Trusting My Brothers

Chapter 44

My brothers and I froze along with Cole and Val. Mr. Rivera had to be joking; there is no way he would actually suggest that.

"Mi scusi? Vuoi che mia sorella di quindici anni combatta tuo figlio di sedici anni? (Excuse me? You want my fifteen year old sister to fight your sixteen year old son?)" Enzo says incredulously.

"Non sono. Uno dei miei uomini mi ha informato che una ragazza con una maschera rossa e nera ha combattuto a il Sangue Incontra il Sangue. Posso solo presumere che fosse lei in base alla foto che mi hanno mostrato. (I'm not joking. One of my men informed me that a girl in a red and black mask fought at il Sangue Incontra il Sangue. I can only assume that it was her based on the picture of they showed me.)" Mr. Rivera says. Well shit.

Savio says, "Perché non Matteo o Fabiano? Combattono entrambi e hanno la stessa età di tuo figlio. (Why not Matteo or Fabiano? They both fight and they are the same age as your son.)"

Mr. Rivera opened his mouth to reply, but before he could get any words out, the warehouse door opened and Liam walked in. He silently starts to walk towards Cole side but freezes once he sees me.

"Fuck." He says and stays put right in the middle of the two sides, having no idea where to go.

"Liam, aren't you going to come over here?" Mr. Rivera says in English.

Rather than answering him, Liam just turns to look at me and reverts to Russian. "Что, черт возьми, мне делать? Я пришел сюда, чтобы поддержать Коула. Тебя здесь не должно было быть! (What the hell am I supposed to do? I came here as support for Cole. You weren't supposed to be here!)"

"Я не знаю. Я не могу сказать тебе, что делать. Ты должен сделать этот выбор сам, Лиам. (I don't know. I can't tell you what to do. You have to make this choice on your own, Liam.)" I tell him, noticing that everyone is looking at us.

He thinks for a moment. "Я дал тебе обещание, когда ты впервые приехал сюда, помнишь? Я сказал тебе, что защищу тебя. (I made you a promise when you first got here, remember? I told you that I would protect you.)" That's all he said before walking to my side.

"Liam." Mr. Rivera says sternly.

He just shrugs. "Sorry, Mr. Rivera. I had to choose the side I believe in."

My brothers and I start to silently laugh, but Cole's dad doesn't pay mind to it. He just continued from before Liam arrived.

"Come stavo per dire prima, o tua figlia combatte mio figlio o andiamo in guerra. (As I was going to say before, either your daughter fights my son or we go to war.)"

Finally Cole speaks up. "Dad, don't you think that that is a little excessive?"

"We must do what we have to do, and that means you fighting. Come on, you could easily beat her." He mentions.

I say under my breath, "Bitch, who do you think you are?" My brothers and Liam heard me and snorted.

"I don't care whether or not I can beat her. What I care about is the ultimatum you are giving. It isn't fair at all." Cole points out, but his dad silences him with one look.

As my brothers start gaining their composure again, Enzo say, "Regardless of what you think, Mr. Rivera, I'm not going to put my little sister in danger."

"Well, don't think that I won't go through with my threat because I will. And that will lead to more casualties than taking the deal I'm offering now."

Enzo just turns to me with a look of despair and whispers, "Damn. What am I supposed to do, Bambina? If I take this offer, you are going to be in danger. If I don't, we all will be in danger. And if I give him the land without a fight, he gains more power and we will be in danger."

"Enzo, I am friends with Cole. He is one of the few friends I have. If I fight him, not only am I jeopardizing that friendship if he finds out, but I am most likely going to ruin the progress I made on my mental health because of the guilt." I said, but I knew what I had to do.

"I know. And I also know that this is completely your choice. Whatever you want to do, you can do. We will never judge you for your decision. We will figure something out if you say no, I promise. This is a fucking lose-lose situation." He says, and his eyes pleaded for me to not take the offer; he couldn't lose me again.

"I'm going to fight. Let's be honest, that was the only choice I was going to take. But you need to know something before I go." I say, before gesturing for all my brothers to huddle close. "I love you guys so much. Thank you for caring for me, for making sure I, at least, had a somewhat decent life here. But most of all, thank you for teaching me what a family is supposed to be."

They give me a huge hug before letting me go, letting me see the tears running down their face, but not before Nic could say something. "Don't go easy. You are an amazing fighter, I know you are, so fight your way through this. As much as we hate for you to do this, Enzo is right: this is your choice."

I nod and step forward. "I'll do it."

Mr. Rivera just claps his hands. "Wonderful. Cole, please step forward."

He does so until we meet in the middle. He gives me a sad look. "I'm sorry, whoever you are. You shouldn't have to fight, especially in this circumstance."

"It's fine." I lie, trying to add a little accent so he doesn't recognize my voice.

Mr. Rivera and Enzo come to stand next to us. "Are you both ready?" Enzo asks, sounding monotone, yet his eyes show sorrow.

"Wait." I say, before taking off my jacket and handing it to him. "It will lower my arm mobility." I add when he looks confused.

I see everyone's eyes, including my brothers, look down at my arm where dozens of scars lay. When no one said anything for a while, I started snapping my fingers. "What are you looking at?" I say, causing everyone to revert their eyes.

"Okay. On the count of three. One. Two. Three." Mr. Rivera says and both him and Enzo step out of the way.

Cole decides to strike first and I see his eyes go to my ribs, so I step back and watch his leg miss it's target. I, then, take my chance and try to sweep his legs, but he just jumps, dodging the move. He tries to punch me, but I see him take a step forward so I quickly block it, grabbing his arm in the process and putting him in an arm lock. Cole struggles for a few moments, before finally being able to get out, elbowing my rib.

I don't pay mind to the pain and try to remember his weak spot while dodging his hits. I know of one, his rib from when he got shot. He told me on one of our dates when I asked how he was doing that his rib still experienced pain every once in a while and the slightest of hits triggers it. Knowing that I couldn't do that to him, I try to roundhouse kick him anywhere but there and he sidesteps the move.

And out of nowhere, he just stops. He just stops fighting and I see his eyes are locked on my neck. Trying to see what he was staring at, I look down and see where his gaze was pointed. It was on the necklace I was wearing, the necklace he gave me for our one month anniversary.

He just says one word and I can hear how upset he is. "Tesoro?"