“Alright, geez. I’ll tell you everything you want to know.” He held his hands up placatingly.
“The Varela and Bellucci families drew up Anastasia’s arranged marriage long before she was even born. Marco himself was only a few months old. The families had a feud going on dating back generations and the idea had been to put an end to it by coming together. It had all started over something stupid, land rights I think.”
I nodded for him to continue. I’d heard about the feud, so I vaguely knew what he was talking about.
“For things to change, something had to give. But from the start it had all a front. The Bellucci family didn’t want the alliance, they just wanted to buy time so that they could wipe the Varelas out and take over their base.” I could’ve groaned out of sheer frustration with a family that I hadn’t even met. Worst of all, Ana had no idea about any of this.
Everything was beginning to make sense. I still had no idea how Finch could possibly have known about all of this, but since he clearly wasn’t finished, I let him continue.
“Cassio Bellucci rang a friend for a favour. Our father. Cassio brought him in to hire Anton and arrange the kidnapping… it couldn’t have been traced back to him.” He sighed, his shoulders slumping. I knew how he felt. Our parents hadn’t been the best but this… it made me feel sick with guilt. To know that we were directly related to this man, a man that stole a child away from her family?
Ugh.
But it all made sense to me. It seemed like such a coincidence that I’d found Ana, but it wasn’t. For as long as I could remember, my father had been loaning money to Anton, even with his terrible track record. It was almost unimaginable that I’d fallen for her...
“How would you even know about any of this?” I asked, shaking my head again.
“Because I was there. I was in Dad’s office when Bellucci came to him. Remember when I got mono and had to stay off school?” Finch asked. I nodded, he’d been sick for weeks… But he’d just been a kid.
“He wanted Dad to keep a close eye on Anton, to make sure Anton didn’t mess anything up. Back then he was a low life drug addict and a gambler, he would’ve done anything for the money - and he did.” Finch shrugged.
I couldn’t remember Anton at all from back then. Of course, there were the few times I had gone to collect money from him years later. I huffed a laugh at how crazy it all seemed. It was ironic that Dad paid him to do a job, then ended up taking his money back over the years. And then, of course, Anton ended up in debt to Finch and I.
“As well as being there, Dad kept the letter Bellucci sent him with the check for ‘services rendered’. The check was banked, so I don’t have that, obviously, but there’s a matching entry in one of Dad’s old bank books. You know our old man never threw anything away when it was business. Damn… You’d have to torch the office to get rid of it all…” I hated how right he was. I hated how tangled this web was.
Dammit, why couldn’t this just be straight-forward? Or maybe… Maybe it was. Maybe we could side with them and, instead of a marriage alliance, help them wipe out the Varelas… I would definitely have to see what Ana wanted, either way, killing her betrothed was one thing, but wiping out her birth family? That was something else entirely.
“And so, why were you watching the house?” Everything he’d said so far still didn’t explain why Ana left me or why he was staking out the Varela household.
“I figured,” he looked around again, deeply uncomfortable. Letting out a deep sigh, he continued, “I figured Ana might be in danger. If I could protect her, then I thought you might forgive me for what I did.” He looked down and away, shame flushing his tan cheeks.
Of course. There was the true Finch. My self-serving brother. It wouldn’t do any good now to be angry with him. I’d have to save that for later. Now though, I needed more answers. Answers I had a feeling he could’ve given me.
“Does any of this have anything to do with why Ana left?” I asked, certain that if I pulled the right thread, this whole ridiculous tapestry would come unravelled.
A muscle flickered in Finch’s jaw and instantly, I knew he was holding back something big.
What had he done? I inwardly fumed.
“I may have sent her an anonymous death threat attached to the letter that Bellucci sent dad regarding Anton…” My rage spiked but I shoved it down, once again, balling my hands into fists at my sides. “You what?”
“I—” He began, but I cut him off.
“I can’t believe you, Finch. What the fuck possessed you to do something so stupid?!” I said, my voice rising in volume. I couldn’t even comprehend his words, while his thought process was beyond ill repute. “Why would you do that?”
“I was pissed off. You’d seen me and Ana fighting, then you saw me hit her and you threw me out. I was… angry… I thought if I could get rid of her, scare her away, then I could protect you from getting involved in any of this.” His jaw clenched as his own anger showed through.
I was beyond caring by that point. I didn’t care if he thought he’d been protecting me, because as far as this went it hadn’t had to be this way. If he hadn't sent that threat then who knew, maybe Ana wouldn’t have ever come back to Philadelphia.
What. The. Fuck.
“I
