Timur ducked his head. Shook it. Took a deep breath to breathe away his leopard. “I was thinking he was no different than Patva Amurov. Or Lazar or Rolan Amurov.” He shook his head again. “Sometimes I can’t take it, Fyodor. Not one more second.”

Alonzo went very still. Timur was no different than he was. They had the same upbringing. The same father. Patva was a cruel man who beat his sons daily, humiliated them, insisted they be tough, brutal killing machines before they were in their teens. He fed their leopards pure rage. Now Alonzo was putting him in that same position.

“Don’t,” Timur warned him in a low, hostile voice. “You’re my brother. I choose to follow you. To protect you. You protected me. My leopard won’t accept any other way of life, any more than yours will. I had a moment of weakness. Of anger. It’s under control now.”

Alonzo knew he couldn’t apologize or his brother would explode into violence. He was that close. He merely nodded, but deep inside, he felt the burden of another sin. So many. He shook his head. “We can’t leave his body here. It has to go out with the guns, down to Louisiana and the swamp.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Timur snarled. “It’s my mistake.”

Alonzo turned his cold eyes on his brother. “I need you with me. We have a cleanup crew for a reason. They can handle it. We’re visiting Amodeo tonight.”

“He’s going to be armed to the teeth. Guards everywhere,” Gorya cautioned. “He’ll be expecting retaliation since they missed their target. No one can miss the fact that you were at the hospital every day until they released her and that she’s in your home under your protection. Not to mention, Mitya was hurt and is still in the hospital. Amodeo might not give a damn if someone shoots one of his soldiers, but most vors would retaliate immediately.”

“Leopards can get through his guards,” Alonzo decreed mercilessly. He wanted to be like Elijah Lospostos and Drake Donovan. He’d thought he could be different, leave his past behind and maybe actually do some good, making up a little for his past, but no way was he going to let Patrizio Amodeo live. Not for another day. Not when he knew the bastard had put out a contract on Evangeline.

“Let’s do it then,” Timur said, already using the burner phone to call in the cleanup crew. He snapped the phone shut and followed his brother and cousin out.

Alonzo waited to call Sevastyan until he was in the car. He used the same phone Timur had, rather than his personal one. They’d learned, over the years, to be meticulous about their work. They couldn’t afford one mistake.

“She okay?” he asked abruptly.