Chapter 116

My eyes go wide and I stare at Tony, this young man who looks so much like Christian but who is clearly far, far more brazen.

Christian, to his credit, simply leans back against the arm of the couch and stares his brother down. “What makes you think I’m going to do that, Tony?”

Tony scoffs. “I’m not an idiot, Chris. I see what all of this is leading up to.”

My eyes flick anxiously to Nico and Frankie, sitting on the floor on the two other sides of the coffee table, completing our little circle. What on earth did Nico tell Tony in the car?

Why is Tony here, anyway?

What the hell went wrong?

“You don’t know anything, little brother,” Christian says, cool. “You should go home to your mommy. Have her cook your supper, wipe your ass.”

My eyes flick up to Christian, remembering that Bianca – Tony’s mother - betrayed him too, setting him up with Violetta – the woman who was as much spy as she was girlfriend.

“Hey!” Tony snaps, leaning forward to point an angry finger at Christian, kind of crushing Lucy back against the couch as he does. “Don’t you fucking talk about my mom that way.”

Christian just shrugs, and sighs. “It was nice to see you, Tony, but you have no place here. Go home.”

“Chris,” Nico snaps, frowning. “He got Frankie out, at serious risk to his own life. He’s on our side – why the fuck would he have risked everything if he wasn’t?”

My gaze focuses on Frankie now – on his stern expression, the way he leans too-casually back on his hands. What the hell was happening to him in the Romano house? Was he being tortured, like me?

“He did it to gain my trust, Nic,” Christian snaps, crossing his arms over his chest while managing, somehow, to not spill his coffee – something I’ve seen him do before which impresses me every time. “It’s a fucking ruse. Baby brother here? He’s dad’s favorite lackey – he’s only here to spy.”

Tony sputters, leaning forward, staring at Christian. “Are you fucking serious!? I just blew up my life, and you accuse me of being a spy!?” He groans, sitting hard back against the far arm of the sofa, shaking his head like he can’t believe it. “Fucking. Bullshit.”

“So, you want me to believe,” Christians says, his voice light, like he’s amused by all of this, “that you, Anthony Romano – daddy’s favorite – turned on him and released Frankie, a man who you have every reason to fucking hate?” He laughs now, though it’s utterly without humor. “Come on, give me a fucking break.”

“Did you ever think, you righteous prick,” Tony growls, glaring at his brother, “that maybe you and I are on the same side in all of this? That I have critiques of what dad is doing too and maybe want the world to look different?”

“If you wanted power, Tony, you should have stayed at dad’s side,” Christian bites out.

“Not if you’re going to kill him and take over!” Tony protests.

“Not so moral now, are we?” Christian says, low and soft, and I catch on now – Tony, he’s pretending to want a better world, but did he just tacitly admit that he’s taking whichever side is in power? If he came here, he does seem to believe that Christian is going to win.

“You’re such a fucking asshole,” Tony murmurs, leaning back and shaking his head, pissed. “You always have been, ever since dad dragged you back from whatever pathetic suburb your slut of a mother hid you in –“

“Enough,” Nico snaps, glaring hard at Tony.

To my surprise, Tony just rolls his eyes and closes his mouth. I glance up at Christian to see that Tony’s words have no effect on him, that he’s just looking hard at his brother, studying him.

“Get out of here, Tony,” Christian says softly, lifting his chin towards the door. “If you’re scared I’m going to take you down too, then don’t go back to dad’s. But you don’t have my trust.”

Tony sighs deeply, his head hanging a little bit. “What the fuck, Chris,” he whispers after a long moment of silence. “I…I blew up my fucking life to get here, to bring you Frankie as a gesture to let you know that I’m on your fucking side. And you’re just going to kick me out?”

“You’re a fucking spy, Tony,” Christian snaps, cool and unperturbed by his brother’s devastation. “I’m not an idiot. You’re lacking a motive. You had no reason to release Frankie, to run to my side –“

“I did it,” Lucy whispers, and Christian instantly falls silent.

