Page 36 of Brando

When I was slightly younger than I am now, I developed an unhealthy obsession with race car driving. So unhealthy, I ended up being a daredevil even when off the tracks. It was the one thing that kept me grounded, feeling the wind lash at my head as I bounced across the track. The one thing that kept me sane and allowed me to forget the turmoil of my past.

Scar worried I’d wrap my car around a tree and eventually banned me from driving. He went so far as to organise a driver for me and slashed the tires of every damn car I bought until I’d had enough and succumbed to being driven around. It’s only recently that I started to drive again, although everyone knows that when I’m on the edge, the beast in me comes undone again. I don’t see clearly. I don’t think logically. For all my level headedness, when I’m full of rage, something inside me frays and all reason gets thrown out the window.

“Dammit,” I growl, as I slap a palm against the wheel and slow down. I made Scar a promise. I made Allegra a promise. It only takes one lucid moment, but suddenly, I calm the fuck down and I’m thinking of all the things that I could lose if I continue to be reckless. All the damage I could cause and the hearts that I would break.

A horn blares as I get carried away with my thoughts. I swerve, narrowly missing a cab. My pulse throbs, a drumbeat in anticipation of what’s to come.

Mia's image burns in my mind—the strength inside her as she battled demons trying to find her sisters. And I was one of those monsters. I was an asshole to her when I first saw her again. Regret slithers through me like an unforgiving poison.

My foot slams the accelerator and the car surges forward as I chase the night in search of her. Lucky’s hacker friend had called and let us know that Mia’s phone was back online. I had spent the last hour tracing her movements, each ping of the GPS sending a ripple of dread through me as she alternated between online and offline and I lost the invisible connection to her. When I finally get another read on her location, I follow the breadcrumbs until the signal brings me to a restaurant downtown. I don’t know what she’s doing there, but I’m going to make damn sure I see her and get the answers I need.

I’m parked across the street as Falcone emerges from a sleek black car and walks to the other side without waiting for the driver. I sit up in my seat and watch, holding my breath as he opens the door of the rear passenger door, a smile plastered on his face as he extends his hand and helps Mia out of the car. I’m too far away to be seen, yet close enough to see the strain on her face in comparison to the malice on his.

My breath hitches as I watch Frank lean in closer, his hand finding its way to the small of Mia’s back. The gesture is intimate, possessive, and it ignites a flame of rage inside me.I fight the urge to cross the street, to storm over and confront them. Instead, I remain frozen, an unwilling spectator in a scene that feels like a betrayal. Unless I put a bullet in his head, Frank is always going to be the bane of my existence, that pariah that clings to me like a second skin.

My fists clench tighter, my teeth grinding against each other with anxiety. I can’t let this go. I won’t. I’m a man who protects what’s mine, and I think after what happened between us, Mia has more than become mine. The way I’ve always wanted her. The way she was always meant to be mine.

I wait a few minutes after they’ve entered the restaurant before I emerge from my own car and cross the road. The restaurant is one I’ve been to before. It’s an intimate setting with a dimly lit ambiance and the aroma of rich Italian cuisine permeating through the air. The tension in my gut only intensifies as I lean up against the bar next to Lucky and Rafi and order a drink.

“Glad you could make it,” Lucky smirks.

By now, all three of my brothers know about the Andrade sisters and that I’ve been trying to help them leave the country before they fall into the soul sucking clutches of the Maltese. They don’t understand the secrecy, and they ranted plenty because I didn’t ask for their help, but they’re here now, even if only to keep me in line so I don’t unleash my crazy again. It doesn’t help that they’ve been torturing me non-stop about my interest in Mia every minute I’m around them, but at least they’re willing to have my back as I try to get her back.

I cast my eyes across the restaurant, trying to make out the patrons in the dimly lit room. The lighting makes it hard to see anything, but it’s like I can feel her presence here in this room with me.

“You didn’t have to come,” I tell my brothers. “I could’ve handled this on my own.”

“Famous last words,” Rafi sighs, before he chucks his chin toward a table in the opposite direction. I follow my youngest brother’s gaze, my heart pounding in my chest. Sure enough, there she is – Mia, standing beside a table, her blonde waves cascading over her shoulders. The sight of her ignites a fire within me, a mix of anger and something else I’m unwilling to name. She walks away from the table and leaves behind three men, one of which is Frank Falcone. He watches her as she walks away. The other two men follow his gaze, and I don’t like the way that any of them are leering at her. I take a step in their direction, before Lucky pulls me back by the arm and shoots me a warning glance.

“Are you fucking crazy?” he hisses. “This is the only chance we get to find out who’s in bed with Falcone. Your girl’s headed to the powder-room. Go!”

Lucky pushes me in the direction Mia is headed. One last glance at the table she vacated, and I see that she’s all but forgotten and the men are back in deep conversation.

“Stay here,” I command my brothers, then stride toward the restroom, my heart racing with every step. I find her leaning against the sink, splashing cool water on her face. The small room is empty, the air thick with tension. My heart hammers in my chest as I step inside and lock the door behind me with a decisive click.

“Mia.” It’s one word, but it may as well be an ocean or a valley as I pack everything into those two syllables.

She turns, surprise flickering in her eyes, before they soften and she whispers my name in a way that makes me feel like I am her only solace in a sinking ship. Her eyes are sunken, her face tired as she faces me, but she’s still as beautiful as my heart remembers her.

“Just like that, Mia? You leave me just like that, without a warning.”

“Would you have let me go, Brando? Really?”

“No, I wouldn’t have. If I’d been a better man then, I never would have let you be with him when we were younger. But I’m not the same man now as I was back then.”

Her brow furrows, and she opens her mouth to protest, but I can see the emotions battling behind her eyes. “I’m doing this for my sisters, Brando. You have to understand that. Family means everything to you – I know you’d do the same if the roles were reversed.”

“Let me help you, Mia.” I scoot down to meet her at eye level, my own eyes piercing hers, giving her more words than I can articulate. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”

“You don’t know what he’s capable of, Brando.”

There’s only sadness in her eyes when she looks back at me, begging me silently for understanding. I can’t begin to fathom the depth of her pain at losing her sisters.

“You don’t know for sure that he has them,” I remind her.

She nods her head then steps forward and lifts a palm to my face. She tilts her face, regret and sorrow her only true companions, as she begs for my forgiveness.

“He has them,” she tells me, with all certainty. “This is something I have to do. You have to respect that, Brando. If I ever meant anything to you, please just let me do this.”

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