Page 87 of Brutal Power

“She’s the mother of my children. The matron of my Famiglia. You knew it was always going to come back to her. I love her as much as I loved you.”

I cover my mouth. I don’t understand. Santoro steps forward, a snarl on his lips, real anger in his face now.

“You could have found a way. You could have made her understand that it wasn’t some fling we had, but that we were in love, that we mattered.”

“She threatened to leave me,” Dad says and the agony in his voice makes my stomach churn. “What was I supposed to do? Luciano, it killed me back then, to end things with you the way that I did. And even after you took Davide?—”

“I was never going to hurt him.” Santoro seems to shrink back, and I swear he actually looks contrite. “I went too far. I loved your children, you know that.” His eyes flick to mine and I can’t move. I feel like my legs won’t work. I should be screaming, pleading with them to make sense. I should be running for the door and begging Brody to get in here and end this. But I can’t.

“I know that, but they didn’t understand. They couldn’t understand. It broke my heart when you turned against me, but I never let go of you. Not even after we became enemies.”

“Alessandro.” Santoro steps closer. Now the two men are only a few feet apart. “I’m sorry. I wanted to say this to you a thousand times, but we both know how this has to end. I never should have taken Davide. I never should have run away. But I loved you so much, and you broke my heart.”

Dad nods, and he’s crying. I’ve never seen my father cry like that. And suddenly, it all clicks into place.

They were lovers. They weren’t just best friends—they were together. They had a relationship, and when Mom found out about it, she made Dad end things. That drove Santoro crazy, and he made some terrible, stupid decisions, and now here we are, standing in this warehouse. All because these two men loved each other but couldn’t be together.

“You know how the Famiglia is.” Dad’s bitterness is palpable. “They never would have accepted me if they knew about the two of us. It wasn’t just Freddie, but it was the organization too.”

“It took me many years to understand, but I do understand.” Luciano’s two feet from him now. Close enough that they could touch.

“But then you came back home.” Dad’s tone shifts. There’s palpable tension now, and I feel my legs starting to thaw, and I can finally start to see my father for who he truly is.

A man who was in love. A man with a broken heart.

That’s why he kept letting Santoro go. That’s why he kept holding back. He knew that he’d hurt Santoro all those years ago, and maybe on some level, they were still in love. Only they could never be together.

“You know why.” Santoro’s blinking away tears. “We have to end this, my old friend. You were everything to me, but we can’t keep killing each other because of what happened all those years ago. That’s why I attacked the oasis. That’s why I tried to destroy the one place where I’ve ever truly felt at home. You have to understand.”

“I do understand.” Dad wipes his tears away. “The moment those trucks rolled onto my street and began shooting at my homes, I knew the man I loved was finally gone.”

Santoro flinches. He looks truly agonized. For a moment, I think he’s going to reach out and touch my father, and I take a step forward. But instead, he looks over at Moretti.

“It’s time,” he says.

Moretti stands up like he only just remembered that he has a part to play in this. “Let’s get it done then.” He raises his gun and aims it at Dad’s head.

Nobody moves. The warehouse is quiet.

I open my mouth to scream for them to stop. Where is Brody? Where is Captain Kennedy? This place should be swarming with police right now.

That was the deal: get Santoro in this room, get him talking, get him on tape admitting that he played a part in the oasis shooting. The wire Dad’s wearing got enough.

But nobody’s coming and Dad’s about to die.

Chapter 46

Brody

The place is swarming with Santoro’s soldiers. There are at least a dozen of them, and I have to go slowly and silently to avoid tipping my hand. That means it takes me forever. I take down one guard after the next, moving methodically from position to position, all the while distinctly aware that Elena is down in that warehouse and in serious danger. If I fuck up, she might get hurt.

She could get killed.

I work harder. I strangle one soldier, my arms wrapped around his neck, his throat crushed so tight he can’t make a sound as he turns blue and passes out. I dump his body in some bushes. My watch says I’m ten minutes late, which is bad, but when I lift my head, I catch a signal from Captain Kennedy.

Coast is clear.

I signal him back using a small mirror to reflect the sunlight.Moving in. The next phase of the plan. I rush around the exterior of the warehouse and find the door Santoro and Moretti used to get inside and I follow in their wake, moving as quietly as I can.Each step is an eternity. Each second stabs a new spear into my guts. Anxiety crawls over me like mortal wounds. I have to get inside and Elena has to be okay, because I can’t live with myself if she’s not.

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