startled Furio into the wall with a thumb embedded in his bleeding shoulder. The howl that came from Stefano’s underboss was the last sound Gabriel allowed him as he wrapped his arm and wrenched so hard on Furio’s neck he was surprised the guy’s head didn’t detach from its base.
Letting go, he dropped his kill to the floor and stepped over the body to get to Eva. But before he could fall at her feet, she shuffled over to kneel next to Stefano.
Clearly having been hovering, Vasily and Alek burst in, the rest of the boys hanging back behind them as Gabriel went down next to Eva—
“Aw, Jesus Christ, baby,” he whispered through an aching throat. Up close, battered, a small slice on her neck that could have been so much worse…Gabriel let out a moan so agonized his boys cursed and shuffled behind him as he drew the cut sides of her shirt together.
“It’s okay,” she said, her voice all crackles. “We have to—”
A hand appeared to stroke her hair, and without thinking, Gabriel bared his teeth in a step-the-fuck-off-or-lose-a-limb snarl.
“Relax, son,” Vasily murmured before switching to speak softly in Russian as he placed his lips on the crown of his daughter’s head. “Yuri, get over here.”
Dr. Yuri Davidenko, Vasily’s pet, er, private physician, came forward. Gabriel hadn’t seen the MD in a while, but he was still the same handsome sonofabitch he’d known before leaving New York. Totally at ease in his role—the letters after his name were a mile long—he knelt between them, placing a black medic bag on the floor.
Pushing all hands away and blinking as if she were having a hard time focusing, Eva reached out to the man lying so still on the floor. “We have to help him.”
Gabriel tried to pull her away. “Eva, we need to see to you fir—”
“No! Not until—” Her words choked off and she shook her head, bringing her fingers to her temples almost immediately. She raised cloudy eyes to him, imploring, “Please, Gabriel. Help your brother.” When he didn’t react fast enough, she grew more agitated. “Now!” She looked at Vasily and then Yuri. “Help him!” she suddenly shouted with authority, sounding every bit her father’s daughter.
Nodding around a surprised look, Yuri got his ass in gear. “Pulse is weak,” he murmured after doing an ABCs check.
“Do something,” Eva moaned behind the trembling hand she cupped over her mouth. “Oh my God, please. Save him! Hurry!”
“Sweetheart, you have to calm down.”
“He didn’t kill those women, Gabriel! You heard him! Furio did! Your brother wasn’t going to hurt me. He wasn’t! He’s not what you think.” She started to cry. “You’ll understand when you hear the truth. I promise! You don’t understand what happened—Hey!”
Maks pushed the plunger on the syringe he’d inserted into Eva’s vein without her noticing, and for once Gabriel was glad for the guy’s initiative. The needle was removed just as she swatted at it.
“Stop it! You don’t know what…you don’t know…” She tried to continue even as she lost steam. “There’s more to the story… He was just a child… Not evil… I want him… Gabriel…”
“Uh, what was that last part?” Maks murmured with a touch of misplaced humor as Gabriel reeled.
She wanted Stefano? What the fuck?
Her hand lost its grip on his shirt as the meds did their thing. “What’s wrong with me?”
“Relax, baby,” he said tightly as he put himself in position to take her weight when she went limp. “Just relax.”
“But Stefn’o…” she slurred. “Not…yur’…br’thr…”
Her head lolled before she could say anymore.
Not sure what the fuck was going on, and not willing to leave her on the filthy floor while he found out, Gabriel took her into his arms and brought her back to the not-much-better couch.
“She is only partly right. You are half-brothers.”
He looked over to where Lucian was standing near Stefano’s feet. The Romanian’s brow was down low, his expression grim.
Gabriel straightened. “Care to explain that?”
“Your mother was pregnant when she married your father. Stefano was not even four years old when Albert Moretti shared with a friend that he regretted the promise he had made to his wife to raise her bastard as his own. Once you came along, Stefano’s life went from bad to worse. Apparently, he was often reminded that he did not belong.”
Gabriel’s gaze landed on the man lying in the dirt, fighting for his life.
Or was he fighting?
Nearing his limit, he watched Micha take over from Yuri, starting an IV on a man warping