Page 10 of Dirty Hearts

Now they looked at each other.

“I can’t believe you would ask us that.” Gio tilted his head to the side.

Dante pulled in a breath and ran a hand over the sharp black spikes of his faux hawk and rested on the edge of his beard near the tattoo of his cross.

We each had a cross. For our fallen ones. It was to remember them. He wore his for his sister. Gio his best friend. Jude and Alex wore theirs for their older brother.

Me… for Marissa.

If anyone ever knew the rocky marriage we’d had, people would question me. They’d wonder why I’d stayed with her for so long. Why I didn’t fight harder to be with the woman I should have been with.

It didn’t matter now though.

Wallowing in sorrow wasn’t me. Not one bit. But there were exceptions to every rule.

This time of year always brought out the fucking worst in me.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I held up my hands and grabbed my biker jacket to shrug into.

“Well, you’re going to have to.” Dante straightened. Only he could get away with making such a demand of me.

The only person I actually put my whole trust in in this world was my brother. Not even my father, who was a man who could be trusted with your life.

Dante and Gio, I guess, were close to me, and if I had to bet, I would bet that I could out rule either of them as the ones who’d betrayed me.

But out ruling could be my downfall. Sometimes, though, the shred of humanity left in me lowered my guard so that I could see genuine concern from guys I could call friends.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“She’s going to think it’s weird when she sees your name on the paperwork, and she’ll wonder why you didn’t see her or even talk to her about it,” Dante launched in. Gio nodded.

I let out a slow ragged breath and sat back down. They said what I was thinking. What I’d damn well knew.

“Look, it shouldn’t matter. A name’s a name,” I spoke more to myself than to them.

“Really, Claudius? And, God, are you going to allow her to throw down half a mill and take out a loan?” Dante frowned.

I looked down at the marble floor and got lost in the soft gray and beige hues.

This was so messed up. Owning the business was great. Owning over seventy percent of the businesses in Chicago was a dream. I’d inherited everything like some damn king.

It was just things like this that sucked.

Last Thursday, as in four days after I saw Ava, Alex got in a business proposal from the bank for the east side buildings near the river. The proposal was from Ava.Thank you, universe.

It felt like a slap in the face.

Her family owned Delizioso, a successful Michelin-starred Italian restaurant, which they’d handed down to her, and now she wanted to set up a chain to include another branch in Chicago.

She’d written the whole damn proposal, which looked fantastic, but I really doubted she knew the proposal would get to me.

That property was listed as being leased by Eidlewoods Commercial Estate. It looked like the standard commercial realter. It was one of ours though.

One of mine.

It was only last week that I’d vowed to stay away from her. Last week was goodbye forever. It really was. I’d made up my mind and was going to do it.

I knew it was wrong to keep doing the same old shit to myself every year, and I didn’t want to entertain it. I didn’t want to tempt myself and end up doing what I’d done four years ago.