88. Kade

88

Kade

F inally. The news I've been waiting for. Not that it's a surprise. I always knew he was the one. From the very first moment Alberto introduced me to his brother, I sensed there was something wrong with Dante Valentino.

Something missing.

And yet Alberto has always refused to see the truth. Even after I revealed what Dante was involved in, Alberto wouldn't listen.

"He's my brother," he'd tell me with a sigh. " He's family, and family means everything ."

Well, not to Dante. Apparently.

Tessa follows me back to Alberto's office. I asked her to wait in the library - there's no telling what's about to happen - but the stubborn woman refused to listen, as always.

"This involves me," she hissed. "Dad might not listen to you but I'll make damned sure he listens to me!"

"Come in," Alberto grumbles when I tap on the door. Dante is still there, leaning against the wall in his customary relaxed pose. He has a glass of liquor in one hand and a lit cigar in the other.

Tessa's nose wrinkles at the smell, like she hates it.

"I need you to oversee the delivery this evening," Alberto says. "Dante has had word the Irish are hoping to expand territory now Mashkov is dead."

"Where did you hear this?" I ask Dante.

"Does it matter?" he snaps, annoyed at my lack of deference. Dante has never liked the way Alberto listens to me. He sees me as a threat.

"Are you working with them now?" I ask.

"Excuse me?"

"You had a good thing going with Mashkov, so it stands to reason you might have a similar arrangement with Seamus O'Connor. He would love to see Alberto in the ground, after all."

Alberto freezes in his chair, but he doesn't immediately jump to his brother's defense. Which is good, as I wasn't sure how this conversation was going to go.

"Are you going to sit there and let him talk to me like this?" Dante growls, his gaze flicking between me and Alberto. There are two spots of color high on his cheeks and from the vein throbbing on his temple, he's a second away from losing his shit. Dante does not like to be disrespected. Ever.

"Care to explain, Kade?" Alberto's expression is unreadable. His poker face is in place.

"I got a call from my hacker friend." It's better if Alberto doesn't know that Quinn works for the FBI. "Mashkov had a phone call shortly before he left his mansion. The phone call came from Dante."

Tessa goes rigid next to me. I look over at Dante and cock my head to one side. "I assume you tried to warn Mashkov we were about to raid his house searching for Tessa. Is that right?"

Alberto spins around, his face like thunder.

"Is this true?" The temperature in the room drops by at least 10 degrees.

"Did you know he had me?" Tessa asks in a quiet voice.

"Your friend is mistaken," Dante spits.

"He's not. He also found something else when he hacked into Mashkov's private server. It seems Mashkov kept a private collection of videos. There is footage from the night he raped Tessa at the club." Alberto turns white, and I can feel Tessa trembling next to me. When I turn to check on her, she looks like she might vomit.

"It's OK, baby. Quinn destroyed the footage."

Then I turn back to Alberto. "There was a much older film clip too. Quinn didn't recognize the woman in it, but I think you might. Check your email."

Alberto taps his laptop keyboard and opens his email inbox. Dante edges toward the door, but I'm blocking his way. He has nowhere left to go. The room fills with the sound of a woman crying and then screaming. Then a man says,

"Cry, Christina. I love it when you cry for me."

"Mom?" Tessa's voice breaks at the same time as Alberto pulls a gun and shoots his brother in the head.

"I should have protected her," he says, resting his face in his hands. He's broken. "I should have known. He always wanted what I had, ever since we were children." Tears stream down his face as Tessa falls apart in my arms. I'm not sure who is more devastated by the revelation Dante was in part responsible for Tessa's mother's death: her or Alberto.