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I breathe sharply as pain courses through my body.
“Why won’t you attack me, for heaven’s sake?” he screams, pressing down. “Fight me, throw a punch. I know you can.”
“I—I can’t hurt you.”
“But I’m hurting you and I’ll do it again!” he cries.
With my injured leg, I kick his feet away and roll over, gasping at the pain.
He walks over to me and grabs my hair. “You asked for my reason, didn’t you?”
Our eyes meet as he grins bitterly. “It’s simple. I am tired of being the little brother who obeys your every word. I have been in this world for twenty-six long years, and all you could entrust me with were stupid errands.”
“You—you—you weren’t ready yet.” I shiver.
“Of course. I never would be! In your head, Bunny and I are still those little boys you had to babysit.”
Each word is a jab and a cut in my heart.
“You will never let us handle anything as long as you are strong. And let’s face it; nothing can touch you. Believe me, I’ve tried.”
My leg is still bleeding, and so is my heart with his every word. I want to break free, but I can’t. My legs won’t move, and I don’t have the willpower to fight for mobility.
“Poisoning was out of the question. Your eyes were too sharp for an attack like that, and you could sniff out traitors from a mile away.”
He pushes my hair away as he gets up, aims his gun, and shoots my arm. This time, I groan in pain, and he chuckles.
“I flirted with the idea of shooting you in the face, but frankly, I would probably miss, and that would be the end of me. I wasn’t risking that.”
He stops as he watches me struggle to crawl away from him. My bound hands increase the sensation of the pain.
“Then one day, that bitch came into the picture, and I thought, just maybe, she might be your Achilles heel. I sat back and watched it play out, and oh, did it work out in my favor.”
“She was your bait, and Giovanni was your cover,” I say in shaky realization.
He chuckles. “Vice versa; they both distracted you so much that you left a truckload of coke in my care unsupervised, and you finally let me handle the club after so many fucking years.”
“You—you weren’t ready yet.”
He clicks his tongue. “You are such a dad, you know that?” I hear him cock his gun, and I can sense him aiming at my head. “I truly care for you as a brother, but I am so sick and tired of living in your shadow.”
I turn to him, and ever so slowly, I crack a smile.
“You messed up, didn’t you?”
His hands quiver. “What are you talking about?”
“If this were just about taking over, you would have killed me in a breath just like you killed Giovanni.”
“Aren’t you the smart one?”
I smile, breathing through my pain. “I don’t have much time, so tell me, what do you want so badly?”
He swallows. “The offshore accounts, the one with all the money! I need the details.”
I grin, flopping down on the floor, weak from losing blood.
“You got scammed? You lost it all gambling? Which one is it?” I taunt.
