Page 68 of Code Name: Dante

“And yet you made it.”

He shrugged a second time. “It didn’t seem fair that your life should be sacrificed for the sins of our mother.”

I laughed out loud. “Fair has never been a word in your vocabulary.”

“Maybe at one time it was.”

My mind raced, connecting dots. Mom vanishing. Summer going into hiding. Both of them pregnant. Both connected to families that were Castellano enemies. “You arranged it all. Their disappearances, identities, money, everything.”

“I did what needed to be done. No different than any other day of my life.” For the first time, real emotion crept into his voice.

“Our sister is the only one on the compound.”

His eyes closed momentarily, and he shook his head. “This is a waste of time.”

“What’s her name?”

Vincent sighed, and his shoulders drooped, almost as in defeat. “Chiara. It means luminous.”

“You care about her.”

“Of course I do.”

“And Summer.”

I saw the corner of his eyes crease even though he’d steeled his expression. It was as though hearing her name hurt.

“You love her.” I waited for a reaction that didn’t come. “Even though Lark isn’t your child.” Something else occurred to me. “You wanted me to find them. And until I did, you wanted me to think you intended to harm Lark and her grandmother. That’s what the cryptic courtroom shit was all about.”

Again, no reaction.

“And the brick? More of the same?” I raised a brow at the almost imperceptible tell. “Wait. That wasn’t you?”

Once again, he had no visible reaction.

“Stop the fucking games, Vincent. Tell me what I’m up against, or I’ll let them fend for themselves.”

“Sure you will.” His laugh held no humor. “This was never a game, Alessandro. This was survival. For all of us.” He leaned forward, his voice dropping lower. “Did you think it was coincidence that brought you to that coffee shop? That led you to her?”

“What are you saying? That you had something to do with it? Like you knew me well enough to predict I’d?—”

“Got ya,” he muttered. His teasing reminded me of when we were young and he’d won whatever game we were playing. That our lives had changed so drastically made my chest hurt. But then, knowing I was doing everything in my power to take down my brother, along with our family’s criminal organization, had always been painful.

“Fuck off,” I snapped back, willing the momentary closeness I remembered between us away. “You aren’t anywhere near as smart as you think you are.”

“Right, you keep tellin’ yourself that, brother.”

“What was your plan?”

“Some forces, once set in motion, can’t be stopped. Some secrets, once revealed, can’t be buried again.” His eyes met mine, and for a moment, I saw past the calculating mastermind to something more human. More broken. “The Mazzeos have waited over twenty-five years for vengeance. What do you think they’ll do now that I’m not around to stop them? You think they’ve forgotten? Or forgiven? It won’t just be Summer they come after. Lark is in just as much danger.”

The implications made my chest tight. “You think they’ll kill one of their own?”

He shook his head. “They’ll just make her wish she was dead. You think someone like Lark can be a part of that world?”

“Tell me where her mother is. Then, I’ll agree to protect her.”

He chuckled. “You’ll protect her anyway.”

---