MY Brother 2

Chapter #1 { The Letter }

As soon as I had gotten the mail and read the ominous letter I went straight to our bedroom, shut the door and locked myself inside.

I had been hungry and tired before I read it. Now I was wired and feeling a little sick to my stomach.

All I could manage to do was stare blankly at the ceiling as I lay still on the bed.

I had checked my phone to see if Gabriel had messaged since the last time we spoke when I told him I got home okay. Nothing.

Ever since he took over for my real father, Mr. Angelini, he was incredibly busy. It made me miss him like I used to when he had gone away to college and left me by myself for years.

I didn't like it at all but I’d get used to it… hopefully. We’d eventually fall into a rhythm and I’d finish college and join him in running the organization.

Yes it was technically a “mafia” type deal but Mr. Angelini owned a lot of legit businesses. I would do something with one of them and make myself helpful to Gabriel.

I would do something with one of them and make myself helpful to Gabriel…

Soon hours had passed and the light from outside was completely gone and it was night. The bedroom felt smaller with each passing minute, the walls pressing in as my mind conjured increasingly terrible scenarios.

What if something had happened to him? What if whoever sent that letter had already made their move?

I sat up abruptly, my heart hammering. No. Gabriel was fine. He had Marco and at least a dozen other men with him. He was always fine.

Except that wasn't entirely true, was it? He'd been shot before I even knew him. He carried scars, some visible, others buried deep where only I could reach them.

I pressed my palms against my eyes, trying to calm my racing thoughts. The letter sat on the nightstand where I'd left it, its presence like a living thing in the room. I'd read it so many times I had it memorized.

‘Step down, or there will be hell to pay.’

What kind of hell? And who would pay the price- Gabriel, or everyone around him?

The sound of the front door opening made me jump. Heavy footsteps, familiar and purposeful, moved through the house. Gabe. Relief flooded through me so intensely my hands started shaking.

I heard him speaking to someone, probably Marco, his voice a low rumble I couldn't quite make out. Then the front door closed again, and his footsteps started up the stairs.

My pulse quickened for an entirely different reason now. I should hide the letter. I should act normal. If I told him about this, he'd lose his mind. He'd lock me in this house permanently, surround me with guards, maybe even send me away somewhere he deemed "safe." We'd just gotten past his overprotectiveness after the Bryce incident.. I'd finally convinced him I wasn't made of glass.

This would undo all of that.

But the alternative was keeping secrets, and we'd promised each other, no more secrets. Not after everything we'd been through.

The bedroom door opened, and Gabe filled the doorway. Even after all this time together TOGETHER, the sight of him still did something to me…made my breath catch, made my skin warm.

He'd loosened his tie, and his dark hair was slightly disheveled, like he'd been running his hands through it. Those intense brown eyes found me immediately, and I watched his expression shift from tired to alert in an instant.

"Gracie." He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "What's wrong, baby girl?"

"Nothing," I said automatically, then cursed myself. I was a terrible liar, especially with him. "How was your meeting?"

He didn't answer. Instead, he crossed the room with that predatory grace he had, his gaze never leaving my face. He sat on the edge of the bed, close enough that I could smell his cologne mixed with the faint scent of cigar smoke.

"Try again," he said quietly, reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. His fingers lingered against my cheek. "You've been crying."

"I haven't-" But my voice cracked, betraying me.

Gabriel's jaw tightened. His hand moved to cup my face, thumb brushing across my cheekbone with devastating gentleness. "Sweet baby gir, talk to me. What happened?"

The endearment nearly broke me. He always specifically called me that when he was worried, when the hard edges of the man who ran a criminal empire softened into something vulnerable and entirely mine.

"I'm fine," I insisted, but I couldn't meet his eyes. "Really. I just... I missed you. The meeting ran late."

"Gracie." His other hand came up to frame my face, forcing me to look at him. "I know you. I know every expression, every tell. Something scared you today."

My heart lurched. Of course he could read me that easily. We'd spent countless nights talking in the dark, sharing pieces of ourselves we'd never given anyone else. He knew me better than anyone ever had.

"Gabriel, I don't want you to overreact-"

"That's not a promising start." His thumbs stroked my cheeks, but I could see the tension gathering in his shoulders, the way his eyes had gone sharp and dangerous. "Tell me, NOW."

I pulled back from his touch, needing distance to think clearly. When he touched me like that, I couldn't think straight. "Promise me you won't go crazy."

"No." His voice was flat, absolute.

"Gabe-"

"I'm not promising that." He shifted closer, eliminating the space I'd tried to create. "If someone hurt you, if someone threatened you, I'm going to handle it. That's not negotiable."

"This is exactly what I'm talking about," I said, frustration bleeding into my voice. "This is why I-" I stopped myself, but it was too late.

His eyes narrowed. "Why you what? Why were you going to keep something from me?"

The hurt that flashed across his face made my chest ache. We'd built our relationship on honesty, on trust, I'd promised to always be straight with him.

"I wasn't going to keep it from you," I said softly. "I just... I needed time to figure out how to tell you without you immediately locking me in a tower somewhere."

"Gracie." He said my name with such intensity I felt my knees buckle and I wasn’t even standing up. "Whatever it is, we handle it together. That's what we do."

I looked at him, really looked at him. At the man who'd always been my entire world. The man who'd killed for me, who'd burn down the city if someone hurt me. But also the man who held me when I had nightmares, who made me coffee exactly how I liked it, who read to me when I couldn't sleep.

The man I loved more than I'd ever thought possible.

"Okay," I whispered. "Okay."

