Page 76 of Dirty Behavior

Dante

“Talk.” Looking over at Sesto, I kept my foot heavy on the gas as I laid a hand down on the center console. I was ready to hear every last word he had to say.

Now was his time to clear the air, tell me everything, down to the very last detail. For the past year I had written him off, angry and frustrated that he had betrayed our family.

I was giving him this one chance to come clean.

And he wouldn't get another one.

There were no second chances when it came to someone running their mouth off to the cops. That single act came with a death sentence.

The yard was about an hour away at the speed I was going. I didn't plan on stopping for anything; cops included. I didn't really give a shit where the tiny hand for the speedometer was, I just had to get there. Ivy needed me,our baby needed me.

My family was in trouble, nothing else mattered.

Taking a sharp corner, Sesto threw his hand out to catch the dashboard. His shoulders rocked back and forth, bumping against the window. “Everything you and dad thought was a fucking lie, Dante. I didn't do that shit, I never opened my fucking mouth.”

“I don't believe you.”

Sucking in air through thin lips, he rubbed his jaw. “It's the truth, I thought you would know that.”

Angling my neck, my chin jerked up to the ceiling. “Well here's your chance to tell me, if not you, then who?”

I wanted to believe my brother. I really did.

But it's hard to climb out of a grave that's already been dug. If he didn't have a good explanation as to what the fuck happened, I was ready to open his door and shove him out.

Asshole rats belonged on the street or better yet—under it.

Sesto's brow jumped up on his forehead, eyes skittish under hooded lids. He was staring at me like I should have known the answer already.

But I didn't.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” His lip curled up as each word came out filled with such disgust. “It was Remo you dick.”

My chest stopped, all the blood drained from my face and pooled at my feet.“What?”Clutching the steering wheel tighter, a ghostly hue swept in, coating my knuckles.

Remo did that?

“Dante, that motherfucker framed me.” Rolling his head back to look out the windshield, he let out a heavy breath. Watching his hands, his fingers folded up into tight stone. “He's the one who gave the cops all that information, he's the one who set us up. I would never do that to our family—never.”

I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was. I had always thought that Remo and my father had worked well together. As much as I've always hated him, I didn't peg him as a traitor that would run to the cops.

Remo had enough of his own shit to be worried about, like the prisoner he had kept locked in his home. Why would he want to risk the police sniffing around?

So he owed us money, and yes, we took our own measures to get what was ours. But for him to go to the cops and tattle just didn't seem like his style.

Is he trying to bullshit me?

How could I be sure he wasn't just attempting to force the blame on someone else, someone he knew I despised with every aching bone in my body. Sesto knew how much I hated Remo, it wasn't like I hadn't shot my mouth off to our father about him before.

But would Sesto risk lying to me to get me on his side again?

The truth was I didn't know. I've heard it all, every excuse, every point of the finger. Every whimpering cry of innocence had always held an odor of false truths. That's what every other man had done to shake off the bite.

Why would Sesto be any different?

“Why should I believe you? How can I even trust a fucking word that comes out of your mouth?” Pushing back in my seat, I rubbed my temples. “Why didn't you say anything before, why now?”

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