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But then something caught Quinn’s attention over my shoulder, and I knew based solely on how quickly Quinn let me go that it was none other than my brother.
I looked over my shoulder and sure enough, there he was.
He had his eyes on me, but his body was stiff, like he wanted to say something but wouldn’t.
Over the years, I’d made it known that my personal life wasn’t Costas’s business. And, Costas being Costas, had decided to give me that, despite his unhappiness.
He only did that when I wasn’t home, though.
He still liked to make trouble.
The moment I was gone, it was back to war.
God, I hated the gang and everything it entailed.
I wish they’d never taken hold of my brother.
I wished even more that my brother could see that his presence in that gang was slowly killing me, leeching the life right out of my body one day at a time.
Quinn pulled away even more, then said, “Elliette, want to go back inside?”
If that wasn’t a sucker punch to the gut, I didn’t know what was.
The moment she stepped toward us, I gave them my back and headed in my brother’s direction, anger written all over my face.
He waited until I was next to him before he said, “If it wasn’t necessary to be here, I wouldn’t have come.”
I crossed my arms and said, “Why’d you come?”
“To pay my respects,” he paused. “And to tell you something before you took off again.”
I didn’t like the sound of that.
“What?” I breathed, worried now.
“Nonna’s sick,” he blurted.
I looked over at him with surprise. “What?”
“She’s dying, honey,” he said. “Slowly. She has stomach cancer.”
I closed my eyes as the tears that’d been threatening to spill since Quinn had chosen Elliette over me finally did.
“When did you find out?” I breathed.
He clenched his hand on the steering wheel before saying, “Last week. We were working up the nerve to call you home.”
I dropped my head. “How long did they give her?”
“It’s early,” he answered. “But since she’s not willing to get treatment, it’s going to be painful for a while for her.”
I swallowed hard.
Our stubborn Nonna.
Damn her.
“Sing with me, Nonna?” I said later.
