My thumb stroked the ring. It was heavy and solid on my finger. It represented a future filled with certainty amidst the chaos. I had a family here. I would never be on my own again.
We rounded a corner only to stop short as two older women faced us. Mrs. Grimaldi’s face twisted in disgust, while her friend only showed mild curiosity.
“You!” she barked.
“Hi!” I lifted my hand.
The signora sniffed. “You don’t belong here.”
Luigi pulled a cigarette from the breast pocket of his suit. “This should be fun.”
“Sir, this is a library,” the other woman gasped. “You can’t smoke here!”
The click of the lighter was the only answer. “Are you going to stop me?”
“Magnolia, this is entirely inappropriate.” Mrs. Grimaldi’s voice turned to iron. “The staff don’t attend family events outside the home.”
“Oh, she’s been upgraded,” Luigi chuckled.
“Yeah, she’s one of us now,” one of his brothers chimed in.
Their confidence bolstered me. I lifted my left hand and wiggled my fingers. “I guess this means I call you Granny now.”
The posh lady looked at her friend as if this was the most tantalizing gossip, apparently forgetting about the noxious smoke curling from the fiend at my side.
“We’ll discuss this at home,” Mrs. Grimaldi said through clenched teeth.
A flippant rebuttal was on the tip of my tongue, but a shadow creeping up the stairs beyond the signora caught my attention. I gave the younger woman a curious look.
Arabella shook her head and pressed her fingers to her lips. She darted behind a marble pillar.
At my side, Luigi stiffened.
“Perhaps we should go back to the party,” the other woman suggested, tugging on Mrs. Grimaldi’s arm. “The rare book collection can wait for another day.”
With a look that promised this wasn’t over, the queen of society let her friend drag her away. The moment their heads disappeared down the staircase, Arabella popped from her hiding place.
“Luigi, put that out,” she snapped.
His brothers laughed, but Luigi only scowled at them. To my surprise, he obeyed.
“What are you doing here, carina?” he murmured.
Arabella stopped beside me. “I came for Rae.”
“Why?” the brother I was pretty sure was called Joey quipped. Since they were dressed in tuxedos, they looked like twin penguins. Plus, I’d only met the brother Emanuele once, and that was during a shoot-out.
But I had a feeling I was going to be seeing a lot more of these three in the future.
“I’m making an Irish goodbye and getting the hell out of here,” Arabella stated. “She’s my ride.”
“I am?”Shit. I’m going to have to tell her about the don.
“You can’t leave,” Joey teased. “You haven’t cut the cake.”
Arabella bristled. “Try and stop me.”
“And I don’t have a car.” I jerked my thumb at Luigi. “I came with him.”
