“You want to know who I really am?” His voice was hoarse, no more than a rasp. “Fine. Here’s what I do for my family, Mia. I trade in secrets, favors, and threats. I manipulate people. Find their weaknesses. Dig into their lives until I find dirt. If I can’t find any?” A smile touched his lips, but there was no humor in it. It was a bleak, bitter thing. “I create it. And then I use it to make them serve the interests of the family, whatever those happen to be at the time.”
