“I hate to hear that’s how you feel about me, but you’re wrong, Brenda. Oni has a special place in my heart. I would never allow any harm to come to her.”
Brenda stiffens and slowly turns to look up at my uncle. I glare at him, wondering what the hell he’s doing here. I didn’t invite him.
“How dare you?” Oni’s mom hisses. “What kind of sick game are you playing? Have you done this to pay me back?”
“Believe it or not, they found each other on their own. It was his car she stole. This wasn’t my doing.”
“But you knew she was mine from the moment you first set eyes on her, didn’t you?”
He nods. “I did. She looks so much like you and Jack.”
“Oni, we’re leaving. Take that ring off and leave it here.”
Uncle Emilio unbuttons his suit jacket and takes the seat on the other side of Brenda. Pop and my mother move to sit on theother side of me. I sit watching Oni as she tries to decide what to do next.
“Sit down, Brenda,” Uncle Emilio barks.
Brenda jerks her head back and glares at him. However, seeing Oni hasn’t left my side, Brenda sighs and reclaims her seat. I reach to grasp the back of Oni’s neck and kiss her temple.
“Having my husband killed and taking her father from her wasn’t enough? He was her world. Why can’t you people just leave us alone?
“First Finn, now you. I wouldn’t be what you wanted and you’ve made my life hell because of it,” Brenda says.
“This has nothing to do with us. My nephew is genuinely in love with your daughter. I tried to pull them apart, but I only drove them closer together.
“I’ve learned that they belong together and pulling them apart will only ruin them both. The two have potential as individuals, but they are magic together. They remind me of what could have been had we stayed together,” Uncle Emilio says as he looks at Brenda in a way I’ve never seen him look at his wife.
“But we didn’t stay together. You know why we didn’t. How will any of that be different for them?”
“Because I will make it so. I have the power to make it so. I’m doing for them what no one would do for us. I didn’t take Jack away from you and Oni. That blood isn’t on my hands?—”
“It’s not? Because I remember your best friend calling you to ask for your help. You did nothing, so how am I supposed to trust you now with my only child?”
“You can trust me because your only child almost gave her own life for my only child right before my eyes. I owe Oni this and so much more. I tried to help Jack, I did,cara,but I was too late.”
I clear my throat.
“Ma’am, I’m not my uncle. I love your daughter with every fiber of my being. There isn’t a person alive who can tell me not to love her or be with her.
“I would die for Oni. She means everything to me. I know what it’s like to be without her and I never want to know that feeling again.
“I know you have a history with my family, but I ask you not to judge me by what they have done. I’m my own man and I want to be Oni’s man. If that means I have to start over all on my own, so be it.
“Your approval means everything to Oni and me. All we ask is that you get to know me. Understand who I am and how much I love your daughter. Please,” I plead.
“I was made so many empty promises before my Italian replacement was brought in and I was dismissed to be nothing more than Emilio’s goomah, so forgive me for not wanting that for my baby. I?—”
“That’s the way you took it. You know you meant more to me than that. Listen to how you say it.
“Like I planned to treat you like a filthy whore. I was in love with you. You ripped my heart out and started sleeping with my best friend,” Uncle Emilio says angrily.
“Fuck you, Emilio. I fell in love with your best friend. Who didn’t have to hide me and was willing to take me home to his family, where I was welcomed at their dinner table.”
“Enough,” Oni barks and slams her hand down on the table.
Everyone at the table and those nearby have their gaze on her. She sits like a queen, commanding everything around her. The shock of it all seems to have cleared.
“Stop making my life about you, the both of you. Mom, you should know I work for Emilio.
