Chapter 6 - THE BROTHER IN THE GRAVE
The shooter gave them an address.
Deari assumed it was a trap.
He went anyway.
The address belonged to an abandoned Catholic school on Chicago’s South Side.
Deari entered with Leonardo.
Kalista was ordered to remain in the armored vehicle.
She lasted four minutes.
By the time she entered through a side door, Deari had already found the classroom.
A man stood beside the blackboard.
He was taller than Leonardo and thinner than Deari.
A burn scar climbed one side of his neck.
But the eyes were unmistakable.
Gabriel Castellano smiled.
“Hello, brother.”
Deari did not move.
Nine years of grief condensed into silence.
Leonardo whispered, “Gabriel?”
Gabriel looked at him.
“You got old.”
Leonardo struck him.
The punch knocked Gabriel against a desk.
Gabriel laughed through the blood on his lip.
“I missed you too.”
Deari’s voice was dangerously calm.
“Why?”
Gabriel’s smile disappeared.
“Because Father chose you.”
There it was.
Not money.
Not territory.
A childhood wound that had been fed until it became monstrous.
Gabriel had believed Antonio Castellano intended to leave everything to Deari.
So Gabriel created his own death, disappeared, and slowly constructed a network inside both the Castellano and Long organizations.
Valdemar believed Gabriel worked for him.
In reality, Gabriel intended to destroy them both.
“Thomas discovered you,” Kalista said.
Gabriel turned.
His expression brightened.
“Kalista O’Donnell.”
Deari stepped between them.
Gabriel noticed.
“Oh.”
He smiled.
“Now I understand.”
“Understand what?”
“Why you kept her alive.”
Deari’s jaw tightened.
Gabriel looked at Kalista.
“Your brother was annoyingly intelligent.”
“You killed him.”
“I ordered someone to frighten him.”
“Don’t.”
Her voice trembled.
“Don’t insult me with technicalities.”
For the first time, Gabriel’s amusement vanished.
“Thomas found something he wasn’t supposed to find.”
“So you murdered him.”
“Yes.”
The single word devastated her more than an excuse would have.
Kalista lunged.
Deari caught her.
“Let me go!”
Gabriel watched.
“See? This is your problem, Deari. You collect wounded things and convince yourself you’re saving them.”
Deari released Kalista only when she stopped struggling.
Then he looked at Gabriel.
“No.”
Gabriel frowned.
Deari’s voice remained quiet.
“My problem was believing you were worth mourning.”
That landed harder than Leonardo’s fist.
Gabriel’s expression cracked.
Then the school erupted with gunfire.
Valdemar’s men had arrived.
Gabriel moved first.
He overturned a desk and disappeared through a rear door.
Deari pursued him, but Kalista shouted.
“Deari!”
A gunman entered from the hallway.
Leonardo fired.
The man fell.
More footsteps approached.
They had to choose.
Gabriel or survival.
Deari chose Kalista.
Again.
They escaped through the school gymnasium and reached the vehicle.
Once inside, Kalista turned on him.
“You had him.”
“Yes.”
“You could have caught him.”
“Yes.”
“But you came back.”
Deari looked at her as though the answer should have been obvious.
“You were still inside.”
Kalista’s anger disappeared.
That frightened her.
Because she understood what was happening between them.
And Deari did too.
Later that night, inside another safe house, Kalista found him standing on a balcony.
“You should hate me,” she said.
“For what?”
“You had a chance to catch Gabriel.”
“I made my choice.”
“That’s exactly what scares me.”
Deari turned.
“Why?”
“Because people around you die.”
He absorbed that.
“My brother died because of this world.”
She stepped closer.
“And I’m beginning to care whether you survive it.”
Deari’s expression softened.
“Kalista.”
She kissed him before courage disappeared.
It was brief.
Uncertain.
Nothing like either of them expected.
When she pulled away, Deari touched his forehead to hers.
Then Leonardo opened the balcony door.
“I deeply regret having functional eyes.”
Kalista laughed.
Deari looked irritated.
“What?”
“We found Valdemar.”
The humor vanished.
Leonardo held up a tablet.
“And Gabriel is meeting him tomorrow.”
May you like
Deari looked at Kalista.
The war was finally bringing every enemy into the same room.
