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“Please, continue,” Dante grouses.
“Why don’t we sit?” Rose motions to the living room and the impeccable white leather couches. Behind them, sweeping views of Central Park shine through the sliding glass doors, and I’m filled with a sense of longing. I’ve missed my little townhouse on the Upper West Side. If Nico upholds his vow to deliver Jasper by the end of the week, I could be home by the following one.
My gaze flickers to Nico and anxiety crushes my insides at the idea of him not by my side twenty-four-seven. I heave in a breath and toss the unwanted sensations to the back of my mind for now. Stay on target, Maisy!
Nico and I fold onto the couch across Dante and Rose. Both men are still eyeing each other like a lion stalks a lamb. I dig my elbow into Nico’s side, urging him onto the apology portion of today’s visit.
He clears his throat and slides to the edge of the cushion, propping his elbows on his knees. “First, let’s clear something up.” He glances from me to Dante and back. “Did the Kings set off that explosion at the Four Seas’ warehouse last week?”
Dante’s dark brow quivers before he sits back and draws in a breath. “No, it wasn’t us. It was Feng and the Red Dragons. I knew it was going down, but I had no idea Maisy would be down there. I could give two shits about your life, but I’d never hurt little Red.”
“See!” I throw Nico my best I-told-you-so look then pivot to the other stubborn Italian. “Either way, Rose and I would never get caught in the crossfire if you just both agreed to stand down.”
Nico clears his throat and heaves in a steadying breath. “As I was saying, I have decided to pursue other things in my life and destroying the Kings is no longer my primary objective.”
“How magnanimous of you.” Dante smirks.
I cut in before the wild Valentino says something snarky just to rattle his half-brother. “There’s no reason the Kings and Geminis can’t coexist peacefully.”
“Yes!” Rose blurts. “I couldn’t agree more. You are family after all.”
Nico and Dante scoff in perfect unison. It’s kind of freaky actually.
“His father abandoned my mother,” Nico hisses.
“Because your grandfather was trying to force him to marry her,” Dante interjects, “when he was already in love with my mother.”
Nico’s brows slam together as he regards his half-brother. “What do you mean?”
Dante rakes a hand through his dark hair. “If you weren’t such an asshole I would’ve told you months ago. I found some letters…” He trails off as he stands and stalks down the corridor, disappearing around the corner.
“Finding out about Nico and Marco sent Dante into a deep dive into the Valentino family history,” Rose whispers. “With Luca still gone and all the drama lately, he’s been a bit out of whack.”
Nico practically vibrates with anticipation beside me until Dante returns a long minute later with a small shoe box. At least a dozen envelopes fill the cardboard container. Even from this distance, I can make out the Return to Sender and No Forwarding Address stamps on the correspondence. Dante slumps down onto the couch beside Rose, his shoulders rounding.
“Finding out about you and Marco was a huge fucking blow. Papà was our idol. Discovering he’d betrayed Mamma… It just didn’t sit right. So I went through all his old stuff at Mamma’s house and I found these.” He tosses the box at Nico. “Our father, Umberto Valentino, was in love with my mother long before he met yours. Your grandfather tried to negotiate an arrangement between the Valentinos and Rossi’s and from what I can gather, he pretty much forced my father and your mother together one time. He’d hoped it would cement the arrangement. Instead, you and your brother must have been spawned from the encounter.” He shrugs. “Papà married my mother shortly after despite our grandfathers’ wishes, and he had no idea about the two of you.”
“It can’t be,” Nico growls. “Nonno said he sent word of our arrival. We lived in the city for years and never heard from him.”
Dante ticks his head at the letters. “When Papà eventually found out about you two, he tried to contact you. All the letters are there, read them for yourself.” His lips twist into frown. “I’m not sure what went down, but someone lied to you because Papà tried again and again. So whatever beef you have with him, drop it. If you hate us, fine, but our father was an upstanding man. He worked hard his whole life so that we could have a better one.”
A thick silence descends over the living room as Nico’s fingers run over the old envelopes. A glossy sheen brightens his eyes as he thumbs the faded black ink. He is so silent, so still, a prickle of unease lifts the hair on the back of my neck.
Nico suddenly leaps up, and my heart jumps along with him. Without a word, he marches to the door, and I scramble to race after him. “Thank you,” I call out over my shoulder. “And let’s do lunch soon, Rose!”
CHAPTER 39
FIND ME
Nico
I read the damned letters at least a hundred times overnight instead of sleeping or fucking Maisy which is what I should have been doing. Instead, my entire past is turned upside down. Umberto Valentino wasn’t a pezzo di merda. My fucking half-brother was right. He’d been a decent man, trying his best to remedy a situation with no easy solution.
My entire life was built on a lie. I spent years hating a ghost, fostering vengeance with no basis in reality. Merda…
I run my finger over the dark text, reading the words over and over again. Papà tried to contact us so many times, attempted to arrange a meeting with Mamma’s cousin. Why would she keep that from us? Dio, if we’d only gotten these letters, we might have never ended up in foster care. The deadened nerves along my back twitch as invisible flames rage across my flesh. I grit my teeth and chase away the ghostly pangs. Our entire lives could have turned out differently. We could have grown up in a loving home with Dante, with Luca…
I squeeze my eyes closed and shove back the unfamiliar burn. Glancing over at a peacefully sleeping Maisy, my ribs tighten. If it wasn’t for her ultimatum I would still be trapped in a lie. I never would have given Dante the chance to explain, and he never would’ve bothered to try.
