the breakfast table with my second cup of coffee when Lucas comes strolling in. He pauses for a second when he sees me, making a point of looking around as if he thinks I’ve hidden Cristina somewhere, I guess.
Dickhead.
His hair’s wet, but he hasn’t shaved. There’s a five o’clock shadow across his jaw on the undamaged side of his face.
“Where’s your wife?” he asks, taking a seat and lifting the napkin onto his lap. From the table settings, I know Michela and Bennie have already eaten, but my father’s place remains untouched. Elise always sets the table like this even though my father hasn’t eaten breakfast down here in years. I’m pretty sure Michela only does because of Bennie. She will have driven him to school two towns over where she’ll pass the time shopping or sitting at a café for the few hours he attends kindergarten. She has never let any of the soldiers take him. Ever.
“She’s not feeling up to seeing the family.”
“I don’t blame her after last night.”
Studying him, I look more closely at what the plastic surgeons have been able to do. After the accident, almost the whole of one side of his face was burned away. Now, the damage is less, but he’ll never look like he used to before the accident. Like me.
Strange to think of that. That this mirror image of me has changed so drastically.
“Get a good look?” he asks, lifting his gaze to mine. Elise pours him a cup of coffee when she enters.
She smiles at him. She’s always favored him. I think it’s because he’s the one father had groomed to take over the business. Loyalty to the next generation so she wouldn’t lose her position or some shit.
She tried to ingratiate herself to me when it became apparent I would be the one to take over, but I wasn’t buying her bullshit. I don’t forgive and I never forget.
Why do I keep her here now, though? So she knows my hand is the one that feeds her. And it’s the one that can choke her.
Not that she’s worth the effort.
“How many surgeries have you had?” I ask him when she’s gone.
“Lost track,” he says, sipping his coffee.
“Why did you leave?” Lucas left the house after Annabel’s death. I didn’t realize he wasn’t coming back until he didn’t. And I can’t put my finger on what I felt at his abrupt departure. I mean, it opened things up for me, but I didn’t like it. Hell, maybe it was guilt at being in the driver’s seat that night. Or guilt that what happened to him was so much worse than what happened to me.
What happened to everyone was so much worse than what happened to me.
Elise returns to place a plate of food in front of Lucas. He waits until she’s gone to answer me.
“Why did I leave? I was only staying for Annabel.”
Guilt again.
Fuck.
I look away, putting my cup down. I couldn’t swallow if I tried.
“You break everything you touch,” he says.
“I loved our sister.”
“You still broke her.”
Gritting my teeth, I shift my gaze back to his, making sure I mask any emotion.
“You’re going to break her too.” He gestures upstairs.
I don’t breathe. I just listen to my heartbeat against my chest. Slow and steady. Under control.
“Unless she breaks you first,” he adds with a grin.
“My wife is not your concern. Just make sure you stay away from her. You know the rules.”
“I do,” he says, his tone letting me know he won’t be subject to them. “You want me to tell you I’ll keep my hands to myself? Will that make you feel better?”
Bastard.
I choose not to engage.
“Now that you’re home, you’ll be going back to work for me.” I shift conversation toward business. Those are the rules too. The family comes first. That means the family business. We all have to chip in and the days of Lucas getting a free ride because of that goddamned accident are over.
“And what would you have me do, Brother?” he asks, the distaste in his tone not so subtle.
“Keep an eye on the Clementi brothers. I don’t trust them.”
“Why not get rid of them?”
“I need you to manage them. Watch them closely. That’s all.”
“Is it because the old man was your godfather? Please don’t tell me you’ve become so sentimental, Brother.”
“They’ve been punished.”
“Did it send enough of a message, though?”
“What would you have me do, kill them?”
“Just one of them.”
I study my brother. “That’s not what you would have suggested