His eyes grew dark, like I’d said something that hit a nerve. “I wouldnevertouch her like that, do not bring accusations like that into my house.” His sudden protective outburst surprised me, enough that my mouth clicked closed as he continued.“Fiorella came here of her own accord. She showed up in the middle of the goddamned night because your husband decided to make a choice that wasn’t his to make.Sit. Down.”
She’d come here herself? This had been her first place to escape to, and they’d just accepted her,welcomedher even? I wondered what she’d think of him if she knew that he’d gone to that party to slit her throat that day, that he’d almostkilledme to get back at Milan.
Fiore pulled out a chair beside her and tapped it, her eyes wide and innocent, practically begging, and I went because this was Fiorella and she had to come home.
Shehad to.
“Hi, Sicily,” Ezio said shyly as he doodled on the edge of what looked like his schoolbooks.
The fact that this kid was behaving normally and like akidspooked me; I’d just assumed they trained them in murdering straight out of the womb in this household, but apparently they valued an education for their future Made Man.
The part of me that felt everything Milan did remembered that Ezio was the baby in dungarees who’d sat on the front step while his brothers stabbed their father to death behind him, so I smiled, thinking of what Milan would want me to do, and replied, “Hello.”
“Ez, come on.” Fiorella tapped his page with an exaggerated sigh and a light smirk. “Just hurry up and do it.”
Ezio banged his head against the table until her palm cushioned his skull. “It’s so fucking boring. I already told you all, I don’t need to go to school.”
“Language,” Brenno called from across the room.
I chose to ignore how much he sounded like Milan.
“Youdoneed to go to school. It’s just homework and it’ll take you five minutes,” my sister said as she rolled her eyes, but there was no frustration behind it. She wasmotherlyto this boy, andBrenno was watching them across the room with an adoration that made me want to puke.
He couldn’t have her.
Not him.
Notthem.
Ezio screamed at the ceiling for a moment, before picking up his pen and filling out a row of math questions without even seeming to think about them.
“See?” Fiore winked. “Genius.”
“I still need your help,” he mumbled, continuing to complete them without her help.
“No, you don’t.” Brenno chuckled. “You just want Fiore to spend time with you.”
I blinked as the pen flew across the kitchen, smacking the Capo in the back of the head. Ezio glared as he grumbled, “You get her all evening and all night.”
Brenno gave me a pointed look that answered every question I had. It washimthat had taken her in and brought her into this family. It washimthat had corrupted her mind to believe they were kind or whatever. It washimthat was spending his nights with her, and he thought this was a victory.
The heavy sinking feeling drowning my insides told me that I wasn’t going to get her back, but before I could let it consume me, I blurted, “Why here, Fiore?”
She blinked at me, confused, before her gaze settled across the kitchen again on Brenno. They were looking at each other like there was no other place for her, like this washome.“I met Brenno at your wedding,” she said, emotion thick in her voice. “We…talked.”
“Talked?”I spat, shoving away from the table and stabbing my finger at Brenno. “You were the one who fucked her! Out of everyone there, you pickedher?You took advantage of her!”
Brenno smashed his fist into the counter, resulting in a loud cracking sound, before running his hand through his hair as his chest panted. “I would never have touched her if she didn’t want me to. I wouldn’t! Watch your tongue, Sicily, or you and I are going to have big fucking problems.”
So what?I wanted to scream, but Brenno held up a finger like he already knew there was a protest to silence. Just as his mouth opened, another tall body walked into the kitchen and my breath hitched sharply in my lungs.
Cesare paused, his eyes flickering between me and Fiore and then to Brenno. “Ah. This could be problematic.”
“Problematic?”Brenno hissed, gesturing to me. “You kidnapped Fiore’s sister and she found her drugged in our spare fucking room!”
His brother nodded slowly, hanging his head down as he held his hands to his hips.
This was insane,hewas insane, and if his family were none the wiser to his kidnapping, then he had no morals, nobody anchoring him, and that meant I had to escape quickly before he did anything worse.
