“Val does not leave. Am I clear, Mother?”
My mother sits in one of the armchairs in what used to be Dad’s study, sipping her vodka martini. It would have been mine, but since I moved out to Augustine’s, she took it over. I don’t really care. I need the space apart from them, honestly, especially now with Madelena in the picture. Truth is, there wasn’t anything new in Thiago’s warning. It just gave more weight to my father’s own warning, to the words that have echoed subtly in my mind for years.
After getting back to Avarice, I left Madelena to rest before tonight’s event and took the opportunity to see Caius and my mother. We need to get some things straight between us.
Caius is quiet, his eyes on us.
“I don’t see why you’re so upset. A soldier is a soldier.”
I step in front of her so she has to look at me. “Am I clear?” I don’t like that she’s sent Val away and replaced him with someone I don’t know.
She shrugs. Sips. “Fine. Besides, we have a more pressing issue.” She sets her drink aside and gets up to walk around her desk. I glance at Caius, who’s been strangely silent, but turn back to my mother as, from inside the drawer, she retrieves a familiar little blue plastic compact and tosses it to me. I catch it. “Care to explain?”
“This again? Where did you get it?” It’s the compact of birth control pills I’d given back to Madelena.
“Ana found them among your wife’s things.”
“What the fuck was Ana doing going through her things?”
“She had time on her hands when your brother was forced to escort Madelena to an event you should have been in attendance for! But you disappeared. For fuck’s sake, Santos. What the hell were you thinking? This is important!”
I tuck the pills into my jacket pocket and sigh.
“What is she doing with those pills?” she continues, pointing an accusing finger at me. “You know what has to happen. Why is she still taking those things?”
“I’m handling it.”
“You’re not handling it.”
“We will do this on my terms.”
She walks around the desk and comes right up to me. “No, Santos, not your terms. Our terms. We had a plan in place. We’ve had a plan in place since before your father died. We Augustines have the same end goal in our minds and hearts—”
“Unless that’s changed,” Caius cuts her off. He speaks the words quietly but they stop everything.
I turn to him, eyes narrowed, and take a step in his direction.
He simply raises his eyebrows and casually sips from his glass.
“Has it changed?” my mother asks, drawing my attention back from my brother.
“For fuck’s sake! No, of course not. We are on track. Nothing has changed. But we will be doing this my way. On. My. Terms.”
The finality in my voice has my mother backing off. She picks up her drink and returns to her seat in front of the fire but keeps her eyes on me.
“We have another issue,” I say, wanting to change this subject.
“What’s that?” she asks.
“The Averys have purchased a property in Avarice.”
My mother’s gaze moves from me to my brother.
Caius finishes his drink and sets his glass down loudly, muttering a curse. “Not an issue,” he says finally.
“No?” Mom asks. “How is that? They’re here to make trouble.”
“What can they do?” Caius asks. “Truly, what can they do?”
“Apart from accusing your brother of killing the Commander, you mean?” she asks. “Poking their noses where they don’t belong and stirring up the past?”
Caius and I lock gazes. “Lucky for us, Santos has never given a single fuck when it comes to rumors.”
“I assume they’ll be in attendance tonight?” Mom asks.
I nod. “Saw them on the guest list.”
“And we can’t bar them from Augustine’s? I mean, we do own the club.”
“It’s not a good idea. It would just give them ammunition,” I say.
Caius pours himself another drink. “You know you could just accuse Thiago of offing his father to take over—”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I cut him off.
He puts his hands up, palms toward me in mock surrender. “Just a thought. Relax.”
“Mother, can you excuse us?” I say without taking my eyes off my brother.
She checks her watch. “Fine. I have to get ready anyway. Don’t fight. You’re on the same side.” With those words, she leaves.
“What did you say to Madelena the other night?”
“I don’t know. What?”
“The cuts. You inferred you knew.”
“Ah. Well, I do know.”
“Ana,” I say. Of course it was Ana.
He nods.
“Is that why you’re with her? So she can feed you information?”
“She’s a piece of ass.”
“Don’t fucking bring up the cutting with Madelena or anyone else again, do you hear me?”
