Page 67 of The Broker
“That’s okay.” Leo flashes me a smile. “Maybe your pretty friend Rosa will make me a new one.”
Antonio and Lucia are getting married. Leo wants to ask Rosa out. It’s just a reminder that life goes on, steady and relentless.
Yet I feel broken.
It seems like I’m destined to be hurt by the Colonna Brothers.
Roberto broke my bones and put me in hospital. . .
But Dante just crushed my heart.
Somehow, this feels worse.
31
DANTE
Ihave to leave because I cannot watch Valentina and Angelica move their things from my home. I don’t have it in me; I’m not strong enough. If I stay, if I linger, I don’t trust myself not to stop them. I don’t trust myself not to beg them to stay.
So I go to the office. Where else is there to go? A stack of folders is on my desk, waiting for me to review them, and when I turn on my computer, email after email comes flooding in, the near-constant stream inevitable when you manage an organization with over five hundred employees.
Leo comes back to the office two hours later. “I dropped them off at home,” he says. “Valentina cried. A lot.” His expression is reproachful. “What happened?”
A flash of grief rips through me. I made Valentina cry. In this, I’m no different from my brother. “She found out I killed Roberto.”
Shock fills Leo’s face. “You killed your own brother because of what he did to Valentina?”
“I didn’t shoot him in cold blood, Leo,” I bite out. “Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to hurt him. I was going to beat him senseless. Break every bone in his body. I vowed that for every day Valentina spent in the hospital, Roberto would spend ten.”
My mind burns with the memory. “Roberto was in hiding. He knew he’d gone too far. Knew he was in trouble. When I got to his location, I found him drunk on vodka, belligerent, just looking for a fight.”
“And you gave him one.”
“We started arguing. He pulled a gun, I lunged for it, and in the tussle, it went off. He was dead before I could even call an ambulance.”
Leo whistles between his teeth. “And you’ve never told Valentina. All this time.” He shakes his head. “Dumb move, my friend. She’s going to think you don’t trust her.”
I feel my throat close up. “I know,” I choke out. “But she’s wrong.”
I trust Valentina; I always have. What I didn’t trust wasus.I didn’t trust that our relationship would withstand what I’d done.
And surprise, surprise. It hasn’t. Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Leo stares at me for a long time. I know he’s thinking that this situation is of my own making, but he’s kind enough not to point it out. “I’m sorry, Dante,” he says finally. “I know you love her. But honestly? I don’t know how you come back from this.”
I don’t either. Despair floods through me, and I bury my head in my hands.
“How did she find out?” he asks.
“I don’t know,” I say tonelessly. “Antonio knew, but he was the only one. Maybe he told Lucia?” Just thinking about it sends a fresh wave of guilt through me. Lucia’s one of Valentina’s closest friends. If that’s how she found out, no wonder it feels like a betrayal.
I’ve been such a fucking fool.
“You think Lucia told her?” Leo sounds skeptical.
“Who else could it be?”
“I don’t know, you tell me. Who else knew? You called the paramedics? Was it them?”