41. Scarred For Life #2
She laughed, and it made my heart sing to hear it again. She hadn’t spoken to me like this for nearly two months.
“That’s not true. He has a moral compass. Just a very, very small one.”
“He will kill Aleksandr. And this family will be in more shit than we are now.”
She lifted her gaze to meet mine. “How do you know—”
“I know his type. I am that type. If he truly loves you, he won’t let another man take you from him.”
She ran her fingers through her hair, digging them into her scalp. “I don’t know what to do, Sani.”
I sat down beside her and threw my arms around her, pulling her to my side.
She sobbed into my shoulder, and I closed my eyes.
Fuck. The protective big brother in me wanted to solve all her problems, but I didn’t know how.
This was a bigger mess than the one Aria makes when I tie her up and edge her for hours.
Guilt was worming its way through the confusion, too. I was partly responsible. I fell in love with Sean’s niece and started a war. Raya agreed to marry Aleksandr so I could keep my wife by my side. She was sacrificing her love story so I could have mine.
“We’ll deal with it. Together. Okay?”
She wiped her snot on my shirt, but I didn’t care. I deserved a little snot for this fuck-up.
“Are you going to Belgium with him?” She lifted her head from my shoulder. I nodded. “Don’t try to kill him again. I need you both to come back alive.”
Everything clicked into place. The distance. Her heartbreak. The cold shoulder. “You thought I killed him. That’s why you haven’t been able to be in the same room as me?”
She pressed her lips together, nodding.
“Cazzo,” I breathed, pressing her head back into my chest. “I’m sorry. If it helps, I apologised to him last night. Not sure what good it did. He still looks at me like he wants to rip my limbs from my body.”
“That’s because of Callum, not the fight. He won’t ever forgive that, but he’s willing to let you live for my sake.”
“What?”
She moved back, her lips parting as she realised I had no idea what she was talking about.
“What about Callum?”
“Maddox hasn’t said anything to Gio? I thought… I thought you all knew.”
“Knew what?”
“Maddox had a brother, Conor Moriarty. Maddox let Sean take him captive to save his siblings. They were all adopted, and their names were changed.”
I frowned. “Okay.”
“Callum was Conor, Sani. Callum was Maddox’s brother. He was a Moriarty.”
I stared at her. That couldn’t be possible. I stood up. “I don’t understand. Callum worked for Sean. He tried to kidnap Aria and killed her mother. Why would he do that if he were a Moriarty?”
Raya’s lips trembled as she squeezed her knees in her hands, bracing herself for whatever was about to come out of her mouth. “Because he made a deal with Sean. He was trying to free his brother, Sani. Everything he did was to save Maddox.”
I ran my hand through my hair and paced a few steps away from her.
My stomach tied itself in knots. My mind flew back through every interaction I’d had with Callum, seeing them in a whole new light.
It didn’t excuse what he’d done, but I understood.
I’d have done anything, whatever it took, to free Raya from Sean.
No wonder Monster tried to kill me in that cage.
I spun around, realising it meant something else. “Why hasn’t Maddox said anything?”
“I don’t know,” Raya huffed. “He’d lost his memory. Perhaps he doesn’t remember anything.”
“He remembers,” I said, rubbing my jaw. “He looks at me like a man who remembers. He’s here for revenge, isn’t he?”
“When he didn’t remember me… yes. I think so.”
“And now?”
She stood up and moved across the room. “He won’t kill you. You can trust him.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I know him,” she replied, opening her bedroom door. “He isn’t the monster everyone thinks he is. He won’t hurt anyone I love because… his love for me outweighs his need for revenge.”
She seemed so confident, but I wasn’t convinced.
I wasn’t proud of how I handled the Callum situation.
I took out a lot of my rage on him at the end.
I was crippled with worry about who was targeting my wife, and the more he refused to talk, the worse I made it.
I knew he had to be protecting someone. I just believed it was Sean.
“This is so messed up,” I grumbled as I followed Soraya down the stairs towards the front door.
“I know,” she whispered. “But there’s only one thing you need to do today.”
“What’s that?”
She turned to face me and lifted my wrist, the one with our Papi’s broken watch. She placed her hand over it, like we always did. Our own secret meaning that we would always be there for each other. Do anything for each other.
“Bring Maddox back alive. Help him kill Sean. Don’t let him do anything stupid to Aleksandr.”
“You’re trusting me not to do anything stupid and to stop that nutter too? Have you forgotten who you’re talking to?” I smirked, trying to lighten the mood.
“I’m talking to my best friend and my big brother.”
Oh, well, that would do it. I grabbed her shoulders and hugged her. “I’ll make sure he gets back in one piece. And then we’ll sort this shit out, okay?”
“Grazie.”
We walked out to the entourage of cars and soldiers.
Giovanni, Alessio and Maddox stood beside the cars, deep in conversation.
Yet Maddox’s eyes met Soraya’s across the driveway.
The faintest smile tugged at his lips before he folded his hands behind his back.
Yeah. If I hadn’t believed it before, I did now. That was a man in love.
I kissed the top of her head, then made my way over to them. Gio turned at the sound of my boots and glared.
“About time, Santino. That was the longest thirty seconds in existence.”
“Can a man not say goodbye to his wife in peace?” I replied, taking the gun from a soldier’s hands, checking it was loaded, and placing it in my holster.
“Is it just a massive coincidence that you two look like you’ve been through two rounds in the boxing ring?” Alessio said, leaning back against the car door as his eyes flicked between Maddox’s cut lip and swollen eye and my bruised cheek.
“Complete coincidence,” I muttered, taking my knife from the soldier and stashing it in my boot. I scanned Maddox’s black cargo trousers, boots and tight black T-shirt, searching for a weapon.
“He needs a gun,” I said, causing Alessio and Gio to look Maddox up and down.
“I’m better with my hands,” he said.
“So is a gorilla. But a bullet will still take them out faster.”
Alessio smothered a smile behind his hand. “We’ve got plenty of guns. He’ll have one. The question is, does he know how to use it?”