Page 19 of Love or Loyalty

Raph heard nothing above Helena’s words echoing in his head. He rose to his knees––the bull inside unleashed––and drove his fist into Tele’s face again. “It’s been you all along!” he roared, striking again, and again. “You, my own damn brother!”

Tele didn’t fight back—didn’t shy away from what he knew he deserved. He simply tried to shield his face from the worst of Raph’s blows, as well as he could.

But Raph wasn’t having it. Tele’s passive acceptance only enraged him more. He collared his brother, picked him up off the ground, and slammed him back into the grass.

“Stop it, Raph! You’re going to kill him! Stop!” Neo grabbed Raph’s shoulders and tried to pull him off Tele.

But Raph shoved him so hard, Neo stumbled back and fell, nearly hitting his head against the granite firepit.

“Fight me!” Raph screamed between punches. “You fucking coward! FIGHT!” he bellowed, his voice thundering until Tele began fighting back, which only seemed to further infuriate Raph.

With his heart thumping against his ribs like a trapped bird, Neo watched the savage brawl unfolding in front of him, his brothers going at each other as gladiators fighting to the death. “MOM!” he screamed, the sound tearing raggedly from his throat as he scrambled to his feet. “Mom, help me! Mom!” He didn’t stop until Jordan came running from the house, her face ashen white at the sight of her sons on the grass, tearing each other apart.

Georgia, who’d raced out behind Jordan, made the sign of the cross, and ran back inside.

“Oh my God!” Jordan’s shriek pierced the air as she ran across the lawn. “Raph! Tele! Stop it! Stop it this instant!”

Locked in a battle over a woman they both loved, Raph and Tele were beyond hearing anything outside of their pain, their turmoil––Raph, consumed by the crushing weight of betrayal, and Tele fighting for a future with the woman who had chosen him.

“Raph! Tele! Stop!” Jordan made a dash for her sons, but Neo––now operating entirely on instinct and concern for her safety––grabbed her, and pulled her back.

Just then, Georgia marched back out of the house. Her eyes were wide with fright, but her jaw firm with resolve as she walked up to the Raph and Tele and threw a pot of water over their heads.

Raph froze as he felt the shock of cold water hit him. The night became deathly quiet as he looked up, as though awaken from a dream, to find Neo, his mother, and Georgia staring at him with horror in their eyes. He turned, took one look at the damage he’d done to his brother’s face, released him, and stood to his feet.

Jordan rushed to kneel beside Tele, who still lay on the ground, red, swollen, and bloody. “Raph, what in God’s name would cause you to go at your brother like that?” she demanded, her voice shaking with anger and disbelief.

“Ask him!” Raph stormed away blindly, nearly bowling over Georgia, who stood clutching her empty pot.

* * *

As he took the lantern-lit path leading away from the house, Raph raked his bloody hands through his hair, pulling until the pain in his scalp matched the agony in his chest.

His ego was crushed. His heart felt like it had been trampled by elephants. He had let himself hope. Let himself believe in love. In vulnerability. And look what it got him. A traitor for a brother. And a woman who had never really been his.

He’d worked so hard to open his heart, to become the man Helena deserved. Months of therapy, of facing his demons, of learning to let his guard down. And for what? So he could be betrayed by the two people he’d trusted most?

At the edge of the property, Raph dropped to the ground, his bloody fists on his thighs, his lips tight, his nostrils flaring, his entire body stiff as a board.

Beyond the sloping hill, Napa Valley stretched into darkness, peaceful and unchanging through the years. But within the Giannopoulos family, everything had fundamentally changed, especially him.

No woman would ever get close enough to destroy him like this again. Never again would he risk this kind of agony. The walls he’d worked so hard to tear down sprang back into place, sturdier, and more fortified than ever before.

* * *