Unbroken (The Protectors 12)

Con went to the opposite side of the table after washing his hands and then stepped in Luca’s path. He said something softly to my brother that I couldn’t hear, then put his hand on his shoulder too. Luca remained stiff for several beats, then nodded. Then he was returning to the chair across from me and Aleks.

Con… ever the peacekeeper. He’d played that role when we’d been kids too. He’d usually been the first to get between me and Luca to break up a fight on the rare occasions when Luca and I hadn’t stopped on our own. And since he’d known how to kick ass better than the rest of us, the irony had never been lost on us… and we’d learned early on that when Con told us to knock it the fuck off, we needed to listen.

God, as shitty as my childhood had been, I’d take those days back in a heartbeat.

My eyes met Con’s and I said, “If you really want to help me, you’ll keep him here until Aleks and I are long gone.”

I held Con’s gaze, even though I could practically feel Luca’s eyes burning a hole through me.

“So you’re going to keep running?” Con asked. He looked at Aleks. “Is that what you want, Aleks?”

I managed not to answer for Aleks, despite my instinct to tell Con that what Aleks wanted was his life back.

I looked at Aleks, who seemed surprised at the fact that Con was actually waiting for a response.

“I… I want my family to be safe.”

“They will be,” I said automatically.

“No, they won’t,” Luca interjected.

I snapped my eyes to Luca and was about to rip him a new one when Con put his hand on Luca’s where it was resting on the table, likely in the hopes of silencing him. But Luca was Luca and said exactly what was on his mind.

“He won’t ever be safe, and neither will his family as long as they’re still looking for him!” Luca said impatiently to me.

“And you expect me to believe that’s why you sent your men after him?” I bit out. “To keep him safe?”

“No, I…”

“What?” I yelled when his voice unexpectedly dropped off. “You what?”

Luca opened his mouth to say something, then snapped it shut. His look was icy as he eyed me. Then he shifted his gaze to Aleks. I put my hand over Aleks’s where it was resting in his lap because I knew the fear Luca could instill in a person with just a look. I half expected Aleks to push my hand away, but he curled his fingers around mine instead.

“Luca,” I warned, but my brother only looked at me for a split second, then his eyes were back on Aleks.

“They had orders not to hurt you,” he said, his voice surprisingly soft.

I was about to speak when Aleks’s fingers squeezed mine hard.

The silent message rendered me speechless.

“And that makes it okay?” Aleks asked, his voice sounding stronger than I’d ever heard it.

Luca had the grace to look momentarily ashamed. Then he shook his head slowly. “Do you know what was supposed to happen the night you supposedly ‘died’?” he asked.

Before I could tell my brother to shut up, Aleks said, “No… what?”

“Marcus was meeting a man who knew where my son was,” Luca declared.

“We don’t know that for sure,” I reminded him.

Luca ignored me and continued. “Vaughn had already made arrangements to get you out the moment that meeting ended and we had the information we needed.”

“What information?” Aleks asked.

“The man’s identity,” Luca said. “Fuck, we didn’t even need that… we just needed him to show up somewhere so we could put a tail on him and track him back to whatever hole he crawled out of. The son of a bitch was a ghost… but he agreed to meet Marcus Parks at his place for one reason and one reason only.”

“Luca, don’t,” I snarled.

“What reason?” Aleks asked, his voice thick with fear.

He already knew the answer.

“You,” Luca whispered.

“Jesus, Luca, just shut the fuck up!” I snapped as I got to my feet. I grabbed the gun and suddenly I was the one pacing. “Con, get him the hell out of here!” I shouted. When Con didn’t move, I dropped down into a crouch next to Aleks. “Aleks, please, just come with me now. It’s not safe to stay here.”

Aleks didn’t move at first. When he did, he turned just a little so he could look me in the eye. “Why was the man meeting with Father?” he asked.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s in the past,” I said quietly, wishing like hell he would drop it.

“Was Father going to sell me to him?” Aleks asked.

I lowered myself to my knees. “It looks that way,” I finally said.

“Why didn’t you want him to tell me that?” he asked as he glanced at Luca.