I reached for the nightstand, my hand trembling slightly. Gabe’s gaze followed the movement, landing on the envelope. I watched his entire body go still… that dangerous, predatory stillness that meant he was about to become someone else. Not my Gabriel, but the man who now ran the organization with an iron fist.

"What is that?" His voice had dropped to something cold and lethal.

"It came this morning, I think," I said, picking up the envelope. "After you left. Someone slipped it in the mailbox. I found it when I got home from school."

I saw his hands curl into fists. "And you've been sitting here since then with it…."

It wasn't a question, but I answered anyway. "I didn't want to interrupt your meeting. It was important-"

"Nothing is more important than you." He took the envelope from my hands, his fingers brushing mine. "Nothing, baby girl. Do you understand that?"

I nodded, unable to speak past the lump in my throat.

Gabriel pulled out the letter, and I watched his face as he read it. Watched the muscle in his jaw tick. Watched his eyes go flat and cold. Watched him transform into the man his enemies feared.

When he finished reading, he was silent for a long moment. Then he carefully, deliberately, set the letter aside and turned to me.

"Come here," he said, his voice rough.

I went to him without hesitation, letting him pull me into his lap. His arms came around me, tight and possessive, and he buried his face in my hair.

"I'm sorry," I whispered against his chest. "I should have called you immediately."

"Yes, you should have." His hand moved up to cradle the back of my head. "But I understand why you didn't."

That surprised me. I pulled back to look at him. "You do?"

His expression softened slightly, though his eyes were still hard. "You thought I'd overreact. Lock you away. Smother you with security until you can't breathe."

He touched my face again, that gentle touch that contrasted so sharply with the violence I knew he was capable of. "And you're not entirely wrong. My first instinct is always to hide you somewhere no one can ever touch you ever again."

"Gabe-"

"But I won't," he continued. "Because I know that's not what you need. That's not who you are." His thumb traced my lower lip. "You're not some delicate thing that needs to be locked away. You're strong. Brave. Sometimes too brave for your own good."

Tears pricked my eyes. "I was so scared," I admitted. "Not for me. For you. They want you to step down, and if you don't-"

"Then there will be hell to pay," he finished, his voice hard again. "I read it, baby."

"What are we going to do?"

"We," he said, emphasizing the word, "are going to find out who sent this. And then I'm going to make sure they understand what happens when someone threatens what's mine."

The possessiveness in his voice made my core heat. But above all else it made me feel safe. Protected. Cherished.

"I'm scared," I whispered.

"I know." He kissed my forehead, then my temple, then the corner of my mouth. "But I've got you. I will always have you. No one is going to hurt you, baby girl. I promise you that."

I believed him. I always believed him completely.

He held me for a long moment, and I felt some of the tension drain from his body. When he spoke again, his voice was softer. "Thank you for telling me. I know it wasn't easy."

"I promised no more secrets," I said. "Even when I'm terrified of how you'll react."

"And I promise to try not to be a complete caveman about it." A hint of dark humor entered his voice. "Try being the operative word."

Despite everything, I laughed. It came out shaky, but it was real. "That's all I ask."

Gabe shifted, gently moving me off his lap so he could stand. He picked up the letter again, studying it with a calculating expression I knew well. He was already planning, strategizing, figuring out his next move.

"The handwriting is generic," he said, more to himself than to me. "Printed, not handwritten. Standard envelope, nothing distinctive. They were careful."

"Does that mean you don't know who sent it?"

"It means they're smart enough not to leave obvious clues." He pulled out his phone. "But everyone makes mistakes. Marco will have the security footage from this morning. We'll see who delivered it."

"And then what?"

He looked at me, and the expression on his face made my blood run cold. "Then I send a message of my own."

I should have been horrified. Should have been appalled by the violence implicit in his words. But I wasn't. It turned me on and besides, this was our world now. A world where threats were met with force, where weakness meant death.

A world where Gabriel would do anything to keep me safe.

And I would do anything to keep him.

"I'm not going anywhere," I said firmly. "Whatever happens, we face it together."

Something flickered in his eyes- pride, love, fear, all mixed together. "Gracie-"

"No." I stood up, moving to stand in front of him. "You don't get to send me away. You don't get to handle this alone. We're in this together, remember? That's what you said."

He stared at me for a long moment, then slowly, a smile curved his lips. Not the cold, dangerous smile he gave his enemies, but the real one. The one that was only for me.

"Together," he agreed. Then he pulled me close and kissed me, deep and possessive and full of promise. When he pulled back, his forehead rested against mine. "But if things get dangerous-"

"They're already dangerous," I interrupted. "They've been dangerous since the moment I fell in love with you to be honest…"

"Gracie… baby…" My name was a groan, a plea, a prayer.

"I mean it, Gabriel. I'm not running. I'm not hiding. I'm staying right here, with you."

He kissed me again, harder this time, like he was trying to pour everything he felt into it. When we finally broke apart, we were both breathing hard.

"Okay," he said roughly. "Okay. But you follow my lead on this. You trust me to keep you safe."

"Always," I promised.

He nodded, then looked down at the letter one more time. His expression hardened again, all business. "I need to make some calls. Marco needs to see this, and we need to increase security immediately."

"Gabriel." I caught his hand. "Be careful. Please."

He brought my hand to his lips, kissing my knuckles. "Always, baby girl. Always."

But as he pulled out his phone and started making calls, his voice cold and commanding as he issued orders, I couldn't shake the feeling that this was just the beginning. That whoever sent that letter had just started a war.

And in Gabriel's world, wars only ended one way.

With blood.