Page 30 of Scar

“Brando.” Her voice is smooth yet laced with steel, sending a chill down my spine. Just hearing her say his name is a threat, and one I won't stand for. I won’t allow her to destroy the delicate balance we have found in each other.

She smirks and glances in my direction. “It seems my absence has been noticed,” she coos, her eyes narrowing withmalice. She's talking about the incident at the gate when I made it clear that she was not welcome in our home.

Lucky steps forward, his face contorted with rage. “Absence? You haven’t been absent. You’ve been dead. Dead to us.”

She visibly flinches before her gaze lazily moves to my younger brother, her eyes hard stones of lead. “Oh Lucky,” she sighs “always so theatrical. You know my absence was not by choice.”

No, it was planned. She was the one who put herself on our father's blacklist. I vividly remember the day he chose exile over execution. It was a mistake even then. And I could very well be making the same mistake now, I’m sure.

“Stop acting like you care, Mother.” My voice slices through the tense atmosphere like a knife. “You’re here for a reason. Spit it out.”

She smiles arrogantly, just as she always does. Her presence here can only mean trouble; she has never brought anything but chaos into our lives. I observe silently as she takes two steps towards us, her shoulders squared as she surveys us one by one.

“I have come to claim what is rightfully mine. The Gatti name, the empire that your father and I built, my sons, my family.”

Brando snorts incredulously while I clench my jaw and tighten my fists at my sides.

I tell her bluntly, “You haven’t been welcome in this family for years. That hasn’t changed.”

A flash of anger crosses her face, transforming her from composed to volatile in an instant.

“How dare you speak to me like that? I am yourmother, Scar. I brought you into this world and I demand that you respect my decision to return home.”

Rafi steps up next, the youngest among us at eight years old when she left. He used to cry himself to sleep every night for months after she disappeared. Eventually, he accepted that she was gone and moved on with his life without ever mentioning her again. After those first few months, no one spoke her name ever again.

“No,” Rafi grumbles with a deep frown. “No. You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to leave then come back when you feel like it and expect us to welcome you home with open arms.” He shakes his head as he regards his mother through the eyes of a stranger. “There’s nothing left for you here.”

I couldn't have said it better myself. My mother's carefully constructed facade cracks for a moment before she regains control. “You’ve had fourteen years to resent me,” she whispers. “It’s time for you all to grow up and deal with my return like men.”

“The hell we will,” Brando dictates.

I step forward, my gaze steady. “There’s no place for you in this family. No room for you in our lives.”

“Don't forget that your father and I built this family together,” she spits out venomously, trying to make her point clear. “It was my family...my family,” she repeats viciously, “that your father clung onto until he could establish himself. Without the Moreno family's support, the Gattis would be nowhere.”

“It’s nice to see that you still have our best interests in mind,” Brando seethes, glaring at our mother with disgust. “You were always such a selfish bitch.”

My mother’s eyes narrow as she gazes back at him, her expression unreadable. I don’t believe for a second that she expects us to welcome her back into our family after fourteen years of absence. There must be some ulterior motive driving her actions, and I need to figure out what it is.

“I’ve been honest about my intentions,” she says, clearly unhappy with the less than warm reception she's receiving. “I’ve come back to steer this family in the right direction and lead us to greatness. No one else has the capability to do it successfully.”

I step closer to her, my face mirroring hers in its stony appearance. “You’re not wanted here,” I remind her.

“Says the man who will let a woman cloud his judgment,” she taunts me. I bite back my retort, trying to maintain a neutral expression. But before I can even look at Brando to warn him to hold his tongue, he blurts out harsh words that cut through the tense air.

“Like how you did to our father?”

CHAPTER 28 – ALLEGRA

If I were still looking for a chance to escape my husband’s world, now would be the perfect opportunity. I can’t believe he’s left me here alone, but I understand that what he has to deal with is important, so I say nothing when he delivers me to my parents’ house and tells me he’ll be back soon. I’m not entirely alone; he’s left a slew of guards scattered outside the house as he and his brothers retreat to attend to business. I know we’ve crossed the threshold into mutual trust, because there’s no way he would have left me here otherwise. But he obviously trusts me enough to leave me with my parents.

My mother doesn’t ask a lot of questions. She’s been in this life long enough to know that a man leads, and his wife follows. The less she knows, the safer everyone will be. Plus, her sanity may very well remain intact. So I’m surprised when she asks if everything’s okay, possibly because it’s so out of left field when I arrive unannounced and set my overnight bag on a chair in the entry hall.

“Just a precautionary measure,” I tell her, my lips glancing across her temple.

“But are you okay?” She fixes me with a worried frown.

“I’m fine, mama. Scar just needs to take care of a few things.”

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