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I didn’t answer.

The reporter continued talking behind her, but my mother’s attention had completely left the television. She looked at the bags in my hands again. Then at the sweat covering my face.

When her eyes returned to mine, the concern she’d walked through the door with had changed into something else.

“Giovanni.”

I shifted the duffle in my hand.

“What?”

“How do you know Tahari wasn’t shot?”

I looked away. That was another mistake because when I brought my eyes back to her, she wasn’t confused anymore.

She was suspicious. My mother took a slow step toward me.

“Giovanni… what did you do?”

I stared at my mother without answering. The news continued playing behind her. The reporter was going over the same details I’d already heard a dozen times, but I barely heard any of it. My mind was moving too fast. I had wanted Maliah gone. That hadn’t changed. I just didn’t think that I would act on it how I did. Every time I thought about Trigga choosing her over me, the same anger came rushing back like the shit had just happened. I was his blood. His real fucking brother, and somehow that still hadn’t been enough. He had been willing to throw away everything we had over a bitch.

So, yeah, I wanted her gone. What I hadn’t planned for was everything that came after. I didn’t know who else had been in that car or what they had seen, and the news wasn’t giving me enough information to figure any of it out. More importantly, I had made the first move, and I knew that besides Trigga, there was probably an army coming after me behind Maliah. On top of that, Ryan wouldn’t stop calling because he still wanted a sit-down with a supplier who didn’t fucking exist. Everything was closing in at once. I could feel my mother watching me and waiting for an explanation while I stood there gripping two bags with nowhere to even go.

The anger that had been carrying me for the last few hours started mixing with frustration until I couldn’t tell one from the other. My jaw tightened as I looked toward the television. I stared at how those flashing blue lights reflected across the screen. I had been so fucking mad. Mad at Maliah. Mad at Trigga. Mad that after finally finding out I had a brother, I still somehow ended up feeling like I didn’t have one. Now I had no idea what the fuck came next.

“Giovanni,” my mother called again.

I looked at her. My eyes burned as they started to water, but I didn’t bother looking away this time. I was too angry, too frustrated, and too deep in this shit to pretend with the one person standing in front of me who could already tell that something was wrong. If no one else knew me… my mother did. My grip tightened around the duffle.

“Ma…”

I paused as I swallowed against the knot that was forming in my throat, and I dropped my bags.

“I fucked up.”

Chapter 3

Gia

My heart sank as I stared at Giovanni. I had seen my son in trouble more times than I cared to count, but I had never seen him like this. His eyes were glossy with tears that he refused to let fall. Sweat covered his forehead, and the bags at his feet told me that whatever he had done was serious enough to make him believe leaving was his only option. I slowly placed my purse on the table beside the door and moved farther into the living room. The news continued playing behind us, but my attention stayed on my son.

“What did you do, Giovanni?”

He looked toward the television before rubbing both hands over his face.

“I shot at that car.”

For a moment, I thought I had misunderstood him. My eyes followed his toward the television, where the reporter was still standing outside Tahari’s apartment complex. The flashing lights from police cars lit up the screen while crime scene tape stretched across part of the parking lot. My stomach immediately turned.

“You did that?”

“Yeah.”

I covered my mouth as the reporter continued talking about someone being transported to the hospital. Giovanni had already told me Tahari wasn’t the person who had been shot, and now I understood how he knew that before the news had released any names.

“Who were you trying to hurt?”

“At first, nobody. Originally, I went there to talk to my brother, but I was just so angry when I saw that car.”