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My gut tightens and I narrow my eyes at him. “Care to explain?”
Romeo nods and clears his throat. “I overheard Mom arguing with Dad when she was drinking once. She raged at him for abandoning her and her babies. I thought she meant us or maybe that she was just rambling because she was drunk.”
I shake my head, trying to make all the pieces fit. It felt like a thousand-piece puzzle with about seven hundred missing pieces—overwhelming and currently futile. “Wait, how old are you?”
He points to himself. “Twenty. Tommy’s twenty-two, and Nic’s twenty-four.”
“Jesus, Mom sure was pregnant for a long time. Okay, so then what happened?”
Romeo lifts a shoulder up. “I’m not sure. Best I can surmise, something must’ve happened, maybe you guys or Mom was threatened. All I know is one day you all were here, and the next, poof. All traces of you and Mary were wiped from the house, and only the bare minimum of Mom remained. Apparently, it’s because Nic threw a fit when Dad tried to toss a photo of the two of them.”
Nico cuts a glare at his brother. “How do you know that?”
“You guys say a lot when you don’t think anyone’s listening. Besides, you told me about it when you were drunk a few years ago. Then I found a photo in the library safe that no one uses anymore. It was of the three of us—and two pink-cheeked babies with red hair.”
“Huh. You seem to know a lot about what happened though.” Nico voiced my own thoughts. I looked at Romeo, curious about this answer.
He scratches his jaw. “Well, I sort of found you a few years ago using facial recognition testing.”
There’s a moment of collective silence between us, and then all at once there’s noise.
“What the fuck, Romeo?”
“Excuse me?”
“You did what?”
“Explain. Now.”
He holds his hands in the air, palms facing forward. “I was developing that software at the time, and I needed to test it out on long distances. So I used a photo of Mom and saw her all over New York City. A few times, it picked you up instead.” He blows out a breath. “So, then I started keeping an eye on you—and before you start, not in a creepy way. It’s just . . . you’re my little sisters and you’re living your lives without the inkling of an idea of the kinds of dangers you both really live in. You’ve been sheltered your whole life, and all it takes is one of Dad’s many enemies to discover you through Mom. Then it’s game over.”
I fold my arms across my chest, and snap, “It’s not my fault I was sheltered. I didn’t ask for any of this.”
“We know that, but it doesn’t make it any less true,” Nico says.
No one talks for a moment, but the silence isn’t as awkward as it was before, at least not on my end. I’m wrapped up in unraveling all of the many lies my mother has fed me over the years. There’s a big one that stands out though. “What about my dad, Collin Walsh? They were married. And all her boyfriends? I know they were real—I saw all of them with my own eyes.”
Nico shakes his head, pity shining from his eyes. “Mom and Dad never divorced, so whatever she had with your dad wasn’t legal. And as for the rest, you’ll have to ask her.”
I bite my lip and look at them. Tommaso’s been quiet the whole time, but the other two have been pretty forthcoming. “How’d you find us?”
Romeo smirks. “What? Like it was hard?”
“Okay,” I draw out the word because his answer doesn’t explain anything. “So what happens now?”
“That’s up to you if you want to have us in your life or not. Mom and Dad are on their own, but the three of us have talked, and we want to know you and Mary.”
My heart skips a beat and I bite the inside of my cheek. Hadn’t I just said I get to decide who my family is? Is this a sign? Still, their timing is suspect and Romeo’s story is a little too perfect. “I’ll think about it.”
“That’s all we can ask for.” Nico dips his head.
Matteo stands up with his phone in his fist. “Excuse me for a moment.”
“So, this is like a thing then, yeah?” Tommaso gestures in the air, encircling everything. “You and all of them?”
I bristle, my back going straight in a flash. “Not that it’s any of your business, but yes. They’re all mine.”
“Huh.” He sucks his teeth for a second. “So, do you guys like rotate or something?”
“Jesus, Tommy, what the fuck?” Romeo yells.
Nico slaps him in the chest. “Don’t be asking her shit like that. She’s our sister, for fuck’s sake.”
Tommaso takes it all and lifts his shoulders up. “What? I’m just curious how that works. I wasn’t asking if she fucks all of them at once.”
“Just shut up, man, or you’re leaving,” Romeo snaps. Tommaso mimes zipping his lips and tossing a key over his shoulder.
I look from the scene in front of me to my men and back again. They’ve let me take the lead on this little conversation, but Leo won’t tear his scowl from Tommaso, not that this is the time to call him out on it.
Matteo jogs back into the room, his jaw clenched and a scowl on his lips. “We need to go. Now. Ralph Vitale was just slaughtered in his home. Whoever it was eliminated every person in the house—including his sons.”