Every eye in the room moves to her.

“I did it, okay?” she repeats, raising her own eyes to Christian and staring at him hard, honesty in every line of her face.

“Lucy –“ Tony interrupts, a little desperate, but she holds up a hand and he falls quiet.

“I fucked up,” Lucy continues, talking soft and fast. “I could hear what they were doing to Frankie in the…the interrogation room. And I couldn’t handle it. So I…” she bites her lip, her eyes growing glossy with tears at the memory, “I stole the key, and I let him out, and I took him upstairs to pack him a bag of some of Tony’s things so he could run, and…”

“Oh,” Christian says, his voice intrigued now. “So…” he leans forward, staring at his brother, a little twist of a smile on his lips now. “So, you’re not here to forge an alliance. You’re here because your girl got caught betraying dad, freeing her ex, and you either had to turn her over or run. And you picked run.”

Tony scowls, turning his face hard to the side and staring out the windows towards the sea. It’s an admission of the truth, even if he doesn’t say the words.

My mouth falls open at this revelation – but not least of all at the new information that Lucy is Frankie’s ex.

What!?

I stare at Frankie, who looks down at his lap, not looking at any of us. So I shift my eyes to Lucy, who has her face turned to Tony, who look sternly back at her. My eyes move last to Christian, and I’m surprised to see his gaze on me.

“What do you think about it, Iris?” he asks, unfolding his arms and dropping a hand to my head, stroking it over my long hair.

“What?” I ask, confused.

He shrugs. “What do you think about Tony’s story? Do you buy it?”

Tony snaps his head back to us. “Why the fuck are you asking her!? She doesn’t know shit!”

“Oh, shut up, Tony,” Nico sighs, shaking his head.

I glance for a moment at Nico, kind of shocked that he’d come to my defense – if that’s what he’s doing – and then I look back up at Christian, shaking my head. Because honestly, Tony is kind of right here – I do not at all understand what is happening.

Christian gives me a solid little nod before turning his face back to his brother. “So, you’re actually here hat-in-hand, Tony, asking for asylum. Not trying to join my cause. Whatever…that might be.”

“It’s both, Christian,” Tony grinds out from between clenched teeth. “Do I need somewhere to go? Yes. Do I want to fuck over dad because I think he’s a psychopath who is ruining this family? Also yes!”

“Swear it, then,” Christian says, his voice dead casual.

But by the way that everyone in the room goes still, I realize that this is not a simple request. Silence reigns for a long, long moment.

“Are you…fucking kidding me?” Tony whispers, his eyes going wide as he stares at Christian’s stoic face.

Christian sits up straight and offers his hand palm-down, balancing his coffee mug on his knee. And even if he is in a black t-shirt with his hair still messy from sleep, sitting in a pint-sized cottage by the sea…

He looks every inch a king.

“Swear your fealty, little brother,” he says, his voice regal and cool. “And I’ll think about it.”

“Chris…” Tony whispers, shaking his head slowly from side to side like he can’t believe it – can’t believe that Christian would ever ask that from him. And from this reaction, I can see that it’s a…a huge deal.

“Say the words or get out,” Christian snaps.

But Tony just stares at him, pale and aghast. Anxiety builds in me because I don’t know what’s going to happen next. Tony – is he going to give in, make his oath to his brother? Or –

“I’ll do it,” Lucy says, quiet, sitting up.

“Lucy!” Tony gasps, grabbing for her.

But she shoves him off, sending him a little glare as she straightens her shoulders and turns her gaze back on Christian. “I’m my own person, after all. And I…I don’t believe in what your father is going. This…from the little that I know, it’s the side I want to be on.”

Slowly, Christian adjusts the angle of his arm, holding his hand out to Lucy now.

And Lucy gets to her knees, taking Christian’s large hand in both of her small ones.