“Touchy.”
“I mean it, brother. Don’t. It’s not a subject to be discussed with anyone.”
He raises both arms in mock surrender, clearly amused.
I shake my head, grit my teeth. Caius has a way of getting under my skin like no one else can.
“Fine. No problem,” he finally says.
“Good. Now tell me one other thing. Did you touch her?”
“Excuse me? Touch her? What did she tell you I did, exactly? Because I had to step up when you went on your bender and escort her to the event you should have been present at. So the way I see it, you should be thanking me, not accusing me of touching my brother’s wife. Get your head out of your ass. You’re fucking her, I get it. Just take care you don’t get lost in her cunt.”
Before I can think, I have his collar in the fist of my hand and am pressing him up against the wall. “Be. Fucking. Careful.”
Caius shoves me away. “You be fucking careful, brother. Because you’re fucking this up, and you seem to have forgotten what you’re supposed to be doing. We’re on the same side, remember? You trust me, remember? Isn’t that what you’ve been telling me for years?”
I push a hand into my hair, turn to the fire and take a deep breath in.
“Did you meet with Thiago?” Caius asks.
I turn back to him, but don’t answer.
“Addy mentioned you were back at the strip club.”
“When did you talk to Addy?”
“I was looking for you, so I made some calls. After what happened with Camilla and her freak brother, Thiago disappeared too so I put two and two together. Look,” he says, stepping toward me, putting a hand on my shoulder that I shove away. He just puts it there again. “You two went through some shit together. What the Commander did to you, I know he did twice fold to his own son. You told me that yourself. Back when you considered me a friend.”
“Caius—”
“No, it’s true. Something’s changed with us. Ever since Madelena, something’s different. You don’t trust me.”
“It changed when Dad’s will was read.”
“Back to that?”
“He cut you out for something you have no control over. For not being his by blood.”
“Yeah, I know. And do you think I don’t know that that was him and had nothing to do with you?”
“It’s still done. Same end result.”
“Ah, little brother. You’re a fucking idiot some days, you know that?” He shakes his head, picks up his glass to pour himself another whiskey, then drinks before continuing, “I think seeing Thiago and the whole fucking family fucked with you. Did he say something to you? That why you disappeared?”
“He told me not to trust anyone. Not you, not Mom, not him. No one.”
“And you listened to him because…?” He pats my back, pulls me close. “Come on, man. This is me.”
I look at him. He’s right. Why am I letting all this stuff fuck with me? The comment about the cuts, Ana told him. Him bringing it up to Madelena was him messing with her. I wonder if he’s jealous of her.
“Dad’s note. I know what you did, and this is your punishment. What did it mean?” I ask.
“I don’t fucking know. We’re never going to know. Don’t let it divide us. Don’t let any of this shit divide us. Because Mom’s got her agenda. The Averys have theirs. You’ve got your wife. And me? I don’t want to lose my brother. Believe it or not, I do have your back. I will always have your back. Me sending men to keep an eye on you is me having your back. Me escorting your wife to an event is me having your back. It’s me keeping an eye on her when she’s on her own. Would you rather I left her at the mercy of our mother?”
“Christ. No.”
“You trusted me once. I haven’t done anything to deserve anything less than your trust now.”
I put my hands up. “All right. Enough. I’m getting a fucking headache.”
He knocks on my forehead. “It’s a sign I’m getting through that thick skull. We need to get ready. One more night. Then we can relax.”
“I want you to talk to Ana. Make sure she doesn’t go near Madelena. Understand?”
“Fine. She’s jealous of her. That’s all that is.”
“Why did you choose her? Of all the women available to you? You know they have history.”
He shrugs. “Like I said, she’s a piece of ass. She’s up for anything, available, and happens to be part of Avarice’s high society. Even if her family is broke, thanks to Marnix De Léon. Win. Win. Win. That’s all.”
I take a deep breath in. “I’m sorry, Caius.”
“For being a dick?”
“Fuck you.”
He ruffles my hair. “It’s okay, little brother. I have always known you were a dick.”