but I headed for Selena instead.