Unbroken (The Protectors 12)

“So she took you in,” I prodded.

“She did,” Vaughn said. “Raised me as her own. Loved me as her own,” he added, then looked at his gun again. “Luca came along a couple years later. You’d think that would have changed things, but she treated us like real brothers. I wasn’t suddenly disposable or sloppy seconds… at least not to her.”

I wasn’t sure what “sloppy seconds” meant, but I had no doubt it wasn’t a good thing. And the last part meant someone had treated him that way.

“Your father?” I guessed.

Vaughn nodded. “He was not happy about his wife taking in the proof of his indiscretion. He actually loved Theodora quite a bit and he’d told her about the indulgence with the showgirl from Atlantic City before they’d married. They’d worked it out and wed as planned. My father was a bastard with everyone but her,” Vaughn said quietly. “He would have given her anything she wanted, and for some reason, she wanted me.”

“She sounds like a very good woman,” I said.

“She was.”

Was.

“You lost her?”

Vaughn nodded. “When Luca and I were still little. I was twelve, he was ten. Everything changed.”

“How so?”

He shook his head a little. “My mother must have known Vidone would get rid of me if he had the chance. He told me once that she’d made him swear that if anything happened to her, that he’d keep me. He kept his word.”

“But he wasn’t a father to you,” I guessed.

Vaughn sighed and looked at me. “She made up for it,” he said.

“And you had your brother,” I offered.

He chuckled. “God, he was such a little shit,” he said affectionately.

I felt my stomach drop out at that because that little laugh and that small smile told me everything I needed to know. Whatever had happened between them was more recent. Either after Vaughn’s nephew had been taken, or worse, after Vaughn had chosen to save me rather than use me to find the man who knew where Gio was.

All the anxiety I’d been feeling came rolling back. “Is he going to let me go?” I asked.

“Luca?”

I nodded.

“He doesn’t have a say in it,” Vaughn practically growled.

It should have made me feel better to know he was still choosing me for whatever reason, but I couldn’t stop thinking that in all likelihood, I was the reason the two brothers were at each other’s throats.

What if that were me and Dante? How would I survive such a rift?

“Vaughn…”

“Don’t, Aleks,” Vaughn said softly, then he leaned into me just a little so I could feel his touch. “None of this is your fault.”

I didn’t respond to that because I didn’t know how. It wasn’t like I wanted to throw myself to the wolves to save their relationship. And if Luca had been willing to take me off the street just like those other guys had, did that really make him any better?

He’s trying to get his son back.

My thoughts shifted to Gio… a topic I’d been trying to avoid from the moment I’d heard his name. I felt cold run throughout my entire body as I thought about what the little boy would have gone through. What if I’d seen him at some point?

“Do you really think you guys can find him?” I asked.

It was eerie how Vaughn seemed to know exactly what I was talking about.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a credible lead.”

“Credible?”

“It means valid… substantial.”

I nodded, feeling foolish.

“They took so many kids, James,” I whispered. I wasn’t sure why it was so important to use his first name.

Yes I did.

It was my way of telling him something he probably didn’t want to hear. And I didn’t actually want to tell him, especially considering that I’d been found after so many years. But I also knew my situation wasn’t typical. I’d seen the parties the men had had where they could trade and buy kids, or just show them off to one another… or even share them. There was no way Vaughn and his friends could have saved them all. Not all the kids had even lived long enough to be found by their loved ones. Some had even resorted to taking their own lives…

“I know,” Vaughn acknowledged. “But we can’t stop looking… not until we know for sure.”

“You shouldn’t,” I said. “It’s just…”

“Yeah,” Vaughn whispered.

So he knew what I was trying to say. They needed to keep looking because if Gio was alive, he was waiting for them. But they needed to be prepared to not find him, or worse…

I felt sick to my stomach as I considered how Vaughn, and especially Luca, must be feeling. My own brother had been through everything these men were experiencing and I knew it had changed him forever. My abduction had also meant he’d been stuck in time. He’d been lucky enough to find Magnus, but if he’d had to choose between spending his future with Magnus and continuing the search for me, he would have chosen me each and every time.