“How would you feel if it was Layla who called?”
I snorted. “Jesus, are you a shrink now?”
“I’m just wondering. It’s been what? Like four, five years since she left? And you’d need to be a special kind of stupid to not notice you’re still fucked up about her.”
I leaned my head to the side. “Good God, you are terrible at this.”
“At what?’
“At brothering.”
Antonio stared at me deadpan for a few seconds before he exhaled and let out a laugh. “I am. I suck at being a sympathetic brother.”
I refilled both our glasses. “We both know you never liked Layla.”
“The only reason I didn’t like her was because she turned you into a pussy-whipped asshole who only thought about white picket fences and puppies.”
I leaned back in my chair, swirling the amber liquid around and around in the glass. “I won’t deny it. If she didn’t leave back then, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”
“Yeah. You’d be out there in the world raising your two children, loving your wife, and picking up dog shit every day.” His gaze met mine. “You certainly wouldn’t still be here, living in this house, working for Dad by getting rid ofproblems. Speaking of which, I assume everything went down smoothly last night.” Every contour of Antonio’s face turned all shades of serious.
I pressed my thumb and forefinger at the bridge of my nose. “Yes, Antonio. The fucker is buried somewhere with a bullet in his skull, and a few fingernails short. So, I’d say everything wentsmoothly.”
Antonio shook his head. “See? Completely fucked up.”
I tilted my glass in his direction, then swallowed it all in one gulp. “If it wasn’t for me being so fucked up, you wouldn’t have an executioner for a brother.”
“You know you don’t have to be the one to do that shit. We have other options.”
I snorted. “Other options? Who else would you trust with delicate matters such as killing people who piss you off?”
Antonio stared at me. He knew I was right. He and Dad, they wouldn’t be able to trust anyone else when it came to disposing ofproblems. Lucky for them, I had the balls and the stomach to kill and torture.
“Okay,” Antonio got up from his seat, “Vertigo tonight. I’m sure we won’t have a problem getting Lorik there.”
“Yeah. I’ll just warn Karina so she doesn’t kill us when we bring him back in a comatose state.”
“Good thinking.”
“Did I hear my woman’s name?” Lorik strolled in, and Antonio and I exchanged knowing looks.
“Yes, you did. We were just trying to figure out what the hell our sister sees in you.” I grinned at him.
“I already told you. It’s my giant-sized Albanian cock.”
Antonio cringed. “In the name of everything that is holy, could you please stop referring to your cock when you talk about our sister?”
Lorik shrugged. “You talked about her first.”
I rubbed my temples. “Is there a reason you’re here?”
“Oh, yeah. First, Karina took the time to fill me in on who this Layla woman is. Sorry, man.”
Lorik shot me a sympathetic stare, and I rolled my eyes. “Spare me your pity.”
“It’s not pity. I just totally get why you’re an asshole now.”
Antonio snickered, and I scowled at Lorik. “The reason you’re here is…?”