he shoot me if I tell him it’s already done? That I’m a Sario by marriage? “There’s no stopping that now, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“Is that so?”
He drops my ring into his glass and swirls the cup in his hand. I frown, confused, as he watches it dance in the golden liquid.
And then he tips it down his throat, swallowing everything. Even my ring.
My heart clenches and I cover my mouth with my hand. “Why would you do that?”
My voice quakes and I hate it. I hate that he’s succeeding at shaking me to my core.
“It’s a symbol. Don’t you get it?” He puts his gun on the bar. “I will devour everything you love. You, your soul, your marriage, your children, your life, and I won’t stop until Kade sees the monster he created.”
“What did he do to you?” I demand, slipping the straps of my dress back into place. “What did he do to make you hate him so much?”
I jump as a loud snarl rips from Vince and bounces around the room. He grabs the neck of the bottle of whiskey and launches it across the room. It shatters against the wall by the bed and falls to the ground, drenching everything in its immediate perimeter. I purse my trembling lips shut, trying desperately to ignore the rapid pulse of my heart as it thrums in my ears.
“It’s not what he did. It’s what he didn’t do!” Vince snaps, raking ten angry fingers through his messy, black hair. “He spent most of his childhood locked in a shed, leaving me to finish what he never could. He couldn’t kill a woman? I had to do it. He couldn’t fuck the crying kitchen maid? I had to do it! He couldn’t rip newborns from their mother’s breast? I had to do it! Me!”
I cringe as a painful, unwanted bout of sympathy washes through me. “Vince…”
He snaps forward, abandoning his gun on the bar. “You think I liked doing that? Do you think I relished in murder and rape as a fucking teenager? No. While my friends played I was dragged away to finish what Kaden couldn’t.”
“And you did it,” I say, reminding myself that he needs to be held accountable for his actions as an adult.
We all have things in our past we’re not proud of—even me. The difference is, I don’t let my sins define who I am deep down. Did I assist Kade in murdering his father? Yes. Do I go around murdering people now that I’ve done it once? No. Vince has had every opportunity not to let bitterness seize his heart.
But he did…and now he’s lost to it. He’s consumed by it. Nothing short of destroying his brother will satisfy him.
“Yeah, I did it.”
“Why?”
“Because every single time I was forced into a situation I didn’t want to be in I expected my big brother to come and save me. I expected him to defend me like he defends himself…to stop me before it was too late…but he never showed up and I took every slice of anger I felt out on the Unfortunates at my feet.” He swipes at his face. “And then you came along—a worthless Unfortunate—and he dropped everything. He was there to save you from every fucked up situation you put yourself in.”
I step closer. “I’m sure he wanted to. I’m sure he tried to.”
“You don’t know shit.” Vince laughs, swallowing his anger. “Then our father turns around and gives Kade everything. Why? Because he’s older. Because he was the apple of my father’s eye despite Kaden’s weaknesses and my sacrifices.”
Vincent closes the distance between us and it takes all of my strength not to back away as the aroma of whiskey wafts in my direction.
“You can have everything. Kaden doesn’t want it.”
He rolls his eyes, then narrows them at me. “He doesn’t want it? He really does have you fooled, doesn’t he?”
Vince takes another step and intrudes in my personal bubble. I hold up my hands, flashing him my palms as I take a step back. “H-he’s a changed man.”
“Oh, but he isn’t.” Sneering, he snatches my wrists in his large hands and tugs me close.
In a panic, my nerves tie themselves into knots, but I go with it, allowing him to feel superior in hopes of him letting me go. Sweat bubbles down the back of my neck as a hot flash flickers over me, making the juices in my stomach boil.
“You were there. You saw him shoot