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What would I be doing? I was free in every sense of the word. But what was I supposed to do with that freedom?
In the last twenty-four hours, my life had changed too many times to count. And even though the shackles of the Mancuso-Antoni Organization were no longer threatening to hold me back, I doubted I was welcome in the house I wanted more than anything to enter.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Lea and I both turned at the sound of her grandmother’s voice. Sofia Zola was already heading up the front stoop.
As I looked up at the Zolas’ warm home with its sagging eaves and crooked steps, I thought my heart was about to jump out of my chest; it was thumping so hard. This was worse than waiting for Lis to make his judgment. Worse than sitting before the parole board or in front of the judge. This felt like my real judgment day.
And all for the girl standing next to me.
“It’ll be all right,” Lea murmured, giving my hand a squeeze as Mrs. Zola unlocked the door.
“Will it?” I couldn’t help but wonder.
I got no answer because as soon as the door opened, we stepped into a house full of chaos.
The living room was overrun with Zolas. Lea’s smaller sisters were chattering around the sofa, watching some kind of show, while Kate seemed to be in some kind of argument with her grandfather as he and Matthew were in the middle of putting on coats to leave the house.
“I should go with you,” Kate was saying. “Frankie can take care of the littles. You don’t know where she hangs out. I can find Linda and Angie, and the three of us can hit up all of those spots.”
“They won’t be at the park or the Mall in a freaking blizzard, Kate. And where would that leave Nonna?” Matthew replied as he bent down to tie his Jordans. “Stay here.”
“You never know,” Kate argued back. “Nonna could be there with her.”
Mrs. Zola cleared her throat. “Nonna is right here. Lea too.”
All six people in the room stopped talking and spun toward us in unison.
“Nonna!” shrieked the little girls. “Where did you and Lea go? Did you get captured?”
Lea and Mrs. Zola shared an uneasy look, but the older woman didn’t answer.
“Where have you been?” Mattias demanded. “I come home, and you’re not here.”
“Where did you go?” asked his wife. “Four hours we’re waiting for you, and no word. Lea and I went to check the garage, and there was no one there.”
“That’s because I went to the church first. Father Deflorio and I were looking for Michael—ah! You found him!”
“I—uh—” I wasn’t really sure what to say here.
“Good.” Lea’s brother shoved between his grandparents. “I want to give this asshole a piece of my mind. You think you can mess with my sister and get away with it, Scarrone? No fuckin’ way.”
“Oh my God, stop!” Lea snapped at Matthew as she parried his hand out of the way and stepped in front of me. “Watch your mouth around the kids, huh? And no one asked you to stick your big nose in here. I don’t need your protection, Matthew. Especially not from Michael.”
But I was stepping in front of her before she could continue, standing up to my full height. I wasn’t the tallest man in the room—Matthew had me by a couple of inches—but I was the biggest. “It’s all right, Tess. I can take a few punches.”
“Tess?” Matthew repeated. “That’s not your name. And what the hell happened to your face?”
I touched the cut above my eye that had finally stopped bleeding but was probably still ugly to look at. All of me would be a mess of bruises in the morning. Not that I had any regrets.
“It’s short for contessa,” I said with a quick glance at Lea that made her cheeks turn pink. “It’s because she’s regal. Like a queen. At least to me.”
Every single one of Lea’s sisters squealed in unison. But I wasn’t the slightest bit embarrassed when Lea took my hand back and squeezed it really tight.
“Nonna and I were taken to Morrisania,” Lea said. “Some bad dudes were looking for Michael and thought I would make good bait. Nonna got caught up because she was with me too.”
“What?!” Mattia’s face swung toward me, full of anger all over again. “You put my wife and granddaughter into danger? How dare you?—”
