“You gonna go see Mom? If Dare says it’s okay?”
I frowned, “No.”
“What if seeing us, if us talking to her after all this time could help her decide to get better? What if she isn’t getting better because she’s lonely?”
I’d heard stories from Holly about how awesome our mother was before Holly’s dad died, how he’d gotten her sober. I’d never seen it.
“Let’s talk about Mom later. Right now, tell me about you, about your life here.”
She gave me a disapproving look.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re looking for reasons to convince me not to marry Alessandro. Stop that, Angie. I can barely wait to become his wife.”
She may be eighteen now but my little sister was looking to me to be as naïve as she’d been at fifteen, when I’d first left for Thailand.
Dare
I put Angel and Holly in the car. Holly was still crying. She’d thrown a fit at the news she was leaving. But Alessandro took her into another room and shut the door and in less than five minutes, she was back, solemn, obedient.
He and I had talked, briefly. He wasn’t an easy nut to crack, but we’d sat, he’d poured me a drink, and then he shocked the hell outta me when he said,
“Dario, can I ask you something? For a favor.”
“Ask,” I invited. I’d already thanked him for helping us with our problem ‘in the east’ and he’d smiled a little, not replying. I still didn’t know why he’d lent those resources but without them, it would’ve been a fuck of a lot harder to do what we did so seamlessly. The guns, Jonas? The bomb-making materials? He was directly responsible for Kruna being no more.
“Will you take Holly home? I need you to look after her for a bit for me.”
That was a surprise.
“I’m trusting you to keep her safe. I’ll be back for her.”
I took a sip of the drink.
“I realize you don’t know who I am, what I’m about, or whether I’m worthy of her. I’ll save you some time and tell you right now, I’m not worthy. But even with that said, she’s mine. This is just temporary. I’ll be back for her and then I’ll marry her.”
“What if she doesn’t want you back?”
“Then I take her.”
“What if I decide that isn’t gonna happen?”
“Then I do it anyway.”
“You got balls, man,” I laughed, without humor; this wasn’t funny.
“So do you. Here, in my house, after all you and your brother have done to my relatives. After all I’ve just done for you. Seems we’re both men with balls.”
He had a point.
I’d hoped to get here and find out this guy wasn’t what we’d heard he was. I’d hoped to get here and find out he was maybe a little bit like me and my brother, doing what we had to do.
Maybe he was. I couldn’t tell. He wasn’t about to reveal his true self to me. Why would he? He had all the power here.
“I trust, with what I know of you, with what I’ve seen, that her safety will be your priority.”
“Absolutely,” I said.