Page 6 of Beautiful Revenge

“It is.” There’s no hesitation in his face or voice. He means every word he says.

If I’m being honest, I’m a little jealous. I’ve never been that sure of anything. I’ve always doubted people. Always distrusted people.

And yet, here’s my brother, who grew up the same way I did – the same shitty abusive father that we later killed and the same nurturing Mom who tried her best with us – and yet, Aiden is able to love.

Why am I incapable of it?

I do love our mom. Fiona Murphy. She’s a formidable woman, having survived abuse at the hands of our father for years. I’m still loyal to her. But she’s not really a part of Mafia business. She has some contacts to keep her informed about the going-ons of everything but she holds no power or status in the Irish mob. Not in the Mafia. Not in the Bratva.

It’s the one thing that has allowed me to love my mom the way I have. She will never betray me because she has no reason to.

Unlike Aiden.

“Are you going to kill me?” I ask him. “You still have that gun pointed at me.”

Slowly, he lowers it. He’s just a year younger than me but we could pass for twins. The only difference is our hair – his is reddish brown and mine is black.

Black like my fucking soul.

“Just go, Finn,” he says, sounding so tired. It’s because of me. I’m causing this pain in my brother. Well, good. Now he knows how I have felt for the past few years since he married Elena.

“I could kill you.” I raise my gun.

Aiden lifts his hands in surrender. “Then do it.”

What would killing my brother achieve? Nothing really.

But that’s not why I lower my gun after a moment. I lower it because Aiden is still my brother despite everything and I will always love him.

That’s why I also hate him.

“I’ll go,” I say. “Have a fun fucking life.”

“Don’t do anything stupid,” he calls out as I walk away.

I laugh. My brother knows better than to be naïve.

He knows I always do something stupid that always seems to work out in my favor.

I want to hurt Erik and Dante and Viktor. I want to make them pay for going against me.

Dante’s betrayal, other than my brother’s, stings the most. Dante and I were once friends. I was never friends with Erik and Viktor and I only had a working partnership because it suited us, not because either one of us liked the other.

So, how can I hurt Dante?

I arrive at his house and watch it for a long time until he leaves. Then I follow him. He ends up going to a brownstone in a very wealthy neighborhood. It’s so different from the place I grew up in. Poverty was something I was used to until I became a hitman and made enough money to support myself.

Dante goes inside the brownstone and doesn’t come back out for a long time. When he does, he’s joined by a middle age man and a young woman.

A very pretty young woman. She’s blonde and petite but there’s a fire in her eyes I can see even from where I am across the street.

I realize who these people are.

Elio Romano and his daughter, Aria. Dante never let me meet them when we used to work together but I knew he had a soft spot for Aria. She was like a daughter to him. Seems that’s still the case as he gives her a hug goodbye.

It’s in this very moment that I know how I can hurt Dante. It’s something he did to Erik when he wanted to make Erik angry a few years ago before they made peace.

Dante kidnapped Erik’s sister-in-law, Nadia.

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