Page 8 of Twisted Truths

“Tilt your face up.”

He does as I ask but pulls away when I gently wipe his face.

“Stop moving,” I grumble.

He stills, and once his face is clean, I can see that he has a cut near the corner of his eyebrow and one on his bottom lip. I grab the alcohol wipes from the first aid kit and bring one to his face to clean the cuts. Bast hisses.

“I don’t think you’ll need stitches. But you need to put some antibiotic ointment on them and keep them clean until they heal over.” I wipe my hands with a clean alcohol wipe, then dot a bit of the ointment on my index finger before I coat his cuts.

It’s clearly painful from the way Bast’s jaw clenches, but he stays in place until I’m done.

“Now, tell me what happened.”

He blows out a breath then winces.

“Bast”—I gently take his hand—“who did this to you?”

What kind of trouble has my brother gotten himself into?

“Bast…”

“Uma’s goons.”

My spine goes ramrod straight.

Uma Delvecchio is a high-level criminal who operates along the West Coast. As far as I know, she doesn’t have any official association with the Mafia or any gangs, but she’s the kind of person you want to stay away from. She’s cold, heartless, and underhanded. She’ll do whatever it takes to get what she wants and doesn’t care who she has to hurt to do so.

As long as we’ve lived in this area, we’ve never had any association with her, so I cannot fathom why her guys would beat up my brother.

“Why would they do that? Please tell me you haven’t gotten into bed with her?” My chest tightens when Bastion looks away. “Are you serious, Bast? Why the hell would you have anything to do with her?”

His jaw tightens, as does the fist he has on the table. He still won’t look at me.

My stomach curdles. “What aren’t you telling me?”

He stands from the chair and walks out of the kitchen without a word.

“Bastion! What the hell is going on?” The sinking feeling in my stomach sours as I follow him out into the living room. “Bastion!”

“It’s not me. It’s Dad. He made promises he couldn’t follow through on.”

The sinking feeling is a full-blown weight now, pulling me through the floor even though I’m still standing. “What? Why would he do that? When did he do that?”

Bastion whips around to look at me with accusing eyes. “A couple months after you left us in a lurch. And the why is obvious—money.”

I fall onto the couch in a daze, trying to assemble the thoughts rolling through my head into something that makes sense. I’m so pissed at my dad for having anything to do with that woman after we’ve spent years trying to stay out of her way. “Why wouldn’t he tell me?”

“For fuck’s sake, Ari, first you want out, and now you’re upset that Dad didn’t give you the inside scoop on the scams he’s running?”

I sink back into the seat. He’s right. When I told them I wanted out, I made it clear that I wanted nothing more to do with their illegal activity. I didn’t even want to know what they were up to.

With a sigh, I massage my temples. “Tell me what happened.”

Bastion frowns and sits in the chair, gingerly moving to get himself comfortable with his sore ribs. “Dad went big this time. Bigger than he’s ever gone. You don’t need the details, but the gist is that he made promises to Uma he couldn’t deliver on. Now Uma wants to be paid anyway. Plus interest.”

“Did you have anything to do with it?” There’s no hiding the accusation in my voice.

He scowls. “Of course not. If I’d known what he was up to before he went to see her, I would’ve stopped him. No payday is worth risking my life.”

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