Page 60 of Vicious Behaviors (The Next Vicious Generation #3)

“Okay,” she says brightly, looping her arm through her brother’s as he extends his other arm for me.

I tuck my arm into his, following Marcello as he leads us back to the party. However, the moment we turn the corner, Stella’s furious voice cuts through the air, colliding with her mother’s.

“How can you even say that to me, Stella?! I gave you life. I watched you sleep in your crib. I loved and nurtured you all your days. Does that not mean anything to you?”

“No, Mammà. Not when you refuse to let me live my life on my own terms.”

“Do you not see how much that terrifies me? To even think about the choices that you are making without even trying to find out if there is something better for you out there? Something safer? Something that won’t keep me up at night?”

“Is that your only concern? That your beauty sleep may somehow be affected?” Stella quips back.

“When did I become the villain in my children’s story?” we hear Selene utter, hurt. “First Jude, now you. Tell me where I failed my children so that when they look at me, all they see is an enemy?”

“When you decided that you knew what was best for us,” Stella shouts back just as forcefully.

“You talk about what a hellish experience you had growing up with our grandfather. How he dictated every important milestone to his will. How you felt confined to a life you had no control over. Well, guess what, Mammà? You’re doing the same thing to us! Can’t you see that?”

“Do not compare me to the Butcher, Stella! I am your mother!”

“From where I’m standing, you two look pretty similar to me.”

“I’m trying to protect you!”

“I don’t need protection! I can take care of myself!”

“Yes,” Selene says, deflated after a long pause. “Out of all my children, you were the only one who never needed me. Not even when you were a child. Why should you start now?”

All three of us hold our breath as the door swings open.

Selene emerges, too distraught to even notice us, and walks briskly away, vanishing down the corridor in an instant.

Peering from the doorway, we catch sight of Stella, collapsed to her knees, her face buried in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably.

I’ve never seen Stella like this. She’s always radiated confidence and pure defiance. To see her so frail—so vulnerable—it’s heartbreaking.

Marcello starts walking toward her, but Annamaria catches his arm, stopping him in the meantime.

“Let me talk to Stella. I got this, Mar.”

That’s all she says before slipping into the room and closing the door behind her.

“Thanks for helping me bring him home,” I say to Mina, as Jude hauls Marcello inside, one arm steadying his waist while Marcello leans heavily on his brother’s shoulder.

“It’s quite alright, luv. Jude has carried his fair share of pissed, drunk blokes home after a wild night.”

“That’s because Rolo and Remus don’t know when to tap out at the pub. They think the last bell is a call to get even more shitfaced. Marcello’s different. My brother never drinks. Never,” Jude explains, still sounding worried about how Marcello ended up in this shape.

I bite back the truth, not wanting to be the one to admit that watching Stella in that state had pushed Marcello to drink harder than he already had tonight.

Something tells me that neither Stella nor Marcello would appreciate such news traveling to their other siblings. Neither would Selene, I’m sure.

“If that’s true, then it’s no wonder he’s spark out. Poor lad’s a proper lightweight,” Mina teases, softening her husband’s concern. “A bit of shut-eye and he’ll be back to his dreary self by morning.”

“Whatever,” Jude grumbles. “Where is his bedroom, Izzie? I need to lay him down.”

“In the living room. Just up ahead to the right,” I reply.

“You two are sleeping in the living room? Marcello bought all of this,” Mina gestures at the grand ceilings, confused, “and couldn’t find change for a proper bed?”

“It’s, uh… a thing… we like to do sometimes. Camp out,” I try to explain, feeling my cheeks heat up under her stare.

“Is that a kink?” she asks, genuinely curious. “Maybe you can explain it to me one day. The husband and I like to dabble in all sorts of games, too.”

“That’s enough talk about our sex life, wife.” Jude huffs out as he continues to stagger toward the living room with the dead weight of his brother on his shoulder.

“Jude’s just a little testy tonight, luv. Don’t mind him,” Mina whispers, thinking her husband can’t hear her.

“Why is he… testy?”

Is that even a word?

“He’s still sore that Marcello gave him the silent treatment tonight. Though I intend to have a lengthy conversation with your boyfriend in the morning about it. You wouldn’t by chance know why Marcello is angry at my Jude all of a sudden, would you?”

I shake my head. “He’s only told me great things about his brother. In fact, whenever we talked about Jude, I got the feeling that Marcello idolized him.”

“Ah, I see.” Mina frowns. “That’s the problem of putting the people we love on a pedestal. It hurts even worse when we realize they are just as flawed and human as we are.”

I don’t have time to add anything to that remark since I hear Marcello call out my name agitatedly. “Where’s Izzie? Where is my Izzie? Bella? Bella? Where are you?”

“I’m here. I’m right here,” I say, quickly walking over to him so he can see my face.

“There she is,” he mutters, relaxing the second I’m in his sight. “Isn’t she beautiful, big brother?” Marcello coos, his eyes hooded from too much champagne and whiskey shots.

“That she is, little brother,” Jude praises. “You did good.”

