Page 2 of Blood Money

Grandfather swung and caught Gabriel across the face. My brother gasped and dropped the change from where he’d been holding it tightly in his fist. I watched as blood dropped on the dollars. “Stupid fucking boy!” Grandfather cursed in Italian.

“They’re only boys!” our father harshly snapped as he stepped in front of us.

“They areDe Lucas!” Grandfather hissed.

I knew Gabriel told me to run, but I was so scared I couldn’t move. Shaking, I remained there, feet rooted to the floor.

“Gabriel is nearly nine years old! They need to understand who they are and how any number of people would love to get their hands on them, Lorenzo!” Grandfather was practically screaming.

I trembled, and Gabriel quietly laced his fingers with mine and squeezed. My heart felt like it might burst from my chest.

“I’ll deal with them!” Father snarled, and I looked at him with fear burning through to my bones.

He grabbed our arms and dragged us away. I sent one last sad glance over my shoulder at the smashed cupcake.

“Lorenzo!” Mama hissed from her library as we passed.

“Not now, Valentina!” he replied with his teeth gritted.

I practically ran up the stairs to keep up.

When we got to our room, he closed the door and released me. He immediately swatted Gabriel’s butt several times. Gabriel cried out in surprise. Then Father turned toward me. My eyes bugged, and I shook my head. I tried not to cry because I wasn’t a baby, but the look on my father’s face terrified me.

He gripped my arm, and Gabriel bolted between us.

“No, Papa! Please, I made him do it!” he begged. The blood from the cut on his cheek and lip was smeared across his face.

“Your grandfather needs to know I dealt with the two of you,” he whispered angrily at my brother. Then his expression softened. “I’m not going to hurt either of you, but you can’t do things like that.”

Gabriel bit his lower lip, then immediately winced and released it. He stepped back and hung his head.

“No, Papa! Please! No!” I cried as I tried to get away, but he held firm. Then he brought his big hand back and let it fly. My butt burned, and I screamed. Each one seemed to set me on fire until I was sobbing, and Father held my quaking form. He gently set me back and crouched in front of us. He held each of us by the arm as he looked us in the eye.

“I’m so sorry I had to do that. Your grandfather overreacted, but he is right. You are De Lucas. There are people out there who would hurt you to hurt our family,” he tried to explain.

Gabriel lifted his chin. “Then I would kill them!” he fiercely snarled.

As I sniffled, I stared at my brother, and my mouth fell open in shock.

Our father wrapped his big hand around the back of Gabriel’s head and brought their foreheads together. “Oh, my brave boy,” he whispered before he pulled me in with them. “You must learn to be smart and cunning—ruthless but always fair. That will get you so much further than being angry and rash. I love you both so much that it’s dangerous. Not something I expect you to understand, but you and your brothers meaneverythingto me. If you want to go for treats in the future, how about you ask me, and I’ll have someone go with you?”

“I’m not a baby. I can take care of me and Vittorio,” Gabriel stubbornly insisted. He scowled and huffed.

Father ruffled his hair. “I’m sure you can, son.”

He kissed both of our heads, then stood. “Stay up here for a while. I’ll have your mother get you when it’s time to come down for supper, okay?”

“Okay,” we both murmured.

Father left, and we climbed on our beds and stared at each other from across the room.

“I’m sorry I got us in trouble,” Gabriel whispered.

I rubbed the back of my hand under my nose and sniffed. “It’s not your fault,” I mumbled.

Each week after that, when Gabriel got his allowance, we hustled down to the bakery. However, from then on, there were no more unsupervised mad dashes down the road—we had a vigilant shadow. Father’s soldier would follow us there but would wait outside to allow us to feel like “big kids” going in on our own.

Each time I went, I hoped for a glimpse of the little red-haired girl, but I never saw her again.