Page 108 of Vow of Silence

I circle the room, first showing Arseni the same words and then Petey.

Silence falls between us. A weighted blanket.

“He speaks the truth,” Arseni says quietly.

“How do you know?” Papa’s guttural words barely rise above a whisper.

“Because Ignazio told me so himself.”

I spin on thepakhanand frown.What the fuck?How? When? Why the fuck would he do nothing if he knew?

“Ignazio told you he paid men to kill your daughter, and you said nothing,” Petey says to clarify, disbelief in his tone.

Arseni huffs a sad laugh and shrugs. “I said nothing. But Ididsomething. I ensured Nastasya’s safety.” He looks toward me.

I draw a steadying breath. This is fucked. Why would Ignazio tell him that? To what end?

“There’s history,” Arseni admits, finally collapsing into the chair. “Your fucking brother has had his boot on my throat for years. Ever since I learned of his new family, the one built under the name of Romulus.” He tips his head. “Although, I never knew that was what he called himself.”

“How?” Papa moves to pour himself a drink. “Tell me how he’s had you, the fucking Iron Jaw, under his control all these years.”

Nastasya’s father sets an elbow on the arm of the chair, resting his head against his hand. “Because, like you,” he says, “I’m just a scared old man underneath it all. I have a weakness, Gennaro, the same as you do: your family. Yourbloodfamily. The people I’d wager you’d lay down your life to protect.”

My father’s shoulders rise with his deep breath, back toward us. He pauses and then reaches into a wooden box for a cigar. “You’d be right. They are my weakness.”

“Ignazio came to me all those years ago with an offer.” My father tips his head towards Arseni’s glass. Thepakhannodsand then continues. “He knew the Irish were underpricing me, taking dock work from my men. He knew I struggled to keep them employed within the brotherhood. Struggled to keep food on their tables.” Arseni sighs, passing his empty tumbler to my father. “So he promised me they’d be taken care of if I convinced them to swear an oath to the Family. If I sold their souls for a loaf of bread.”

“Why do that?” Petey interjects. “You must have known he was taking advantage of you.”

“I did,” Arseni’s gaze tracks me as I pass to stand behind his chair. “But he cut me a deal. For every hundred men I added to your ranks, he would give me a percent of his take from running protection as the don.”

Papa scoffs. “He made empty promises.”

“I know that now.”

I refuse to look at the man despite the overwhelming awareness that Arseni directed that last comment at me. He knows that because I ran my mouth. I told Nastasya that Ignazio would never be don.

All these years. All these fucking years, I thought my uncle punished me for flouting my loyalty to the family. And to think it was because I cost him a business deal. A racket that would have seen him build the ranks of his rival Family much, much sooner.

My fucking body vibrates with a need for vengeance.

“It seemed easy enough,” Arseni explains. “New families arrive from the motherland every month. Hopeful for a new start. All I had to do was put the thought in their head and let desperation do the rest for me. How much do you make a month from protection, huh?” He throws his head back, directing the question at my father.

“Close to a million.”

“Close to a million,” Arseni repeats, nodding. “If I got him two hundred men, that would have paid me twenty thousanda month. For what? Running my mouth here and there? I saw a steady income that would help guarantee my family’s continuation, and I moved on it. Would you have not done the same?”

Papa sighs.

I stare out the fucking window at the drifts of misty rain that coast by on the breeze. Such a beautiful day for such ugly truths. Arseni not only sold the soul of the men hedidswear into Ignazio’s ranks, but he sold his own. He pulled back the fucking sheets and chose to lie with the devil because it was easier to stay on his back and take it than do the necessary work.

“Why Irina?” Petey asks quietly.

“Pardon?”

“Why Irina?” He repeats. “You’ve told us how you knew about Romulus and his Family, but you haven’t explained why you accuse Ignazio of killing your wife.”

“He found out I stopped sending men his way,” Arseni explains. “Once I knew he wouldn’t be Giovi’s successor, I made sure he didn’t get a single fucking foot in the door. Not from my neighborhood and not from anywhere else. I sent rumors down the grapevine that gave him a reputation as unreliable and untrustworthy.” Arseni pulls a flat smile. “He confronted me about it once he figured out what I was doing.”

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