Page 15 of Endure the Pain
Stefan locked eyes with me. “You know why.”
I let out a heavy breath in order to keep calm. “We punished him by killing Samuel. He proved his loyalty by being willing to kill Samuel himself. You can’t keep punishing him. Instead, we should be giving him an opportunity to redeem himself.”
Stefan’s body went still, his demeanor closed off yet ominous. I was now speaking to the boss and he was pissed. “I am the head of this family. Not you.”
“Pride should never come before family,” I snarled, which pissed him off more. “You’re taking the pain of your brother’s betrayal out on Dylan. Yes, Dylan had played a part in that betrayal, but Samuel was a manipulative bastard.”
My father’s usual unreadable expression melted away to reveal a scowl. “He knew what he was doing. I don’t know why you’re fighting so hard for him.”
“Because if our roles were reversed, I don’t know if I would have done anything differently than Dylan. I like to think that I would have told you, ‘No, it’s wrong to go behind the boss’s back.’ But knowing you, the master manipulator, you would have prepared for that. You would have told me all the right things to get me to do what youwanted. And I’m not going to lie, selling to Nicoli was a smart move.”
“What about pocketing the money?”
“I would’ve been against it. There are more important things in life than money and I strongly believe forgiveness should never be bought, not that Samuel really intended to use the money for that.”
“Says the girl with two million dollars in a duffel bag tucked under her bed,” Stefan drawled. After I'd been released from the hospital, Dylan had shown Jamie where he and Samuel had been storing the money at the warehouse on Stone Street. Stefan had come to my room that evening with the duffel in hand and said it was my bonus for getting the money back before tossing it on the foot of my bed. Thankfully, he'd missed my feet, because two million dollars wasn’t light. I hadn't been really capable of going to the bank at the time, so I'd had to settle with stuffing the heavy sucker under my bed.
I waved flippantly at his comment. “My point is that you can’t fault Dylan for trusting his father. Especially when Samuel was just as manipulative as you.” Stefan opened his mouth to argue but I spoke before him. “You’ve taught me how to spot it and how to counterit. Can you say that Samuel did the same with Dylan?” I shook my head. “Samuel would’ve never given Dylan the power to outsmart him.”
Stefan let out a frustrated sigh and leaned back in his chair. I glanced at Brody, who had been quiet the entire time. He was staring at Stefan with a sad expression and by the way he leaned slightly in his direction, it seemed like he wanted nothing more than to comfort Stefan.
“You said Dylan is my responsibility. That’s why I’m fighting you on this. If you keep pushing him away when he needs us the most, he will learn to hate us and blame us for all the bad that is happening in his life right now.”
Stefan wouldn’t look at me as he sat there brooding and it squelched the last of the patience I had left. I stalked behind his desk where he was sitting. I angrily started pulling drawers open until I found a Glock I knew he had hidden there. I took it out, cocked it, and laid it on the desk in front of him. “You said you’d kill me if Dylan fucks up. Well, might as well get it over with now because you’re setting me up to fail.”
Stefan looked up from the gun to stare at me. I met his eyes defiantly, challenging him.
Out of my peripheral, I noticed Brody take a hesitant step forward. “Maura,” he said shakily. It broke the stare off that Stefan and I were in.
Stefan scooped up the gun and put it back inside the drawer. He calmly pushed it closed. “Get out.” He refused to look at me, but I knew he wasn’t talking to Brody. So I left.
Later on that evening, I decided to soak in the bath with a very large glass of wine. Lounging back, I was lost in my thoughts, staring at a cluster of bubbles on my knee. I didn’t like fighting with Stefan. I'd told myself I wasn’t going to question him about Dylan because he was the boss and it was his right to deal with him as he saw fit. And yet, I'd done it anyway.
Why do I care what happens to Dylan so much? It’s not like he ever stuck his neck out for me growing up.
I sighed. Because we were family and most of all, I could see myself when I looked at him. A child of the mob. I wouldn’t say the grass was greener with how he was raised. We were both dealt shitty hands. Samuel raised him to be entitled because he was male. Stefan raised me to be smart because I was female.
None of us were good people, but we were still a family. If we lost sight of what was important, then what was the point of the drugs, guns, and any other shit we were fucking risking our lives doing? Was it greed? If so, then we were no better than Samuel.
“You and Stefan are fighting?”
Jamie’s voice broke my trance and I found him standing next to the tub, staring down at me. I hadn’t even noticed him enter the bathroom, let alone approach me.
“What gave you that impression?” I asked as I reached for my wine from the shelf next to the tub.
He watched as I brought the glass to my lips. “You both were absent at dinner.”
“I’m sorry you ate alone.”
“Louie was there.” He frowned. “You’re deflecting and drinking when the doctor specifically told you not to while taking the meds she prescribed.”
“It’s wine. It doesn’t count,” I grumbled and took two big gulps, afraid he’d take it away.
He smiled, well aware of what I was doing, but thankfully made no move to take my glass. “Do you want to talk about it?”
I shook my head. “I wouldn’t mind a distraction. Care to join me?”
His eyes moved down the length of the tub, taking in the parts of my body that weren’t covered by bubbles. “I’m not really a bubble bath man. It’s cramped and sounds dangerous for someone still not fully healed. I’m more of a bed man. There, I can give my girl safe but multiple distractions.” He gave me a panty melting—if I were wearing any—smirk before leaving the bathroom.