"I know it was a stupid idea. I was naïve to think I could trust that woman. I didn't know she was one of Abel's regular conquests. He used to meet with her at the club here until she was shunned by The Society. I didn't figure that out until after the fact. He paid her for information about the members of IVI, and when he found out what I'd asked her to do, he was the one who gave her the poison and the antidote. He put her up to it and paid her three times what I did. They double-crossed me, Santi. I had no idea they would put you in harm's way. If I had, I would have stopped it. You have to believe me."

"How can I believe anything you tell me?" I turn my back to her and shake my head. "How can I believe any of what you're telling me now is even true?"

"Because she told me so herself!" Mercedes shouts.

"When you were beating it out of her?"

A long silence follows my question and then a shaky breath. "It wasn't like that. I was fighting for my life. I didn't mean to kill her, but I had no choice. It was either her or me."

When I collapse into the chair, Mercedes starts to sniffle again.

"Would you rather it was me? Is that it? Do you wish it were me who was dead on that floor?"

"What I would have rathered was that you never lied to me at all!" I roar. "You betrayed me. You schemed. You nearly fucking killed me. My own sister. Do you understand that?"

She sucks in a sharp breath, a fresh wave of tears falling as she watches me pleadingly. "I would rather die than hurt you, brother. Please believe that. If nothing else."

My throat is tight, stomach tied up in knots when I look at the girl who used to follow me around constantly as a child. The one person in my life I thought I could always trust without question. But right now, her every word, every tear is just salt in the wound. It feels like I’m being torn in half by this decision, her betrayal. It’s an agony unlike any I’ve ever known.

I know what I need to do for both our sakes. At this late stage, my harsh words will be of no benefit to Mercedes. I could verbally eviscerate her, and it would make no difference because this is the monster I've allowed her to become. I've watched it happen. She's been coming unglued since the deaths of our father, Leandro, and subsequently, our mother. Lost to her grief, she has turned into a shallow, manipulative, hateful shell of a woman. A reflection of myself, if I'm being honest. And while I can accept that I am who I am, I can't accept that fate for her.