Page 69 of Vicious Secrets
“Whatever the Bratva equivalent of our soldiers is.”
“Who gave Renzo a copy of the paternity test?”
“Reg did, I think.” She tilts her head to one side. The shadows across her face make her features look tight and sharply angular. “He was paranoid my pregnancy was a plot to overthrow him and not an accident. By the time he found out you weren’t his, you’d already become a made man and were never alone in the open. Reg knew your death would splinter the Fedeltà.”
Aversion and addiction are different sides of the same neglected coin. I’m not addicted to working. I’m addicted to socializing.
“And that’s why he pushed you toward every failure he could. Offloading work, not betrothing you, letting the Midwest fall, planting the seeds of the New York takeover, forcing you to marry an outsider, and the list goes on. You landed on your feet every time. If the secret’s out now, it’s because of Reg.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”
Mother shrugs and takes another drag. “I’ll give you everything I know, and there’s a map of all the safes in the house in Reg’s desk. The truth is up to you.”
Vi steps up next to me. His shoulders rise and fall with deep, controlled breaths. He’s... he’s telling me not to shoot her? I turn my head, but he’s focused on my mother. Killing a family member is one of the few crimes in our world. He’s trying to save me.
“What happens if we let you live?”
She scoffs, and smoke comes out of her mouth in waves. “I become a burden you two have to take care of. Shooting me is merciful, not treason.”
Mother’s right.
She looks out the window, taking another drag. She’s giving us a go sign.
Vi takes it, shooting her once in the chest and once in the head. The sounds of his Glock don’t hit my ears. In one blink, she’s gazing over the garden. In the next, her chin’s on her chest, there is a hole in the top of her skull, and her dress clings to her like a second skin as it absorbs her blood.
We stand in silence for a moment. Vi clicks the safety on his gun and puts it back in the holster. I do the same with my own.
“What did you get Mel for Christmas?” I ask without taking my eyes away from the cigarette that was put out with Mother’s blood.
“The full Pantone cotton swatch library.”
I turn my head slowly. My eyes blink rapidly, and a grimace purses my lips. “You bought her pieces of cotton?”
“Yeah. It cost about nine k. Nine k for seven binders of colorful fabric squares!” Vi runs a hand through his hair and shakes his head.
I tell Vi what I had made for Robyn.
His spluttering quickly devolves into cackles. “And you have the audacity to look at me like my gift is weird.”
“Yes, Vi. Mine has an obvious purpose. Yours does not.”
“You say that like you bought her a...” His voice drifts off as his gaze moves to my mother. His bearded jaw ticks. “I know she’s dead, but I don’t think I can crack that joke with her in the room.”
“It was going to end with ‘so Robyn can have fun without you,’ wasn’t it?”
“No, Sir Ice King, the joke wasn’t about a popsicle.”
I curse under my breath and turn away, yanking the door open. “You’ll say that in front of my mother, but not—”
“Vibrator. There I said it.”
Vi follows me into the empty hallway and all the way back to Reg’s office before he speaks again.
“You two love each other, huh?” The question sounds almost childish in his voice. If I didn’t know him, it might come across as shy or demure.
I stop mid-step and spin to face him. “And I love you like a brother. And I respect that you don’t want to be my brother anymore. I wasn’t there for you, and I’m sorry for abandoning you.”
Vi’s eyes focus on something over my shoulder as his lips part. “I overreacted, Siro. I funneled all my frustration at you. And you couldn’t have helped me. In the end, I got what I wanted.” He tilts from one foot to the other to look around me.
