Page 11 of Ruthless Vengeance
I lift my chin as I look at my older brother. “The difference is Marco protects the people he loves.”
Ben scoffs. “Right. Because murder is okay as long as it’s for the right reasons?”
I don’t answer. I don’t need to, not when I know in my heart that Marco would never abandon me.
He would never betray me, never sell me out to save his own skin. Not like Ben.
He left me and Mom when we needed him most, stabbed her in the back when she was dying, and yet somehow thought I would look past his betrayal just because we’re blood.
But the pain I feel because of him has only worsened with time, and I don’t think there’s any chance of us getting back what we once had.
A part of me has spent years trying to rationalize it.
Ben was just desperate, got mixed up with the wrong people and didn’t think there was a way out. But at the end of the day, he made a choice. It’s just a shame it was the wrong one.
There’s no point trying to convince Ben that Marco is different. It will only upset him.
As long as I know that Marco loves me and will do anything to protect me and Zoe, that’s what counts.
But I do need to keep Ben talking. My only hope is that he lets something slip that I can use to convince him working for Tommaso isn’t his only option.
“What was prison like?” I reach into the bag for the second sandwich.
The food sits heavy in my stomach, but I’m yet to feel satisfied.
Ben lets out a bitter laugh. “What do you think it was like?”
I picture him in a cell, completely alone and helpless. I look around my own cell and feel a pang of guilt.
It’s not so different from where I am now, and a tiny part of me, the part that remembers the brother I used to have, feels bad for him.
But then I remember the look in our mom’s eyes when she found out her son had stolen the last of her money, and the guilt vanishes.
I can still hear the sounds of her agony as she realized she would never get the chance to tell him goodbye, to forgive him even though he didn’t deserve it.
Whatever sympathy I have for Ben dies right then and there.
Our mother was already suffering enough, and he only amplified her pain, which is not something I can ever forgive.
Ben’s phone pings, slicing through the silence.
My heart stops as I watch Ben reach for into his pocket.
All this time, he had a phone, a link to the outside world, toMarco.If he really wanted to, he could call Marco and warn him to stay away, and yet he hasn't, which tells me that he hasn’t changed at all.
Ben glances at the screen and frowns. “I have to go.”
He stalks from the room, slamming the door shut behind him without so much as a look back.
Within a second, I went from being the one who betrayed him to no longer existing.
“Fuck you.” I launch the sandwich across the room, my appetite suddenly gone.
Seeing Ben has only reminded me of what I lost.
I wish my mom was still alive, not just for me but for Zoe. She would have loved her more than life, and I hate that she was ripped of the chance of ever meeting her granddaughter.
I let out a shaky breath and wipe at my face with trembling fingers. I can’t believe I still have tears left to cry but somehow, I do.
