Page 30 of Power & Punishment

I take another ragged breath and force myself to look him in the eyes. “I need you to agree to a meeting with Leo DeLuca.”

The reaction is so quick it almost makes me jump out of my seat. His hand curls into a fist and he slams it down on the table. Random papers float to the floor. “Absolutely not.”

“Dante—”

“Mia, I told you to stay away from him for a reason,” he snaps, rising to his feet. The chair legs scrape across the floor, making me cringe. “Vince should’ve never agreed to help him. If it wasn’t for Leo DeLuca, our brother might still be alive.”

“I don’t think Leo killed him,” I say, surprising myself. It’s the first time I’ve said it out loud.

“No shit,” Dante replies, walking toward the row of windows looking down toward the street. “He’d never do his own dirty work. He’s got Michael for that.”

“Michael?” I whisper. “Shit. Not Michael Chen?”

Realization washes over me as I picture the scrawny quiet boy we grew up with. Our family worked with his. Hell, I remember chasing each other through the streets of New York.

“That’s the one,” my brother rasps, the light-yellow hue of streetlights casting a shadow down one side of his face. “Fucking traitor.”

“It doesn’t matter now,” I sigh, standing up from my own seat and walking closer. “Leo knows everything.”

Dante cracks his neck on each side before slowly turning back toward me. “What did he threaten you with?”

I hesitate. I don’t want to admit my stupidity. I should’ve known better. Should’ve been more careful. “My job, the investigation, and my partner,” I swallow. “He’s ready to blow up my entire life.”

My brother surprises me when a crisp laugh comes out of his lips. “Sounds like something DeLuca would do. That’s exactly why I told you to stay away. You’re lucky you have something he wants, or you’d be buried already.”

Lucky is the last word I’d use to describe how I feel right now.

“I don’t need the lecture right now, Dante,” I groan. “I wouldn’t have gone after him if I didn’t think he had something to do with Vince’s death. They’re connected somehow, and I know Leo is the key to it all.”

Dante snorts, turning away from me. “And exactly why don’t you think it was DeLuca? Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for that bullshit charm of his.”

My face grows hot, but thankfully the shadows keep my mistakes hidden for now. “The whole thing was too messy to be him. Too public.”

My brother turns slightly, giving me enough attention to continue.

“If he wanted Vince gone, he would’ve made him disappear quietly. An accident or maybe an overdose. Even if he had someone do it for him, being gunned down in public invites cops, cameras, autopsies, and attention. He’s a politician. A guy like him spends a long time curating their public perception, and they wouldn’t throw it all away on a sloppy kill.”

Dante’s breathing comes out shaky as he grips both sides of the window ledge. “What if he cared more about sending a message than perception?”

“He cares about control,” I say, correcting him, “and this wasn’t controlled. This was messy.” Even if Dante moved the body, there was still a body to move. Someone like Leo wouldn’t have left anything to find.

He turns fully now; his lips set in an angry scowl. “I still don’t buy it. Vince was working with Leo one minute and dead the next. It doesn’t add up.”

I shake my head, trying to justify defending a man that I should want to bury alive. But regardless of my feelings toward Leo, I still believe in finding the truth, and my gut is telling me he didn’t kill Vince.

“I’m not saying he’s completely innocent, but if I want answers, I have to play his game,” I say, my chest deflating, “and for some reason he needs you for the next level.”

Dante stares at me, his eyes sharp and his face set into a concentrated tightness. But then I see a tiny crack break through the shell of his hard exterior and the corner of his mouth curls a fraction of an inch.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m pissed at you for doing the opposite of what I told you, but there’s some small part of me that missed this.”

“Missed what?”

“Being your big brother,” he answers, dipping his thumbs into his pockets. “I know we’ve never been a normal family, but the only thing that made this life feel less like a prison was knowing I had you and Vince by my side. And then you left, and it was just Vince and me.”

My heart twists inside my chest. “Dante, I⁠—”

“Don’t say you’re sorry,” he says, cutting me off. “I told you I understood why you left and I meant it. No need to dwell on the past.”