Page 4 of The Broken Queen
“Dead,” Dad snapped, and I froze. Gio’s eyes slid over, meeting mine.
I whispered because my voice didn’t seem to want to work. “How do you know that?”
“Because Markos once wanted to marry your mother. Their marriage had been arranged since her birth, and when she turned nineteen, she was to become his bride. It was the entire reason I picked up the colors of El Peligro and stamped my chest with that fucking black heart. Years later, Markos tried his hand at ruining us again through Riley, but Kyle nearly castrated him for it. We’ve never stopped tracking him, and when you mentioned his name, I made it my mission to find him. I would have killed him myself except he was already dead when I arrived.”
“Even if he’s dead, that doesn’t change anything,” Gio said, finally stepping closer so we were nearly side by side.
Dad scoffed and then gave us one last shake of his head. “It changes everything.”
With that, he entered the house and kept us standing out in the cold, staring at a dead garden that now represented this family.
Chapter 2
Gio
Being angry with my brother wasn’t a new sensation for me.
I’d spent plenty of time being frustrated with him over stupid shit that didn’t really matter. Even the times I was angry at him over Presley, things were never that serious. We’d always be in the same room at night, and I’d see his stupid face the following morning, and my anger would just leave when he smirked and tossed a pillow at my face.
I would tell myself not to blame him, and then I’d remember how he fucked all this up for us and I’d draw up the courage to distance myself from him. Kingston always had some demon rifling around in his head, providing him enough pride to cut the distance between him and whoever it was he actually cared about. I’d give him the benefit of the doubt, knowing he didn’t mean it.
But this time things were different.
“You going to just ignore me again?” Kingston’s voice echoed behind me as I walked away from him.
I was too angry to talk. My jaw was tight, my fists curled, and my chest felt like it might explode anysecond.
“Great. Yeah, that’s just fucking great, Gio. I lose Pres, you, and now we’re losing Alex and our parents.”
My mouth parted the slightest bit, wanting to argue with him. He knew exactly what to say to bait me, but I’d gotten better at ignoring him.
“Gio, please. Fuck.” My brother’s voice cracked.
I spun around, coming to a stop just close enough to throw my fist out. It landed with a crunch as it connected with his nose. He wasn’t expecting it, so he went down immediately.
Standing over him, I glared down. “Why are you acting surprised that you’re alone?”
He spat out the blood pooling in his mouth and groaned. “You blame me for all of this?”
“Why shouldn’t I?”
Getting to his knees, he had mud smeared all over his arms and shirt. I kicked his ribs so he rolled onto his back. He caught my foot and yanked hard until I was on the ground next to him.
“I never forced you to do shit, Gio. Don’t put all this on me.”
“You wanted to fuck her that night and then leave her. You wanted to take sides against her.” My voice echoed right back as I rolled to punch him again. He dodged and caught my hand, then twisted.
“Gio. Stop,” he rasped.
I hit him in the gut with my free fist. Then I got enough leverage to get my feet up, and I kicked him in the leg.
He groaned in pain, twisting to the side, while I clamored to my feet. “She always wanted you more than me. Did you fucking know that?” Tears burned the backs of my eyes, but I held them in just like I had done since she walked out of our lives.
“You took her fucking first kiss. Her first orgasm. You touched her first. She wantedyou. There was no having her without you, and you fucked it all up. I would have never lost her if she were mine. If you weren’t involved, she would be here with me right now. She would be safe and loved and spoiledby me!”
Kingston coughed, rolling to his side once more.
I kept going. “Having her was never good enough for you. You always wanted to hurt her, downplaying what we felt and what he shared. You were scared that if you were open with her and she shot you down, then you’d be embarrassed. We should have told her when she was sixteen that we loved her. We should have never left her for that year and a half, but that was your choice too, wasn’t it?”
