“Shut up, Enzo!” Both Vince and his dad spoke at the exact same time.

His dad turned back to Vince. “Your mother is in the other room crying right now. She doesn’t deserve this. I don’t deserve this!”

“Dad I know. I’m sor—”

“Shut up! I don’t wanna hear it!” Vince had never seen his dad so angry, not even with all the other shit he’d done in the past. “Your uncle and cousin are on their way now to help you out of this mess. I’ll probably end up owing them a lot of money. That ass**le next door wants cash and more.”

“More?” Vince’s blood began to boil again. “What else does he want?”

“You beat his ass, Vincent...in front of his kids. They saw what a f**king coward he really is. He’s humiliated.”

“Good! He deserves it!”

Vince’s dad loosened the death grip he had on Vince’s shirt, dropping it in defeat. “Yeah, well now he wants you to pay.”

Vince didn’t understand. “Pay? How?”

“He wants you punished, but mostly I think he wants you gone—away from here—where he won’t have to worry about you coming to Anita’s rescue anymore during one of their family squabbles. We all know what goes on over there and how often. It’s not gonna stop, and he doesn’t want you interfering.”

Squabbles? Is that what his dad really thought went on over there? Vince gritted his teeth. “So tell him I won’t anymore.”

“He saw you today, Vincent. We all did. Hell even you don’t believe that for a minute, do you?”

Locking his jaw, Vince looked away from his dad at Lorenzo. His brother wasn’t buying it either. After getting a taste of what it felt like to beat the shit out of that animal, there’d be no holding him back if he ever heard him beating on Anita again.

Standing up close to his face again, his dad spoke firmly. “You will do whatever it takes to get you out of this without police involvement. You hear me? I will not let this ruin your life. You are better than this, son. You may not believe it, but I do.”

His dad turned and began walking toward the bedroom door. Lorenzo’s eyes pleaded. Vince knew he wanted to come clean—tell his dad it was his shit that caused all this not Vince’s, but Vince shook his head.

“Dad,” Vince said before his father walked out of the room, “I do believe it. And I will do whatever it takes. I’m sorry.”

His dad nodded, but it was as clear as the blood on Vince’s knuckles he’d disappointed his father once again: this time maybe beyond repair.

Now…

As the anger overwhelmed Vince, drowning out even the excruciating pain of his arm, just like all the other times he’d replayed that night in his head, he came to the same conclusion he always did. If he had to do all again, it would always play out the very same way. There’d be no way, not even now that he knew what the outcome would be, that he’d be able to hold back from attacking that animal the way he had and no way he wouldn’t take the fall for his brother. No matter how much he wanted to regret the events that led him to where he ended up now, he couldn’t. The only thing he regretted now and would forever was losing Rose in the process.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Rose

For the second time that week Ben had to meet Rose at work for her injection. Because he had basketball practice in the evenings unless he did it during the day, he wouldn’t have time to come by her place. And for the second time that week Lorenzo had been a witness to their sitting in her car as they talked afterwards. It was such a simple thing for Ben. He did it right there in the car—injected her in the thigh like nothing.

He kept telling her how easy it was, but she still couldn’t even bring herself to watch while he did it. She was, however, well aware that if this was something she’d be doing for the rest of her life, she was going to have to drudge up the nerve somehow to learn to do it herself. Ben wouldn’t be around forever.

Maybe once Grace was no longer pregnant and Rose could talk to her about it, Grace could do it for her. In the meantime Ben was more than willing but only when he had the time. So she had no choice but to work something out around his schedule.

She walked him to his car and kissed him on the cheek again. Waiting until he’d driven off, she started toward the back door of the restaurant. Only then did she notice Lorenzo was standing there watching her. Already feeling tense as she approached him, she wondered how long he’d been standing there.

“I’m assuming you do a lot more for him in that car than you do outside of it.” His expression was somewhere between smirking and disgust; she couldn’t tell which.

Rose swallowed hard. She had to remember just how close Lorenzo paid attention to details. “Nope, I’m just not one for public displays of affection.” She shrugged. “I’m shy that way.”

“Shy my ass.” He chuckled. “I seem to recall you not having a problem sucking face with my brother quite a few times when I was around the two of you.”

Feeling her face instantly warm, Rose focused on staying composed. “Yeah, well we never did in front of Sal and Grace. I won’t with Ben either, so the parking lot of their restaurant is off limits to any sucking face.”

Lorenzo smirked, and if she didn’t know any better he might even be on to her. He certainly took notes of everything he heard and saw. “Is this your lunch or were you just on a break?”