Stepbrother's Debt(44)

He looked toward Jake and Luiz.

“Don’t look at me. I love my sister. Maria needs to leave Rafael, and she can’t. I want this change just as much as you. I’m not backing down and let others come at us. We’ve got each other, and I don’t give a shit about whatever fucking shit comes our way. We’re a fucking team, all the way.”

“I’m with you guys,” Jake said. “My father has been loyal his entire life. I’m not going to sit back and watch him get shit on. We’re in this together, the four of us, brothers, every step of the way.”

Donnie nodded.

“You’re not thinking of backing out, are you?” Luiz asked. “We’re a team the whole of the way.”

“I’m not backing down, nor am I stepping aside. This is what I wanted.”

“Does Paige know what’s going down?”

“No, she doesn’t, and I’m not letting her out of the apartment today until I guarantee that she’s safe from my father.” Once his father was dead, he’d be taking the time to pay a little visit to Sharon. Her mother would have two choices. Stay the hell away from Paige, and live the life she’d become accustomed to but keeping silent, or die.

He truly believed his offers were nice, considering it was Sharon who’d brought Paige into this shit.

“Right, I want you all back here by six,” he said. “We’ll meet here, and then we’ll go and end this once and for all.”

Donnie shook hands with each of his friends. None of them were laughing, but then, it wasn’t a laughing matter what they were facing. Four years of planning was finally going to come to fruition. The whole thing was exciting, terrifying, and he couldn’t wait for it to be over. There were times he forgot that he was twenty-one. He’d never really been a kid. From the moment he was born, shit was expected from him, and it wasn’t always good shit either. Donnie had known he was going to be a killer. He’d had to be in order to survive this life. After finding his mother dead, and holding his brother while he took his last breaths, something had hardened within him. Only when he was around Paige did that hardness seem to lessen.

He walked upstairs into the spare bedroom to find her sitting on the bare mattress. Her hands were resting in her lap. She looked calm, and so totally beautiful, with her raven hair wild around her.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, leaning against the doorframe.

“Nothing. I’m just wondering what we’re going to do with this space. Do you think we should leave it free for Maria? What will happen to her?” she asked.

This was what he’d grown to love about Paige. She was always worried about someone else.

“Luiz will help her.”

“What about that other woman? You know … Charlene.”

“I’m not going to kick her out of the apartment. She’s been through enough.” And by the end of the night she was going to have seen a hell of a lot more than she bargained for.

“Okay. Wow, I can’t believe I’m even thinking like this.”

He left his position from the doorframe and made his way toward her. “You know it’s for the good of all of us, right?”

“I know. Anthony is such an evil bastard. Him being dead would be a blessing. I guess I just wish we didn’t have to start our married life off with such death.”

Donnie sat beside her, cupping her cheek. “Our marriage didn’t exactly start off great.”

“No, I’m indebted to you.”

“You’re not, Paige. You’re not in my debt. I just wanted you to believe that so you’d marry me.”

“Why? Your father was going to kill me. You’d have been well rid of the evil stepsister that was thrust upon you.”

He stared into her beautiful blue eyes, and found himself falling. This was how she always made him feel. Uneasy, scared, happy, turned on. All of the raw emotions were rolled into one turning him into the mess he was now.

“You were never my evil stepsister, Paige. You were so much more to me than that.” He took her hand. There was no way he could face his father and the prospect of death without her knowing the truth. “It’s hard for me. Men in my family, men I’m associated with, we’re taught and trained not to feel anything. There’s no room in our life for a pussy who cares about emotions. From the moment I first saw you, Paige, you made me feel shit I hadn’t felt from the moment my brother took his last gasping breath.” Donnie stared into her eyes as he spoke so she would know that he told the truth. “I promised myself I would never love or care for another person for as long as I lived. My father would always find ways to destroy what I loved, and The Family, I do love it. It’s rotten from the inside out, but I will make it better. I promised my brother while he was dying in my arms that I would make The Family whole again.”