Page 18 of The Broken Queen
“Gio, stop!”
“No. She doesn’t want me, King. Fuck. Why can’t you see that?” He seethed.
I refused to see it because I knew better. I had witnessed the two of them interact and fall in love, my entire life. Gio was good for her. He always made her laugh when all I did was make her sad. Hetaught her how to read the sky for fuck’s sake. He’d permanently tattooed that sky on his back just for her. There was no way I was fucking this up for them any more than I already had.
“Let me do this,” I begged him while he came at me again, ready to punch me.
He paused, and I caught something in his gaze that scared me. Something that made me want to reach into his chest and check over his heart to make sure it was still beating. I carried my dark clouds and demons with me everywhere I went; Gio was always sunshine and happiness. If his came out, they’d try to kill him.
His voice was quiet as he whispered, “Why do you want to?”
Because I’m not good, not like you, and not like her. Because you always made her smile. Because all I do is ruin things.“I fucked it up. Let me fix it.”
My brother shook his head before turning away again, pacing the length of the floor.
“Dad is lying about Markos. He’s dead set on leaving, and based off how much has been packed in the house, I think they might be going soon. I need help convincing him. He knows more than what he’s saying he does.”
Gio was coming to me as a last resort; he knew Dad wasn’t going to budge, even if I got involved. But I could tell my brother was desperate.
“Then we motivate him,” I suggested. My brother’s eyebrows lifted as he watched me grab the rest of my things and head downstairs.
“I don’t wantMom to get upset,” Gio said as we pulled to a stop in front of the house.
My head dipped in agreement. I had no plans whatsoever in bringing my mother into this or my sister, but that actually had me wondering where she was. I hadn’t seen her in over a week.
“Where has Alex been lately?” I shoved the parking gear into place and pulled the small box from the back seat before exiting.
I had no idea if Kyle and Rylie were around, as I’d been avoiding the manor for the most part. The first time I had come over was last week when I caught the FaceTime call. If I did run into them, I planned on being pleasant, or as pleasant as I could be. Unfortunately, my decision to draw a line in the sand between our families made everything fucking awkward when we showed up, or anyone was caught in the same vicinity as us.
Well, me. Just me…Gio was probably on good terms with everyone since living here and being in the family wing.
Gio fell into step next to me as we pushed through the manor doors and made our way down the hall. “I haven’t seen Alex in a few days…maybe a week?”
Exactly how long it had been for me. My mind raced with where she might have gone to and I mentally reminded myself to text her as I adjusted the weight of the box under my arm.
Gio paused right as his fingers wrapped around the door handle leading into our family space. “He’s going to lose his shit when you do this.”
I shrugged. “Then maybe he’ll be properly motivated to talk.”
Pissing my father off wasn’t exactly something I enjoyed doing. While I knew I had become rather good at it these past few years, I actually hated being a burden. I detested this wall that had been erected and all because he refused to help us protect Presley.
It angered me past empathy. Which was why I didn’t exactly feel remorse as I walked to his office and allowed my actions to speak all the necessary words.
Dad sat at his desk, and glancing around, I saw that most of his office had been packed up. The only thing that cluttered his desk space was his laptop. His amber eyes flicked up to watch as we entered, and I hated how a flicker of hope or excitement shone there.
“Boys.”
“Hey, Dad,” Gio saidwarmly.
I shot my brother a quick glare before pulling the box out from under my arm. We didn’t need to give Dad a false sense as to why we were there.
Dad’s eyes narrowed. “What’s that?”
I nudged my brother’s shoulder, so he’d get out of the way. Then I dumped the contents of the box on his desk, covering his laptop. “This was everything found inside Markos Mariano’s office. We just wanted to know if you were aware that he stalked our mother?”
Pictures littered the waxed surface of his desk with image after image of our mother. Close-ups, invasive images that Gio and I both had to ensure Henry packed and not us. But there was more than that. He had pictures of Mom when she was a little kid. T-shirts that seemed to belong to her, a perfume bottle, and hair spray. There were ultrasound images of Alex tucked inside the box, as well as pictures of when Alex was at an ice cream shop here in Rake Forge. Another one appeared of Alex when she was swimming at the lake one summer.
An eerie feeling swam through me, making the hair along my spine erupt.
