There was a single crack in the headstone right at the top of the cross. The flames that engulfed the cross from the ground were blood red, angry shades of orange, its only goal to destroy while his name suffered its wrath. To others, it would seem morbid and grim, but to me, it was beautiful. That image was a reflection of his soul. The crack, the flames, the red—it was everything he thought he was. But after what happened, him killing his own flesh and blood to save me, I knew something resplendent inside him was waiting to be set free. He just never had a reason to find the beauty he suppressed without even realizing it.
“Please…hurry. I don’t know how much time we have.” Castello hung up and tossed the phone on the bed. His jaw ticked, every muscle in his body pulled tight.
“Fuck!” His fist hit the wall, and I flinched at his furious outburst. Guilt bombarded me, joining hands with the fear that already threatened to consume me. Castello was losing everything. His entire life was on the line, all because of me. Why? Why would he do that? Why would he risk himself for me?
Castello turned to face me, blood coating the knuckles of his right hand. I remained still. I might see him in a completely different light now, but I still had a lot to learn about the darkness he carried with him.
“Why are you doing this?” My voice sounded hoarse and uncertain.
He fell back against the wall and stared up at the ceiling. “I don’t know. Right now, I don’t know anything.”
I believed him. I believed he wasn’t sure why he was saving me, just like I wasn’t sure why the thought of being rescued and going home no longer appealed to me.
I shifted from one leg to the other. “How long before Vico comes looking for us?”
“It’s not Vico we need to worry about.”
“Your mother?”
“Yeah.”
My body had been strong long enough. With shaking legs, I sat on the bed. “She really hates me.”
He didn’t respond. He didn’t need to. I saw it the night in the dining hall when she wanted to slice her blade across my throat. Her deep-rooted hatred for me was everywhere—her face, her eyes, the way she fucking breathed. I could see killing me was the only way for her to get relief from the ghosts that tormented her.
“Is she going to kill me?”
The mattress dipped behind me, but I didn’t turn toward him. “She will want to, yes. But it’s not that simple.”
I snorted. “It sounds real simple to me.”
“We have rules, Tatum. Laws of our own that we have to abide by. I’m the Boss, head of this family, and no matter what happens, she can’t go against me.”
“And Vico?”
“He’ll challenge me—especially since I’ve spilled blood of my blood.”
I couldn’t fight the shudder that wracked through me. “Will he win?”
“He might.”
I turned to face him. “He might?”
There was a long pause before he finally answered. “There’s a big possibility that he will win, yes.”
“Because he’ll have your mother’s support.” It wasn’t a question. I knew she’d support anyone who could guarantee her my head on a plate.
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes, my stomach twisted tighter than a vice. “And then? What happens then?”
Another pause, this time more deafening, a shattering silence. I heard him inhale. “Then I’ll join my brother in Hell.”
A tear slipped down my cheek. “And I’ll be right there next to you.”
His phone rang, the sound making me jolt. I turned around as he reached for it, and when he looked up at me with apprehension in his eyes, I knew who it was.
He answered, putting the phone on speaker.