Page 71 of Fastest Kill

Over coffee, he told them about their search for the Thriae bee, which they found in San Expedito's statue, a present from Niccolò. Rodrigo's expression shut down as soon as Dario had mentioned the journal.

Giana put her hand over Rodrigo's on the counter without looking at him, and the blankness that had seeped into Rodrigo's expression vanished once more.

"Where is the journal now?" he asked, a hunger in his eyes that he couldn't hide.

"Upstairs. Come on, I'll get it for you." Dario said and turned to the others. "Help yourself to the eggs, but leave me some or there will be trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Frederica asked, a glint in her eye. Dario pretended not to feel the flicker of desire that made his dick twitch.

"The kind that means I don't cook for you again, Spartana," he growled. She only laughed at him, which was all he needed.

The staircase was quiet, the thick velvet runner swallowing their footsteps as they went up.

Dario pushed open the door to his room and found the journal sitting on the nightstand. He picked it up and held it for a moment, the leather worn and soft.

"Papa hid this in his desk, and I don't think Gabriella ever found it." He turned the journal over. His father's handwriting on the inside cover was brown with age.

"If she had, she certainly wouldn't have left it there," Rodrigo replied, his shoulders starting to bunch up. Dario noticed but didn't point it out. They all had their mommy issues, especially now that they had learned she was responsible for Niccolò's death in more ways than one.

"He wrote entries about all of us," Dario warned him and passed it over. "There's a lot of stuff about what he was learning with Serapis, and comments about us boys and Gabriella. Make sure you are ready before you read it."

"You know I'll never be ready." Rodrigo looked at the journal in his hands and finally took it. He sat on the edge of the bed and slowly opened it.

Dario stayed by the window and looked out at the canal below, the morning light catching the green water, and a delivery boat making its slow way down the canal. It seemed so normal compared to their lives of ancient sorcerers and magical bees.

Rodrigo was holding the journal, and he looked as if he were keeping something below the surface by sheer force of will.

"She sent him to that meeting in Naples, knowing what it would cost him. He says here he told her to tell Zio Lucius. Gabriella promised she would. She promised him, Dario, and she never fucking did it." Rodrigo took a shuddering breath in and out, trying to keep himself steady. "She calculated the risks and decided it was worth it."

"Yes."

"She never told us."

"No."

"Zio… Serapis… He knew the whole time."

"He knew some of it. I think he's part of the reason we grew up with a father at all and had some normality for a little while." Dario paused, chewing it over. "The spell was both of their ideas, Rodrigo. We have to accept that no matter how much it sucks. Niccolò never would have left us if he didn't think Gabriella couldn't be trusted. She was always so selfish, but you remember how she had times when she even resented anyone taking up Niccolò's time."

"Even us. His own damn sons," Rodrigo grumbled. He set the journal on the bed beside him before getting up and walking to the window to stand beside Dario.

"I'm so angry at her," he said quietly. It didn't sound like anger. It sounded like the aftermath of it, the part that stayed when you had carried it long enough that the heat was gone and only the weight was left. "She used everyone around her to try to get her own way. Including him. Especially him."

Dario sighed. "I know."

"Serapis should have told us."

"He should have. He knows that." Dario looked sideways at his brother. "He's been paying for it for years."

Rodrigo was quiet for a moment. "And how are you? You have been carrying that statue around since you were nineteen. You had no idea what was inside it?"

"Nope. That's not my fault. I wasn't meant to know."

"I didn't say it was your fault, frattelino. I asked how you are."

"I don't know," Dario said honestly. "Somewhere between gutted and grateful. I didn't know I was missing this private piece of him, and now I have it, and I don't know what to do with it yet."

Rodrigo looked at him for a long moment before his brother's arms were around him, hugging him tight. Dario stood frozen for one surprised second before he put his arms around his brother and held on.