Page 79 of Casino King

“What’s been going on with you this week?”

“Nothing.”

“Don’t lie to me,” I say, a little more harshly than I intended. “You’ve been avoiding me, and I want to know why. I heard you with Vinny earlier. What aren’t you telling me?”

“You were eavesdropping again?” he asks darkly, the air in the small space suddenly feeling thick.

“I was looking for the bathroom and turned the wrong way. But that’s not the point. You’re keeping something from me, something big, and I need to know what it is. I can’t keep pretending everything is fine. These past few days have been…” I trail off, not wanting to tell him just how much I’ve missed him, and how I thought every time he came to me in the night it might be the last.

I feel like I’m on a rollercoaster with him and right now we’re at the top of a hill. Either we have the momentum to get over the peak and free fall down this ride together, or we get pushed backwards and have to start all over again.

“Have been what?” he urges.

“Just tell me,” I whisper, the fight leaving me.

He takes a moment, and just when I think he’s going to be silent for the rest of the drive, he says, “I had Stefano, my cousin you just met, look into your brother’s death.” My heart immediately starts to race. That’s not what I was expecting him to say, and I have to remind myself to breathe.

Rubbing his jaw, Alec white knuckle grips the steering wheel. “It was my fault,” he says in a detached voice.

I don’t think I hear him correctly, but when it sinks in, my ears start to ring as my blood rushes, making me dizzy. “What did you just say?” I whisper, my words barely audible.

“It’s my fault. I told my uncle to order the hit on your brother.”

My heart twists in my chest. I don’t understand what he’s saying. How would my brother and Alec even have crossed paths?

“Why?” I choke out, wrapping my arms around my waist, making myself as small as possible.

“I had my reasons,” he says coldly, and my blood burns.

“What reasons?” I demand. “Why would you even know who he is?” Alec stays silent, and I yell, “Tell me!”

“He was pushing drugs through all the casinos in town before coming to The Aces. He didn’t listen to reason when we asked him to stop, so I made the call.”

Drugs?

“Stop lying,” I croak, the backs of my eyes stinging. “James didn’t deal drugs. He worked construction and as a pit boss in a couple casinos.”

“I’m not lying, Tessa. I would never lie to you, and I especially wouldn’t lie about this when it means I’m telling you I’m the reason your brother is dead.”

“Alec.” I choke on his name, and it suddenly feels like acid rolling off my tongue.

“I couldn’t have that shit in my casino or the others around town. It would bring too much heat on us. If it wasn’t me, one of the gangs in town would’ve caught up to him. He was taking business away from them by delivering the product right inside the casinos instead of the streets.”

“Shut up. Just shut up,” I beg, shaking my head. This can’t be real.

“I did what I had to do at the time.”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” I scream, my throat raw. I don’t want to hear it – any of it. “Take me home. We’re done.”

“No.”

“No?” I say through a harsh, humorless laugh. “You don’t get to decide these things. You killed my brother.” Tears start to spill from my eyes and I swipe at them furiously. “I’m alone because of you.”

“I didn’t kill him,” he says through clenched teeth. “And you’re not alone anymore.”

“You might as well have. And I am alone. Because of you. You took away the only family I had left. And why? Because of your fucking business,” I spit, hating, for the first time, that he’s not normal.

Alec doesn’t say anything in response, he just puts his foot down a little harder on the gas.

---