“And then we grew up and the hole got bigger.” I point out. “No one else lives like us. We learned to murder men and traffic cocaine before we were even adults.”
André lights a blunt and inhales deeply. “Move to Miami,” he suggests on a smoky exhale. “It doesn’t always have to be like this. I miss you, brother. Tommy could persuade Papá to train up more guys.”
I start to walk away from him. “Papá doesn't trust anyone else. I’ve had that conversation with him already. I’ve built a reputation and he knows it gives him power.”
Papá’s pride in my achievements is the one thing that sets him aside from being completely inhuman. Beneath all the cruelty and greed, a glimmer of respect shines in his gray eyes.
André is behind me in a flash. “At what cost?”
“Wrong question, Dré.” I turn to him, staring into the face of a man who has been at my side since I was born. “You should ask yourself what I’d lose if I turned my back on his demands.”
“Fuck Papá!” he growls under his breath. “Tommy is getting ready to step in and claim his crown. Papá’s too fucking paranoid to wipe his own ass without thinking the paper is laced with cyanide. When the time comes, he’ll be forced to take a back seat and shut the fuck up.”
I stuff my hands into my pockets. “That’s a few years away. And even when it happens, I still won’t be free of this shit. There will always be some fucker waiting in the shadows to make a move on the people close to me.”
“And that's why we employ security.” André challenges. “All of us had guns and hundred-dollar bills shoved in our hands at a young age. We know how to take care of the people around us. It’s the Souza way, Gio. We’re familia. We protect each other. You’re not on your own in this. I’m here.”
I reach over, pinch the blunt hanging from his lips and take a draw. The hot smoke fills my lungs and I hold it there. “You’re probably my favorite brother, Dré,” I smirk, blowing it out in a cloud. “I’d pretty much do anything for you.”
“Fuck you, cabron.” He flips me the bird. “Disappear like that again and I’ll fucking shoot you myself.”
I chuckle, letting the blunt hang from my lips as I cover my eyes with a pair of dark aviators. “Your aim is shit. I’d likely lose the top of an ear at most.”
“It would get the message across, right?” He takes the blunt back.
My brows jerk up. “What? That I’m your favorite brother too?”
He takes his time to blow out a cloud of marijuana. “We’re in this together, Giovanni. Me and you. We don’t have to live by his rules, not when we’re the guys with the real power. What’s the point of having all this money if we can’t enjoy ourselves before we die? Stop hiding away and move in with me.”
I love living in Blackwater Manor. Its seclusion and history make it my perfect bachelor pad, and with the added annex, it will become a family home.
“So, the plan is to fuck pretty girls, get coked off our heads, and blow shit up together for the rest of our lives?” I ask.
He jabs my bicep playfully and dishes out a rogue grin. “Now you’re talking.”
I slap on a smile to keep up the pretense. Though it’s too late for me, I’m defective. The life my brother wants for me is far out of reach. Elias Souza had seen to that long ago.
André and I might share a birthday, have matching DNA, and suffer under the rule of the same tyrannical father, but our lives are polar opposites.
Especially when I have a kid at home now. Maybe one day the two of them will meet, but until that day, my brother will have to share me with the shadows.
15
GIOVANNI
Present
“I’m okay, Dré,” I say into the phone.
I’ve returned to the control room after sneaking India out of the caves, driving her to Blackwater, and racing back, unnoticed this time. I’m good at staying under the radar when I have to, but it would only take one more trainee to spot her, then the risk level would be too high.
Leaving her there and forcing myself to turn away was the ultimate endurance test. Her voodoo spell pulls me in every goddamn time. The way I feel about the girl is unhealthy.
When she told me about Dré flying to Colombia, I knew it was time to call him. I might not be ready to introduce my brothers to The Covenant, but they need to know what’s going on.
“Good to know,” Dré replies, his voice husky like I’ve woken him. “Are you in one piece?”
“Yeah.” I throw my boots up on the desk and cross my ankles. “I’m fine, but there’s something important we need to talk about.”
