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She pouted and folded her arms. “Fine. Now, tell me what happened between you two.”
Ah, she’d put on her teacher’s voice again. If she had any idea what it made him want to do to her beautiful ass, she wouldn’t have.
“You seem to be under the impression that IknowKristoff. That we were somehow separated later on in life. That’s not the case. See, we don’t share a mother, but a father. An asshole of a top shelf father, who likes his women exotic, judging by my Mexican and Kristoff’s Russian mother. Our All-American pie father liked to fuck his nannies. When my mother told him she was pregnant, he kicked her out. Gave her some pocket change as a bribe. I didn’t even know I had a brother until my mother told me on her deathbed. I guess she didn’t want me to be alone. She must have known that her mother, a grandmother I had never met, wouldn’t take me in. I was fourteen when my mother died.
“When child services came to pick me up, I fled to my father. Maybe my mother had been wrong about him. Maybe he’d changed. I had no idea where he lived, so I went to his office; after all, he was the mayor. The second he spotted me, he recognized me and ushered me into a room. He’s big and bulky like me, and has the exact same eyes. The asshole threatened to make my life a living hell if I ever came back. You can’t imagine the rage I felt when he called my mother aputa. I was so close to killing him and destroying my life. My mother must have been watching over me from above because I walked away. I walked away, never to return.”
Her eyes turned soft. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. It was a long time ago. I don’t give a shit about that man.”And that he didn’t want me.Nobody had wanted him after his mother died. Not his asshole father, and not his grandmother, who stated that the bastard had brought shame upon her family.
“Then what happened? I recall Jazzy telling me that you grew up with the Dettas and their grandmother.”
Bless Caitlin O’Brian. She’d been the poster granny of Irish hospitality.
“I met Gio at the group home. When a few kids jumped him, I helped him out. We became inseparable ever since. Then one day, Grams came to pick up her grandsons.” He remembered that day as if it happened yesterday. He had felt sick to his stomach. Any minute, Gio was going to leave him behind and he would be alone again. “Gio begged her to take me with them.” All it took was a look at his crestfallen face and Grams decided to take him in too. It had been him and the Dettas ever since. He had been Gio’s enforcer. When starting a new business, not everyone took you seriously at first. Some even believed they didn’t have to pay you. That’s where Hector came in.
“And where does Kristoff fit in this story?”
Ah yes, his ‘long-lost’ big brother. “My father’s name wasn’t the only one my mother told me on her deathbed. Kristoff’s mom and she had worked at the mayor’s mansion at the same time. The bastard impregnated both of them. Kristoff’s three years older than me. Finding Kristoff was more difficult. He lived in Tenderloin, like the Dettas and me, but my older brother was already doing odd jobs. Still, one day, I found him. I told him we were brothers and, stupid me, I expected a Hollywood moment or something.”
“I take it, it didn’t go down like that?”
“Fuck no. He told me that he didn’t play with kids. Then he said to never call him brother again.” It had been like a punch in the gut.
“And you never spoke to him over the years? I mean, he knows Gio, and even shares a club with him.”
That might seem weird to an outsider, but Kristoff and his crew had shared the same streets with the Dettas, and by extension, with him. They had both managed to crawl out of the slums. The only difference being that Gio had chosen to go legit instead of following in his father’s footsteps, working for the mob. Kristoff had chosen the opposite. Over the years, a friendship formed between the two powerful men. A friendship that Hector would never share with his brother, because one rejection would last him a lifetime.
He told Mary all of this and she kissed his shoulder, snuggling up to him.
“When I turned twenty, I enlisted. I needed to forge my own path and figured it would be one less mouth to feed for Grams.”
“Kristoff showed up at your wedding and accepted the invite for the barbecue. Maybe he wants to reconnect.”
He shook his head. “Don’t go there. I don’t know what game Kristoff’s playing, but he’s after something. Up until our wedding, the man has never acknowledged me as his brother. Apart from the Dettas and Achilles, no one even knows. It’s not a secret, but not common knowledge either.”
Mary burrowed into his side. “I’m sorry that I butted into your relationship.”
“Apology accepted.”
It wasn’t going to save her butt, though.
CHAPTER 21
HECTOR
The woman who walked into the living room was a vision in red lace. Hector gave his wife a quick onceover and tried his damn hardest to turn his gaze back to the TV.
He grabbed a cushion from the couch and threw it on the floor.
“You’re going to watch basketball?” She looked surprised and a little indignant.
Oh, mi corazon, this is only the start of your lesson.
He pointed at his feet. “Get over here. You know what I want.”
Her eyes narrowed, but she did as he asked. In a beautiful, graceful manner, she dropped before him, her ass perched on the cushion, her hands going to his belt. It wasn’t long before she took him out of his briefs and started to suck him.