“Why me?!” I roar.
He doesn’t answer at first. Just looks up at me with a tepid look in his eyes. The son of a bitch doesn’t look scared. He doesn’t even look scared.
And I’m so fucking terrified.
He swallows, gives me a weak smile. “Because you’re easy to hate, Luciano.”
I feel like I’ve been stabbed in the heart.
I growl at him, my face hot and strained and I pull his head forward before slamming it back into the wall. His eyes close, pain coming over his face.
The pain I’m causing.
But it’s nothing like the pain he’s caused me.
“I tried to love you!” I yell at him, tears starting to claw up my throat. “All I wanted was to love you. But you never loved me, you never loved me. You treated me like I was…just trash, just garbage, someone’s discarded junk.”
He snorts, his eyes still closed. “Because you are,” he mumbles.
I suck in my breath like I’ve been hit.
I can’t.
I can’t…
I turn around, trying to calm the feral beast inside of me, trying to be the better man here. I catch Ruby’s eye and she’s staring at me pure horror.
But instead of Ruby calming me, Ruby enrages me.
She just reminds me of what my father did to her.
What he did to us.
I whip around, winding up and deliver a nose-cracking punch to my stepfather’s face.
His head slumps to the side a little, blood splattering all over my bare chest.
And still he smiles at me.
This motherfucker actually smiles at me.
“You should have done this a long time ago Luciano,” he says, breathing hard. He opens his eyes and looks at me. No matter what, those eyes stay cold. “I would have had some respect for you.”
I feel my heart cracking open, the hopelessness sinking in.
“I thought you…I thought you changed. I thought something changed. My mother…”
“Yes, your mother,” he says. “What happened to her made me realize that I better be nicer to the cash cow.”
I gape at him. Unable to breathe.
“You…You…”
“Luciano,” he says roughly, licking the blood off the lips. “Oh, you foolish, stupid boy. I knew you’d never match up to the name you were given. My name. But your mother insisted. She insisted that you take on Ribeiro. That’s how much she cared for you, how much she wanted the best for you. Oh, but I couldn’t tell her you weren’t worthy of my bloodline, my legacy, my family history. That you came from a bloodline of sewage. Do you remember what it was like before your father left? Before I came along and rescued your mother? You were garbage, Luciano. You always will be.”
He looks over my shoulder at Ruby. “No wonder the two of you get along so well. She’s trash too.”
I don’t even think.
I headbutt him, my forehead cracking against his. I feel no pain, but his eyes close and he starts to slide down through my hands.
“Luciano!” Ruby cries out.
I turn to look at her, her hands at her mouth, tears streaming down her face.
“Please,” she begs. “Stop.”
I look back at Tomás. He’s still conscious, breathing harshly, struggling to stay on his feet.
I feel intense shame at what I’ve done.
Like there was no point to the violence.
Like I did what he wanted.
FUCK.
I did exactly what he wanted.
I let go of him and he staggers, trying to stay up, and I walk right over to my towel, wrap it back around my waist. I glance at Ruby, telling her how sorry I am with just my eyes.
Because my reaction, my violence, my rage, was part of his plan.
That’s why he provoked me.
Why he came here and started it.
He had the proof he needed to get mad.
Now he has the proof to do his worst.
I fought my stepfather, and I won, but only the battle, not the war.
I go over to Ruby and I grab her, pulling her into me. Her face buries in my chest and I wrap my arms around her, my chin on her shoulder, watching my stepfather as he gets to his feet.
“Luciano,” he croaks, taking a step forward. “I hope you enjoyed that. I hope it was worth waiting for all those years. You know, you go on and on about how much I hate you, yet I never mention how much you hate me. How much you resented me for replacing your father. How I felt that from the day I met you. You made it known that I would never be your father and so…that was that. That was the stone you cast.”
He coughs and coughs, bending over for a moment. Then he straightens up and gives me a wicked grin. “This was nothing, by the way.” He gestures to his face. “I’ve had so much worse before, from people who knew what they were doing. Good thing they don’t call on you to fight during the games, you’d get nowhere.”
His eyes go to Ruby. I hold her tighter.
“I’ll try to keep this from the news, Luciano,” he says, still focused on the back of her head. “I’m sure you don’t want people to know you did this to your own family. I know I don’t.”
There’s something coming.
“But I’m not sure I like what this woman has done to our lives,” he says in English.
Ruby tenses in my arms, her fingers digging into my skin.
“Eleven years is an awfully long time to be here illegally. Frankly, I’m surprised she hasn’t been caught. Then again, if you play your cards right, no one will ever know. That’s the problem with this country, this continent. Too many people like her slipping through the cracks, pretending to be one of us when they aren’t.”
I can’t swallow. “Leave her out of this. She did nothing.”
He gingerly reaches into his pocket and pulls out a handkerchief, wiping it on his nose. He shakes his head at the sight of blood. “This was a Gucci. Ruined.” He tucks it back into his pocket and looks at me, eyes glittering. “Anyway, she’s done plenty. I want her
