Free Love and Sacrifice by Chelsea Ballinger Page B

why I can’t do that!” He jerks at me. “You’re my brother, Tommy.”
                  I let out a harsh laugh. “Please, you have guilt.”
                  “It’s not like that.”
                  “The hell it isn’t!” I push him away from me. “You have guilt because you let a twelve-year-old kid do what you didn’t have the balls to do! You let the bastard take care of your daddy problems.”
                  He puts his hands on his hips and stares at the ground, shaking his head. “Alright.” He looks back at me. “Alright, yes. I saw you that day with the bat in your hand, the blood on your clothes, and the same look I always had after he would slap my mother around, like I wanted to kill him. I told you where he was and I prayed that you would kill him, but I regret it. I regret it all and I’m sorry that I wasn’t there to be a brother to you.”
                  “You didn’t even know me.”
                  “It doesn’t matter, Tommy. It did not matter how you came into this world or that we have different mothers. What mattered was that you were my little brother. It wasn’t your fault and it wasn’t my fault that we had that evil son of a bitch for a father. I even took my mother’s maiden name because of the disgusting feeling I had from knowing I shared a name with that piece of shit.”
                  “So, what do you want? You want to be brothers, make everything alright?”
                  “I don’t really know. I would like for us to have some common ground, yes. I would like you to know that I have a wife and a three-year-old son. I have a daughter on the way too. Our sister Talia is engaged to be married. She would like to meet you too.”
                  “I already got a family.” I start walking towards my car.
                  “Who? Mickey Valentine?” I pause. “He’s worse than Tony.”
                  I chuckle. “Nobody is worse than Tony.”
                  “You can keep telling yourself that. That’s what Mickey does. He takes kids who have no one and turns them into his soldiers. But once you cross him, it’s over.”
                  “And why would anyone cross him?”
                  He slightly smirks. “Because of Ella Pierce.”
                  My eyes widen and I clench my fists at the sound of her name.
                  “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
                  “I keep tabs on you because you’re family. I know more than you think. Get out while you still can. I won’t tell my boss because if they know you’re one of Mickey’s flunkies, Roman Pierce will know. And he is known for being a merciful man, but because you brought his daughter into it. His blood, a man who lost a kid already, he will kill you. And if you stay with Mickey, your gonna watch the Pierce family burn. Valentine doesn’t show mercy to anyone. He gets off on making people watch their families getting tortured, mentally and physically. Now I don’t have enough evidence to get Mickey, yet. I don’t even have enough evidence to take you in. All I know is that you know Mickey and you’re getting friendly with Roman Pierce’s daughter. You better watch it because you’re gonna have to make a choice soon, little brother.”
                  “Can I go now?”
                  “Get the hell out of here.” I get in my car and turn on the ignition. “By the way.” He leans on my car. “My name is Detective Joey Manning now.”
                  He gets back in the car and I watch as they pull off, gripping the steering wheel with one hand and punching the car’s ceiling with the other.

 
    Chapter 10
    “Go with It”
    Ella
                  “Hey,” I greet him as he comes up his