Page 49 of Vow of Silence

I cock my head to the left and narrow my gaze.What?

Dion leans back in the seat, crossing one leg over the other. “I know you want us all to think you’re doing this for the family, to clear our name and prove to Arseni we aren’t responsible.”

I concede with a shrug.

“But if that were the case, you’d have given this lead to Vinny to follow through.” Dion pauses to study me, mouth in a hard line. “This is personal.”

I look away. He doesn’t know the entire history between Nastasya and me. Sure, he knows I had a thing for her when we were teens—we all did. She’s fucking beautiful in that way that lifts the worst of days. I’m relatively sure Dion wanted her for himself at one stage; I can’t blame him.

I’ve loved her since I first saw her. Since I didn’t know what the fuck the flippy feeling in my eleven-year-old gut was.

“What does she mean to you, brother?” Dion leans his head on one hand as though settling in for the long haul.

He’s shit out of luck. I have murder on my mind.

Time is of the essence.

I rub my fingers together, indicating I want the info.

He holds my hard stare for a tense minute. “You already love her, don’t you?”

Hands to my face, I fall back in the seat and groan, dragging the heated palms to my throat.

“How long?”

Info!I clap my hands together and sit forward again.

“No.” He grins, clearly amused at my frustration. “Answer me, you stone-hearted jackass. How long have you been in love with the enemy?”

I tilt my head, gaze narrowed.She’s not the enemy.

“We haven’t seen them for years,” Dion deduces. “Fuck. I think the last time the Kuznetsovs attended the same event as we did was six or seven years ago.”

Yeah. And she wasn’t with him.I slouch in the seat, arms straight on the rests, and stare blankly across the room.

“It goes back further than that, doesn’t it?”

I cut my gaze across to my middle brother—the smart one.

A slow smile splits his lips. “You hooked up with her, didn’t you?”

I look away again. At least the book spines don’t judge me.

“After you went mute?” The way he asks the question… he knows the answer. “Before.” His hazel eyes go wide.

My slow blink and sigh give him all the confirmation he needs.

Dion jerks forward in the seat, legs wide and elbows to his knees. “We were fucking teenagers, Benito.”

I shrug.So?What does it matter? Does the heart suddenly know the difference between love and lust because society decides we’ve matured? Fuck that. I knew she was the real deal when I couldn’t get her off my mind, even as I did the unspeakable things that demonstrated I could become a made man.

Nothing proves unconditional love like lusting for your lover’s kiss while you knife a man in the heart.

A vision of Nastasya’s lips on mine while I knife her attackers in the heart sends my pulse racing.Yeah.That’d be fucking nice.

I shift my glare to Dion and curl the fingers of my closest hand. He relents, leaning to one side while he retrieves his phone. Mine pings soon after with the transferred note. I flick the screen awake with a terse swipe of my thumb and read the details.

My gaze finds Dion, my eyes wide with disbelief.

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