He just stares off into the distance without responding.
“I might not remember much, but I remember what I told you. I’m still your fucking brother. And our parents drove a wedge between us. Made us believe only one of us could win them over and run the business,” I say. “But I don’t fucking care about any of that.”
He looks me dead in the eye. “Then what the fuck do you care about?”
“Jasmine and you,” I say.
He sucks in a breath. “We may be brothers, but I will never, ever stop protecting Jill. Do you fucking understand that?”
I nod. “I feel the same way about Jasmine. Why else do you think I held a gun to Jill’s head? You were threatening to take Jas away from me.”
“That’s not the same thing,” he rebukes.
“Yes, it fucking is!” I bark. “You just don’t want to see it.”
“She doesn’t love you the way Jill loves me,” he quips.
That’s a low blow, even for him.
“Ask her. Go ahead,” I say. “Prove it to me.”
His lips twitch, and his face contorts, but he never moves from his spot.
Figured.
“Fine. Say she loves you. What the fuck do you want to do now?” he says with a low tone of voice.
“I want to live. In peace. That’s all,” I reply.
“In peace …” he repeats, staring up at the sky. “You know, I would’ve liked that too. And for a moment, there was peace before Jasmine darted off to you.”
“I take full responsibility for that,” I say.
“What does Jasmine think of that, hmm?” he retorts.
“I can’t look inside her mind. But she told me she loved me. And I believe her words.”
“What did it cost her to say those words?” He looks at me over his shoulder. “Jill’s life?”
I swallow. I know I’m a piece of shit for doing that to Jasmine.
But I know better now.
“Jill is alive thanks to her, yes,” I say.
“You held a gun to her head,” Luca growls.
“I let her go.”
“Because I had you one aimed at you.”
“Exactly. So what was my bargaining chip when I let her go?” I quip. “Nothing.”
He’s silent for a moment.
“I knew it would cost me my life,” I add.
His jaw tenses, and he mulls it over for a second. “Why? Why would you choose that?”