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My grandfather's eyes snapped to me. "What did you do?"
"Me?" I snorted quite rudely. "I didn't do anything. This is all on you and my idiotic half-brother." Pretty sure my father and the rest of that toxic family were in on this mess as well.
"You—"
"It has come to my attention that there is some animosity between the three of you," Marcus stated. "As such, Alejandro will now be reporting directly to Spain. He will no longer be under your direct supervision. I think it is better that way." He grimaced as he glanced behind me. "Less bloodshed."
"You can't do that!" my grandfather insisted. "Brooklyn has always been mine."
"Yes." Marcus nodded his agreement. "But you signed it away, remember?"
"I didn't sign it away. I just signed it over to Alejandro. He is still my grandson."
Could have fooled me.
"He should still report to me," my grandfather continued. "I am his superior."
"As of this moment, Alejandro is his own entity," Marcus said. "You are no longer his superior. Alejandro will be reporting directly to Spain as well as sending in his quarterly payments directly to Spain. There will be no other ties between Brooklyn and Columbia unless you both sign an agreement and it is approved by Spain."
"I promised Brooklyn to Dante," my grandfather admitted. I wasn't sure he fully understood what he was saying. At this point, he was just grasping for straws.
Apparently, Marcus did. The man's face turned even grimmer. "You promised Brooklyn to Dante and you still signed it over to Alejandro?"
"It was only temporary," my grandfather insisted. "He wasn't going to stay in charge. As soon as Dante was ready, he was to take over."
It was all I could do to keep my mouth shut and not rail at my grandfather for his idiocy. I never would have taken over Brooklyn if I had known it was only temporary. I wanted my escape to be permanent.
"I've seen the papers you signed giving Alejandro Brooklyn and there is nothing in there that stated that this is a temporary posting, Roberto. I'm sorry to say, once those papers were signed and filed with Spain, it was a done deal. Brooklyn belongs to Alejandro now."
"And Dante? What am I going to do about Dante? I promised him Brooklyn."
"You are more than welcome to leave him Columbia, although..." Marcus frowned as he glanced at me for a moment. "My understanding is that he is going to be busy for the next few years, so you have plenty of time to make that decision."
"I believe breaking and entering plus assault carries a five-year sentence," I said. I really had no idea how long Dante would be behind bars, but that sounded about right. "Don Roberto should be ready to retire by then."
I was done referring to the man as my grandfather. He had never been one when I lived at the family compound. He had no right to claim the relation now.
"You can't do this to me!"
Yep, there went the foot stomp.
"I'm afraid it's already done, Roberto," Marcus said.
I saw the slight twitch in my grandfather's hand and knew what was coming before he turned the gun on Marcus. I jumped in front of the man as quickly as I could, the bullet slamming into me with the force of a freight train. I heard several gunshots as I fell to the floor.
"Alejandro?" My name was whispered a moment later.
"I'm...I'm okay, querido." I wasn't really, but I hated the panic and fear I could hear in Delancy's voice. "Just n-need to r-rest a little."
The pain in my chest was pressing down on me. Shadows edged ever closer to the end of my vision.
I slapped my hand out until Delancy grabbed it, clutching it tightly with his own hands. "D-Don't let g-go."
"Never." Tears dripped from Delancy's eyes as he pressed a kiss to my knuckled. "I'll never let go."
I wouldn't either.
Chapter Twenty-Four
