Chapter 42
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Lorenzo
The Aston Martin screams through Chicago's streets, engine roaring like the rage in my chest. Red light. I blow through it. Horns blare behind me but I don't give a fuck.
Bruno knew.
He fucking knew she was alive.
Not just knew—helped her. Helped her fake her death. Helped her disappear.
The tires shriek as I take the exit too fast. The car fishtails but I correct it, muscle memory taking over while my mind races.
Riccardo and Luna. The image burns behind my eyes—my brother with the woman I loved. How long?
Another red light. This time I slam the brakes, tires smoking. My chest heaves. Can't think straight. Can't—
The light changes. I floor it.
Everything makes sense now. Every fucking thing.
The way Riccardo never wanted to discuss Luna after the bombing. I thought it was respect for my grief. Thought he was being a good brother, not pushing me to talk about it.
Bruno always changing the subject when her name came up. Redirecting conversations. I thought he was protecting me too.
They weren't protecting me. They were protecting their secret.
How did I not see it? All those years, all those signs. Riccardo and Bruno were always close—closer than the rest of us. Late night conversations that stopped when I entered the room. Shared looks I didn't understand.
They're my fucking brothers.
The compound gates appear ahead. I don't slow down, barely giving the guards time to recognize my car before I'm through. Gravel sprays as I skid to a stop in front of the main house.
Out of the car. Up the steps. The front door slams open under my hand.
"brUNO!" My voice tears through the compound like a gunshot. "brUNO, YOU FUCKING COWARD!"
Birds scatter from the trees. Guards freeze at their posts.
Nico bursts through the side door, hand already on his weapon. "What the fuck is going on?"
"Where is he?" I'm in his face before he can blink. "Where the fuck is Bruno?"
"Lorenzo, what—"
"WHERE IS HE?"
Vittoria appears on the porch, eyes wide. "He's with the physical therapist. In the gym. Lorenzo, what's happening?"
I'm already moving, sprinting across the lawn toward the converted pool house we turned into Bruno's rehabilitation center. Footsteps pound behind me—Nico and Vittoria following.
"Lorenzo!" Nico grabs my arm. I shake him off, keep running. "What the hell is going on?"
"I'm going to kill him."
"What?" Vittoria's voice cracks. "Lorenzo, stop!"
The gym door crashes open under my shoulder. Inside, Bruno sits on the parallel bars, therapist supporting his weight as he attempts to stand. His head snaps up at our entrance.
"Fuck." His face twists with rage. "Get out. All of you. I don't want anyone seeing—"
I cross the room in three strides. The therapist scrambles backward.
Nico slams into me, arms wrapping around my chest. "Lorenzo, stop!"
My gun clears the holster. "Get out of my way, Nico."
"Jesus Christ!" Vittoria screams. "Lorenzo, put the gun down!"
"Move." The barrel aims over Nico's shoulder at Bruno's head. My brother doesn't even flinch. Just stares at me from his position on the bars, jaw clenched.
"Not until you tell me what's happening." Nico's grip tightens. "You don't pull a gun on family without—"
"Family?" The laugh that rips from my throat sounds unhinged. "Ask him about family. Ask him about Luna."
The gym goes silent except for my ragged breathing.
Bruno's expression doesn't change, but he knows exactly why I'm here.
"Lorenzo—" he starts.
"Tell them." My finger hovers over the trigger. "Tell them how she's alive. Tell them how you helped her fake her death. Tell them about her and Riccardo."
Vittoria gasps. "What?"
"Answer her." I step closer, Nico still between us. "Tell our sister how you lied to all of us. How you let me grieve for twelve years while you knew—"
"You don't understand." Bruno's voice comes out rough. "You don't know the whole story."
"Then tell me!" The words explode from me. "Tell me why my brothers betrayed me. Tell me why you chose her over me."
"You want the truth?" Bruno's knuckles go white as he grips the parallel bars. "Fine. But you're not going to—"
"Lorenzo!" Nora bursts through the gym door, phone in her hand. "Where's Sophia?"
My blood turns to ice. "What do you mean?"
"I mean where is she?" Nora's eyes dart between us, taking in the gun, Nico restraining me, the tension thick enough to choke on. "Dante's been calling you. You're not answering."
