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ᴇɪɢʜᴛ 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑟
❦
She knew she shouldn't be surprised. When had her brother ever told her anything remotely important? When had she ever been involved? But that didn't stop the shaking feeling that ripped through her stomach and shivered her back. It was indescribable, the feeling, like a mixture of betrayal and anger and sadness and fatigue.
Maria stood silently, her jaw clenched as she looked out of the window, the familiar view of the street taking up her gaze. She was too afraid to look at Luca. Too afraid to see his face as he spoke, in case she would snap. She couldn't allow that to happen.
He was begging for her to listen now. His voice was pleasing, leaking through with a false sense of security that Maria wanted more than anything to believe in. This was her brother, after all, and the only one she had left. Yet no matter how urgently she wanted to feel safe with him, she couldn't. Not when he lied.
She wanted Elena to be with them. She could make him see sense. There was something about the reassuring and natural tone of her voice that made everything believable. It was hypnotic, and even Luca would be doing her biding after she cooed it into his ear.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked.
Her voice was more timid that he had expected, making him step back in surprise. The hurt that laced her words struck him hard, making him pause before speaking. Yet still he was unwavering.
"I knew you'd try to stop me. It was something I had to do," he said loudly.
"Why? Why did you have to go and threaten him face to face when you've already done it by tradition?"
"Because this is war, Maria. And in war, the side with the bigger ambition and bigger risks always wins." Luca had snapped, turning to face her fully, pulling her away from the window. "I had to show him that we are prepared to do anything to take him down. That we aren't scared of a fucking thing. Do you know why?"
"Because if I don't, he'll think he can walk all over me. Changretta's don't submit to nobodies like the Peaky Blinders, Maria. You should learn that rule well."
"But It's your head that they'll want most, Luca. They'll be aiming for you harder than ever, and God can't protect you from your own wrong doings. Not this time." Maria shook her head.
"Not this Maria."
But she pressed on. She had to. And believed she did. Luca would be dead by the end of this. They all would. Killed by hate.
"And when you're dead. What then?" She said, her voice dipping to little over a whisper. "When you've left a wife, an unborn child, a widowed mother. Will it be so important to be risky then?"
"Don't mistake my disapproval of your actions for a lack of care, Luca. I love you. I couldn't ask for a better brother. But remember our love when you put yourself in harms way for no reason."
"Maria. I-" He stopped himself, shaking his head to brush the precious thought off. "You're right. But I won't have them pick off my family like they did to father and brother."
"I can't lose you, or mother, or my Elena too."
Maria sighed. She loved loved her brother. It was why she was so soft with him in the end. She would always forgive him not matter what he had done, no matter how bad it had been, after a while. She placed a hand to his cheek, trailing a thumb over his jaw as their mother would always lovingly do.
"Oh, Luca. When will you learn?" She smiled.
Luca laughed out, bowing his head. "I was born with Changretta blood. There ain't no changing me."
"There really isn't," Maria said, chuckling along with him as she patted his cheek with her palm. "Just be careful. And know that I don't hate you, I worry. I couldn't bare... Just know that."