“I did, didn’t I?” Marcello flashes Jude a boyish smile. “Are you proud of me, big brother? At least I did something right, huh?”

“What are you on about? I’m always proud of you.”

“Don’t say that. If you knew who I had to become, you wouldn’t say that,” Marcello retorts, his previously playful drunken mood turning sour.

“What—”

“Mina, do you mind going into the kitchen and fetching a bottle of water for Marcello?” I interrupt before my boyfriend says something he can’t take back. “Here, let me help you lay him down,” I add over to Jude.

I’ve been with Marcello long enough to know he keeps his darker side hidden from everyone he cares about, including Jude. Letting it slip out now in a drunken blur isn’t exactly the healthiest way to go about it.

We both help Marcello to the bed, his head lying on my lap, staring into my eyes, with nothing but worship.

“God, I fucking love you. Do you even know how much you’ve consumed me these past months?”

My eyes widen at the confession, my mouth drying up instantly. Thankfully, I’m saved from having to respond when Mina arrives with the bottled water.

“Here. Drink this. You need to stay hydrated,” I explain, lifting his head just so. Marcello takes a few baby sips before resting his head on my lap.

“I’m sorry I was such an asshole earlier,” he says, focusing all his attention on his brother this time.

“It’s okay.”

“No, it is not,” Mina takes a stand defending her husband, as it looks like he won’t do it on his own.

“You were a righteous prick. Though you won’t remember me calling you that in the morning, I’m more than happy to remind you.

That is, if the mother of all hangovers will even allow you to get out of bed tomorrow. ”

“Oh, oh. Mina’s angry,” Marcello chuckles, hiding his face in my chest.

“Talk to your brother, husband. How am I supposed to tell him off when tonight is the first time I’ve ever seen him act like a normal human being?”

Jude is about to say something when Marcello’s laughter turns into something menacing.

“Normal? Normal? What does that even mean? I don’t know what it is.

” He turns to me and asks, “Do you know?” He then directs the question to his brother, “Do you, Jude? Because I don’t.

I haven’t felt normal in years. Years!” he starts to shout.

“And it was all because of you! Why did you force me to make that promise? Why, Jude? Why?” He starts to cry.

“I wasn’t like you. I wasn’t brave or strong.

I was weak. I was a scared little kid. How could I protect them?

I couldn’t. I couldn’t. And now he’s here instead of me. There’s nothing left of me.”

I try to hold onto him, but he somehow manages to break free from my grip, hurling at his brother. “You were the one supposed to keep us safe. You were the one who was supposed to wear this thorn crown on my head. Not me. Never me. I’m not strong enough. I’m not good enough. I’m not… you.”

Instead of the two coming to blows, Jude grabs Marcello by the nape and presses his forehead on Marcello’s. “This is the alcohol talking, little brother. You are strong. You are one of the bravest men I know.”

“No, I’m not,” Marcello shakes his head, tears streaming down his cheeks. “If I’m as strong as you say, why can’t I beat him? If I’m so brave, then why am I always so scared that he might take away the people I love? What if he takes my Izzie, Jude? I won’t survive it. I won’t.”

“Who are you talking about?” Jude asks in utter anguish, “Who is he? ”

“He’s me… and I’m him. We’re the same now. Nothing of me is mine anymore. It’s all his. All of it.”

“You’re not making any sense, Marcello. Please help me understand. Tell me what… who is hurting you?”

Marcello just shakes his head, his tears still flowing. “You walked away and built your happily ever after with the woman you love, while I’m too broken to even give mine the slightest hope of happiness.”

Hot tears sting my eyes as I watch Jude’s heart shatter into shards of glass at Marcello’s words.

Not knowing how to respond, he wraps his arms around Marcello, holding him so tight as if his embrace could ward off all that torments his brother.

Mina cries silently in the corner of the room, while my heart feels like it will never heal after tonight.

The man I love is so twisted up in knots inside that it’s a wonder he can even get out of bed in the morning.

He’s been living with this anguish for years, all alone with no one to confide in.

No one to hold his hand through it. And my presence in his life has only increased his misery and his lack of self-worth.

This beautiful man—whose touch and loving heart have awakened something in me I’ll never fully be able to thank him for—is so lost in his dark abyss that he doesn’t even see the light he casts on everyone who loves him.

“I’m tired now,” he mumbles, disengaging from his brother’s arms to fall into mine. He nestles his head in my chest, holding onto me, as if afraid I might vanish.

“Do you mind if we stay the night?” Jude asks softly, wiping the tears from his eyes.

“Of course not. There are plenty of rooms upstairs.”

“Thank you,” he says, his focus still on Marcello’s lying form.

“Come, husband. Izzie will look after him. She won’t leave him. Will you, Izzie?”

“Never,” I promise.

“I thought as much. If you need us for anything, we’ll be here.”

“Always,” Jude adds to his wife’s remark.

Mina tugs a reluctant Jude away upstairs, while I cradle Marcello in my arms.

“It will all be okay, Marcello. I promise,” I repeat until he falls asleep, praying I’m not lying to him.