Twisted Bonds (The Camorra Chronicles 4)

Nino withdrew from me. “If he sees her, if he meets her, it’ll haunt him just as much. She’s twisted and manipulative, and…” He shook his head. “Don’t get involved in this, Kiara. It’s none of your business.”

My chest constricted at his clipped tone, at his words. I rolled away from him, quickly sat up and stood. I needed to wash my face with cold water to hold back the emotion even though I knew it was futile. Tears sprang into my eyes, and I blinked them back as I hurried toward the bathroom. Not my business? He made it sound as if I wasn’t part of the family, as if I had no right to be.

I didn’t make it far before Nino caught up with me. He grabbed me around the waist and held on to me, his chest pressed against my back. “Don’t run from me,” he murmured. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“How did you mean it then?” I asked in a raw voice.

Nino embraced me tightly and released a low breath. “You are part of this family, of the family we are now. What happened in the past, I don’t want it to taint what we have. I don’t want my mother to be on your mind, for her to occupy a single of your worries. She’s my burden, not yours.”

“But I love you and we are family, so we carry our burdens together. You carry mine. You still do, every day.”

“You aren’t a burden, never.” He was silent for a moment. “I’ll talk to Remo, but it’ll take a lot of convincing to get him to agree to it.”

“It shouldn’t be his decision. Remo, Adamo, Savio and you should decide as brothers and discuss the matter. This isn’t a Capo matter, it’s more than that.”

Nino rested his forehead against my hair. “This will always be Remo’s matter because he feels responsible. That’s his burden.”

NINO

Remo didn’t sit down. He paced the gaming room, back and forth, back and forth, like a caged animal. The primal anger in his eyes only emphasized the impression.

Savio said, “Let him see her. It’s his decision. He needs to grow up and you always coddling him isn’t helping.” For once he’d put away his phone and turned it off so we could talk this through, even if I had done most of the talking so far. Remo hadn’t uttered a single word.

Adamo sent Savio a scowl, but didn’t say anything.

“Kiara thinks so too,” I said.

“I knew Kiara was the reason you suggested this meeting,” Remo said. “She’s meddlesome. She needs to learn to stay out of other people’s business.”

“We are her family. She wants to help,” I said simply. Kiara gave me a small smile. I’d insisted she be here for the meeting because her presence usually led to more civilized discussions.

Remo waved me off, not in the mood to be reasoned with.

“Please,” Adamo said.

Remo became rigid. He hated the word. If you heard it thousands of times over the years and ignored it all the time, it eventually became tainted, a sign of surrender and weakness.

Savio shrugged. “For fuck’s sake, let him see her. He needs to understand.”

I nodded. “Remo.”

My brother looked at me for a long time and in his eyes I saw every shared pain and regret, every moment of our twisted childhood we wanted to forget, our stolen innocence and broken trust. I forced my insides to become steel, didn’t allow the tumultuous feelings stirring deep inside to bubble up.

Remo gave a sharp nod. “It’s a mistake, but I won’t stop you.”

Adamo’s lips parted and he glanced between my brother and me as if he couldn’t believe Remo had actually agreed. I was surprised as well.

“You won’t go alone,” Remo said. “You don’t know her like we do. I don’t want her to get a chance to twist your mind.”

Adamo huffed. “I’m not stupid.”

He wasn’t but unfortunately Adamo wanted people to like him for who he was, still desperate for their approval. The ordeal with Harper and Mason had proven that, and that he kept seeing C.J. did too. Adamo had grown these past months but not nearly enough.

“I’m out. I don’t want to see her. Not ever again,” Savio said, getting up. “For all I care she can rot in that asylum until the end of days. I don’t care either way. Is this done now? I want to go out with Diego.”

I nodded because Remo was glaring off into the garden. Savio hesitated, then shook his head and stalked away. Kiara watched him leave.

Remo turned around to me, his expression harsh. “One of us should go with him.” He flexed his hand. “I’ll go.”

“No,” I said immediately. “I should do it. I can handle it.” The last time Remo and I had seen her was when we’d taken over Las Vegas. Our mother had managed to talk Cosimo, who’d played Capo at the time, into letting her live in the mansion like a dethroned queen. That had been a brief encounter, and yet something that had haunted us for a long time.