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Chapter 11

Vaughn

“Knock it off, Luca,” I snapped as I eyed my brother Aleks jumped at the sound ofupon the opposite side of the kitchen table Luca shot

Pacing

Not so he did often

That would haveactual emotion and my brother just didn’t do that

Showing e one’s throat in our world

It was a trait that had only worsened for him in the years since Gio had been taken

“Stay on that side,” I said as Luca looked like he was going to expand hison I still hadit at Luca, it was lying on the table in front of eneral direction Despite the fact that he hadn’t tried to grab Aleks and use hiainst me when he’d had the chance, I didn’t trust him for even a second

Luca frowned at me like he was surprised by the coers on his right hand were twitching and I knehy

Yeah, he was definitely in a bad way

But any pity I normally would have felt for him had been made obsolete the moment he’d sent his men after Aleks

I glanced at the young , but I didn’t dare reach for hi from his attack on me I didn’t care that he’d cut me – I was actually happy he’d finally defended himself But to know I’d pushed him to a place where his psyche had felt the need to lash out so violently was heartbreaking Even with all Marcus had done to hi back against the man But when I’d backed hiuratively, he’d responded in the most unexpected way

“Does it hurt?” Aleks asked softly whenin the final stitches The cut wasn’t overly long or deep, but it was bad enough that it wouldn’t have stopped bleeding on its own

“Just stings a little,” I said It wasn’t exactly the truth, but Aleks was already feeling a shitload of guilt for what he’d done, and I didn’t want to add even another ounce to that

“He did worse cli trees in Central Park as a kid,” Con said

Aleks looked briefly at Con, then back at me “You liked to climb trees?” he asked

“He loved it,” Luca cut in He was still pacing but wasn’t looking at us as he spoke “He doesn’t have a lick of sense when it cohts,” he muttered “Our mother called the fire department the first few tiet down He’d wait until the fireot all the way up to hiht back down the saone up… on his own” Luca waved his hand io up after their daher than any fireman, or anyone else for that matter”