Page 44 of Forbidden Devotion

He wasn’t the type for violence. Not like I was. He could dish out insults that would cut to the bone, but he’d only ever thrown two punches in his whole life outside karate class, and I was pretty sure only one of them hit. He wasn’t cut out for murder, simple as that.

More importantly, he wasn’t cut out for prison.

I thought I was worried about my dad in there, but Fabrizio wouldn’t hold up nearly as well as him. It wasn’t that he was weak or overly sensitive, just that he wasn’t cruel. Prison was cruel. Prisoners were cruel. I didn’t know if Fabri could handle it.

He'd get the same protections as ourfather, of course. Every Marino soldier on the inside would be guarding him like the world's worst helicopter parents, and we'd pay off every guard in that institution to get him the most comfortable stay possible, although Cook County Correctional didn't have the greatest amenities. We could prevent him from being assigned a roommate, provide him a mattress topper to make the cot more livable, and make sure he received one of the easy tasks when they put him to work, but nothing we could do would erase the reality that he was in prison.

I tried to convince myself he wouldn’t be in there long. Lauren would work her miracles, and everything would be fine.

I tried to ignore all the little things dad did after just two weeks in there that showed he was more deeply affected than he let us see. I knew Fabri would come back showing the same signs and worse. Would he check every lock before going to sleep or subtly guard his food like someone would take it from him? Would the sound of keys rattling make him break into cold sweats?

I wanted so badly to just make it all go away for him, but I couldn’t.

Lauren hopefully could. She would. I clung to that because it was the only silver lining I had. But when she returned pale-faced, my heart dropped.

“What’s the situation?” Dad asked, voice rough. He was probably more scared than any of us; he knew what Fabrizio would be going through firsthand.

Lauren looked somber. “It’s not good,” she admitted. She had her attorney face on, but I was sure she was feeling a storm of emotions inside having to give us bad news. It would be difficult enough just because of who we were, but now she was living in our home and had a personal relationship with our family. I felt a distant sense of concern for her, but almost all of my energy was laser-focused on my brother. “They have a video.”

“Video, what do you mean, video?” Selene asked quickly. Lauren took a deep breath.

“A video of Fabrizio pushing a man in front of a car, killing him.”

I couldn’t have described the feeling at that moment, except by maybe calling it frantic silence. None of us knew what to say. Thoughts swirled inside my head, ideas darting by so fast I couldn’t grab hold of them before they were gone again. I honestly didn’t even know what I was thinking or feeling—it was like I’d been dropped into the middle of a tornado. My body was paralyzed with fear for my brother, leaving me no outlet for the chaos trapped inside of me.

“I’ve already sent the video to Jen; if it’s been tampered with in any way, she’ll find it, but right now, they have an ironclad case. I… Unless Jen finds something, I’m not going to be able to have the charges dropped.”

The air got sucked out of my lungs so fast it felt like they turned inside out.

“No,” I croaked. Selene let out a single sob while mom covered her mouth and dad covered his face. “No!”

Lauren gulped heavily, looking less than stable on her feet, but I barely registered. My head was full of images of Fabrizio, my little brother, in an orange jumpsuit. “I’m sorry,” she said, throat thick. “The video has already been entered into evidence, so we can’t change that either.”

“If he’s convicted?” Dad asked, something haunted in his eyes. The same blue eyes as Fabrizio, and I couldn’t handle the thought of Fabri coming back with eyes that hollow.

“Twenty years,” Selene choked before Lauren could answer. She looked like she was going to be sick. “Minimum.”

Twenty years. Twenty! He couldn’t take that many in there. He couldn’t.

I couldn’t take leaving him there for that long.

“No,” I said, shaking my head almost frantically. “Absolutely not.”

“I need to find out more about what happened, but I think I might be able to get the charge changed to something with less time if convicted, like manslaughter?—”

“So it’s murder or basically also murder?” I asked, standing up abruptly. Lauren jumped a little, and I felt bad, but nervous energy was building up inside of me and I had to get it out. Just a little more pacing, that was all I needed. I ran my hands through my hair. “We all know Fabri didn’t kill anyone.”

Lauren bit her lip.

“Like I said, I need to speak with him, but right now the problem is proof,” she said. “I have to prove he didn’t do it, and it’s going to be very difficult to fight clear video evidence.”

My mind latched onto that. Okay, proof—she needed proof. That meant we needed to find the person who faked the video and get a confession. Even better if I could find out who actually killed this guy, since I assumed someone really did die. I could do that. I could do anything for my little brother.

“I’ll get you proof,” I said, my mind made up. Lauren opened her mouth to speak, but I spoke before she could. “I’m going to find who did this and clear Fabrizio’s name. I’ll be back tonight, okay? Tell my family the rest, I’m gonna get started right now. Thank you, Lauren.” I kissed her on the cheek as I marched by, shoulders set. It took her a second to catch up to what just happened, and then she called for me. I didn’t turn back; I had work to do.

For Fabrizio.

Chapter Twenty-Six

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