He shrugged. “It’s just business.”
“Call it what you want. People are never business.”
He shook his head slightly. “I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree.” He pushed my glass a little closer to me. “You still haven’t finished that.”
“I still have to walk back to the hotel.”
“I can always carry you.”
“Ha,” I said sarcastically. “My husband would love that…”
“So, what now?” he asked. “You return to Florence and be the wife of a drug lord? We move on and forget this ever happened?”
“No. We could never forget you. If you reject Hades forever, we’ll still never forget you.”
He took another drink from his glass, making it empty. He tapped it against the surface of the wood, getting the attention of the bartender, and silently asked for a refill. “I feel like I’m missing something here, a piece of the puzzle I can’t find. Hades wants to reconnect with me, but I don’t really know why. Has he told you the truth? Do you even know what that truth is?”
I held his gaze, noticing the new glass of scotch in my peripheral vision. When Hades told me to make amends with his brother, I didn’t ask a lot of questions. That’s what families did; they stayed in contact. A request wasn’t that difficult to understand, but in truth, he hadn’t ever really explained to me this compulsive need to make things right. Why would he want to patch things up with a man who committed the same crimes as his late father? Why was he taking time out of our lives to win over a man who didn’t give a damn? I’d seen my husband in action, and he didn’t give a shit about anybody.
As if Ash could read my thoughts, he said, “You should ask him.”
Ash and I walked outside together, reaching the empty sidewalk. It was getting late, so there was nobody on the streets. His hands were in the pockets of his jeans, and he stood close to me, as if he were guarding me like a dog. There was a protective nature about him, even though he was probably the most dangerous man I’d ever met.
Hades emerged from the corner of the building, his eyes immediately rolling over my body, making sure I wasn’t harmed and was in the exact same condition he had left me in. Tall with a strong stature, he walked up to us, his eyes on his brother. Once he reached us, his arm automatically wrapped around my waist. With a gentle tug, he pulled me closer. It seemed like two men were fighting over me, but there was never a contest in the first place.
Ash had a more relaxed posture, his weight shifted to one leg. He was definitely more laid-back compared to his brother, as if he didn’t care what anyone thought of him. When he looked at Hades, there was a slight smile on his lips. “You aren’t gonna let me walk her home?”
Hades didn’t respond to the playfulness. “That’s my job. Not yours.”
Ash’s gaze held on for a bit longer before he diverted his attention to me. “Thanks for drinking with me, sweetheart.” He looked at his brother one last time, giving a silent goodbye, and then turned around and walked away.
Hades watched him go, his arm loosening around my waist the farther he went. “Did he bother you?”
“No. He’s a nice guy…when he wants to be.”
“Can I assume you made no progress?”
I shook my head. “I can tell he cares about you. I can tell he still loves you as a brother. But there’s just something missing…like he’s been hurt. Sometimes I wonder if he’s not only upset that you killed your father, but also you pulled yourself away from him too. You forced him to hate you, so he lost you too.”
Hades hadn’t taken his eyes off his brother. Now he was a distant figure two blocks away.
I watched my husband cycle through many emotions—regret, loss, hurt. But in all the amount of time I’d known him, there never appeared to be anything missing. Now there seemed to be a huge hole in his heart, a void he couldn’t fill. Was that void Ash? Or was it something else?
“Hades?”
His eyes dropped down to mine.
“Is there another reason why this is so important to you?”
The only answer I got was silence.
“Because you never mentioned Ash in all the years I’ve known you, and now you’re bending backward to make things right. You’ve taken weeks off work, and you seem intent on not giving up. Why is this so important to you now? Is there another reason?”
He slowly dropped his arm from my waist. He pulled away his affection, as if he were battling his own demons. He never said much, but now it seemed like he wanted to say even less.