"I left her here." The words come out slow, careful. My stomach starts to twist. "She's at the compound."
"No, she's not." Nora extends the phone toward me. "Dante says—"
I snatch it from her hand. "Dante?"
"Finally. Did you and Sophia leave without telling me?"
"What?" My grip on the gun loosens. "Leave from where?"
"From Rosso's. She came here to surprise you. Said something about movie tickets."
The room tilts. I lower the weapon completely, stepping away from Bruno. "When?"
"About an hour ago. Maybe more. She went up to your office while I grabbed food from the kitchen. When I went to check, the office was empty. I figured you two left together."
"You figured?" My voice rises. "You were supposed to be watching her!"
"She was in the building. In your office. I thought—"
"Where the hell is my wife, Dante?"
Silence stretches across the line. Then: "She went up the stairs to find you. That's the last I saw her."
Luna. In my office. Sophia coming up the stairs.
My chest constricts like someone's crushing it in a vise. She saw us. She had to have seen us.
"Search the building." The words barely make it past the tightness in my throat. "Every room, every closet, every—"
"Already on it. But Lorenzo... her phone's here. Found it on the floor outside your office."
The phone slips from my hand. Nora catches it before it hits the ground.
"What's happening?" Vittoria's voice sounds far away. "Where's Sophia?"
I'm already moving toward the door. "She's gone."
"Gone?" Nico releases me completely. "What do you mean gone?"
"She came to my office. Luna was there." The confession tears out of me. "Sophia must have seen us together and she probably heard us talking. But she didn't come in."
"We need to find her." Nora's already dialing. "I'll call Marina. Maybe she went there."
Marina. Of course. Where else would Sophia go?
I grab the phone back from Nora, but before I can dial, it rings. Marina's name flashes on the screen.
"Marina—"
"She's here." Marina's voice is cold, clipped. "She's safe."
Relief floods through me so hard my knees almost buckle. "Let me talk to her."
"No."
"Marina—"
"She doesn't want to talk to you right now."
"I don't give a fuck what she wants. Put my wife on the phone."
"Listen to me very carefully," Marina's voice drops to a whisper, but each word cuts like glass. "She saw you with Luna pinned against the wall. She ran to me crying, saying she wants to die. So you're not in the fucking position to make threats right now."
My blood turns to ice. She wants to die?
"And if you even try to come to my apartment," Marina continues, "I will personally harm you. I don't care who you are or what you can do to me. Stay away from her."
"Marina—"
"No. Let her breathe. Let her think."
"She's my wife. She's in danger out there—"
"The only danger she's in right now is from herself because of what you did to her." Marina's voice cracks slightly. "She's broken, Lorenzo. Actually broken. I've never seen her like this."
The line goes dead.
I stare at the phone, my hand shaking. She wants to die. The words echo in my skull. Sophia saw me with Luna against the wall and now she wants to die.
"Lorenzo?" Vittoria touches my arm. "What did Marina say?"
I don't answer. Can't answer. My chest feels like it's caving in.
Sophia's out there, unprotected, thinking I betrayed her. And she wants to—
No. Fuck no.
I turn back to Bruno, who's still gripping the parallel bars, watching me with those dead eyes.
"We're not done," I tell him, voice low and dangerous.
Bruno's lips curl into something that might be a smile on anyone else's face. On his, it's just another expression of pain. "I don't give a damn what we are or aren't."
The rage that's been simmering explodes. My fist connects with his jaw before anyone can stop me. The crack echoes through the gym.
Bruno's head snaps to the side. He loses his grip on the bars, crashing to the mat. The physical therapist gasps, rushing forward, but Bruno waves him off with a bloody grin.
"There it is." He spits blood onto the mat. "There's the Lorenzo I remember."
"Lorenzo!" Nico grabs my arm as I move forward again. "What the fuck?"
"You want to hit me again?" Bruno pushes himself up on his elbows, that terrible smile still on his face. "Go ahead. I deserve that and the bullet too."
"Stop!" Vittoria throws herself between us. "Both of you, stop! This isn't helping anything!"
I'm already moving toward the door when a voice stops me.
"Give her time," Vittoria says quietly. "Let Marina calm her down. Then we figure out how to fix this."
Time. The one thing I don't have.
Although she's probably right.