Because Of Love

“Rafe!” Angelo yelled, running towards them. “You’re suffocating him!”

Rafe knew exactly what he was doing. He held onto his brother as Renaldo fought, clawing at his hand and arm as he struggled to free himself. Rafe spread his legs further to strengthen his stand.

Just a few more seconds, Rafe thought with sinister intent as he listened to his brother begin to gasp for air.

“Basta, Rafe, stop!” Angelo yelled, holding onto Renaldo’s arms as if trying to keep him from fighting.

“Non, let him fight. He’ll suffocate faster!”

“Rafael, per favore basta!” his mother screamed, running down the back steps of the main house towards them.

Rafe lowered his head until his lips reached Renaldo’s ear. “I’ll let you go if you promise to tell me the truth. If not, fratello minore, I swear I will drown you, lei capisce?”

Renaldo struggled to nod and Rafe released him. He dropped to the ground on his hands and knees, pulling the towel away from his head as he coughed for breath. His mother dropped to her knees next to Renaldo, rubbing his back and demanding to know if he was all right.

Rafe ignored the touching scene and pushed at Renaldo’s shoulder forcing him to sit down. “Start talking!”

Renaldo rubbed at his neck as he looked away from Rafe. A clear sign he was hiding something and was about to lie.

“Leave him alone, Rafael! You’ve become a monster ever since that black-”

Rafe dropped to a crouch, moved so close to his mother’s face and snarled. She hurried back and would have fallen flat on her ass if Angelo hadn’t caught her, bringing her up to her feet. Then Rafe grabbed Renaldo’s hair in his fist and forcefully brought him standing with him.

Renaldo cried out, holding onto Rafe’s assaulting hand.

“I’m going to push you into the pool and hold your head down if you don’t start talking.” He brought his brother’s face closer to his, and whispered menacingly, “Don’t fuck with me, Renaldo!”

“Va bene, okay, I’ll tell you,” he whined and Rafe released him. Renaldo pleaded with his eyes, and Rafe could already feel the disgust pile up.

He should have known.

“He ordered you to do it, even the story about her sleeping with Alex, didn’t he?”

Renaldo nodded. “He said it was the only way to redeem myself, mi scusi, per favore fratello, I’m not as strong as you.”

Rafe cursed loudly, kicking at the pool chairs. “Dove è lui, where is that bastard!”

“Rafael!” his mother admonished him as she held Renaldo to her like a babe. “Do not speak of your father in such a manner.”

Rafe shook his head at her. “Non, Madre. You should have stood up to that monster, years ago.” Rafe looked at his brother embraced in their mother’s arms and shook his head in disgust. “You served me up to him to save your sweet baby. Now as I look at him, it seems you did Renaldo a great disservice.”

Rafe pulled his brother from their mother’s hold. “Don’t cower away under madre’s skirts! You are twenty-six years old and yet you behave as if you don’t have hair on your balls! Inferno, no wonder Padre picks on you.”

Rafe released Renaldo and turned to leave. But the hold on his arm halted him. “I wasn’t alone.”

Rafe felt his heart stop at Renaldo’s confession. He didn’t have to mention the name because Rafe already knew. He could feel it in the bile that rose to his throat. All his hopes of Talia being left un-abused vacated his body with the pained cry that parted from his lips.

He turned to Renaldo, tears of rage burning his eyes. “Why did you take that devil with you?”

Renaldo moved back, shaking his head. “I thought he’d sent me to do the dirty deed. But it was Alex all along he’d hired to do the job. I was only going to scare her off, tell her that you were married, seduce her.” He looked up at Rafe, tears in his eyes. “Whatever I had to do to get her to leave you.”

Rafe charged at him, ready to smash his head in when Angelo stepped in his path, shielding the coward. “I caught you on top of her, Renaldo!”

Renaldo cried openly. “She refused to believe us. She said you would never hurt her, demanded we leave before she called you. When she reached for the phone, Alex jumped her.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “She didn’t need you, Rafe. She laid Alex out in one minute, had me begging for mercy in less when she began to break my hand. Then she fell on me, the broken needle of a syringe in her neck.”

Rafe pressed his fist in his churning stomach. He was going to be sick. He couldn’t listen to anymore.

“We took her upstairs and Alex changed her into the red lingerie that was lying on the bed. Then we heard the door open and you calling for her. I took off my shirt and climbed on top of her so that when you walked in you would think- I expected you would try to kill me not walk away. I was counting on it for her sake against Alex.”

Rafe bent over, his hands on his knees as he cried out, “So you raped her too!”

“No!” Renaldo moved around the protection Angelo gave him to stand next to Rafe.

Without hesitation, Rafe straightened and wrapped his fingers around his neck and squeezed. “Then what, Renaldo? You climbed off her, sat in the armchair next to her bed and watched Alex defile the woman I love!” he snarled.

Renaldo shook his head but Rafe squeezed tighter, watching the veins on his forehead pop and his face turn red as he gasped for air. Never had Rafe felt the paralyzing desire to end someone’s life as he did at that moment. He wanted to kill his brother, and Alex, but mostly his father.

“He didn’t do it Rafael!” his mother cried. “He couldn’t do that to you. Just give him a chance to explain, please, son!”

Rafe turned to look at his mother. She was pulling on his arm, attached to the hand that was wrapped around her beloved son’s neck. Her face was streaked with tears, her lips trembling as she fought to hold the sobs in. But that didn’t sway him. It didn’t slake his desire for blood.

“Do not become your father.”

But that did it. He opened his hand and released Renaldo. Yes, he wanted to kill them, but the last thing he wanted was to become his father.

“Five seconds, Renaldo,” he whispered.

Renaldo nodded. “After you left, I told Alex that we should leave. He refused, he wanted to-but then we fought. I pushed him out until we went down the steps to the living room. We wrecked everything in our way. But then he hit me over the head with a lamp and I passed out. When I came to, I rushed upstairs to see if Talia was all right.” His breath hitched. “She was still dressed, but the lingerie was ripped, in complete tatters on her and she was face down on the floor. Alex was gone. Before I could check if Talia was all right, a woman was screaming her name downstairs. I left through her window, climbed down the vine, and ran.”

Rafe’s legs gave way from under him and he sank down to the ground, his hands fisted in his hair. He couldn’t handle it. It just couldn’t be true. And Talia didn’t remember a thing.

She was right about one thing-he had done it to her. It was his fault.

Angelo mumbled next to him, “The tests… that’s why she needs the tests done.”Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

Rafe felt a more acute pain assault his chest. He looked up at Renaldo. “You poisoned my children. What the hell did I ever do to you to deserve this?”

His face crumbled. “I’m sorry. I didn’t, Alex had planned to drug her. I didn’t know she was pregnant! I’m so sorry!” he cried.

With Angelo’s help, Rafe struggled to his feet. “I don’t want your apologies. In fact, I want nothing from you except for your complete absence in my life.”

Those were his parting words to his brother before he ran out of there, afraid he might just change his mind and commit fratricide. But as for Alex… his fist tightened around the glass so hard it shook, swirling the liquid inside. The moment he found him, he was going to drop his body in Tiber.