Page 11 of Deathless & Divided

“We had an agreement, Lily. And really, I let you go over that by two years.”

Lily frowned, knowing his statement was true. After she graduated, Dino agreed Lily could backpack across Europe for a year before starting college. Preferably, a college in the states. But she loved traveling, meeting new people, and learning about the world around her. One year turned into two, and then to three. He never once asked her home.

Lily was appreciative her brother let her do what she wanted for as long as he did. He was essentially her guardian until she became an adult. Dino seemed to think he still made all the calls for her. The distance between them had grown over the years. Sure, the eleven-year age difference probably didn’t help, but the more immersed Dino became in the mafia, the less Lily cared. Instead of being angry with the people who hurt them when they were just kids, Dino surrounded himself with them.

“You’re angry with me,” Dino murmured, keeping his gaze locked on the man standing at the altar.

“Very.”

“You needed to come home,” her brother said, completely unaffected. “It was time. You’re a grown woman, Lily. It’s time to accept what that means to la famiglia.”

Lily barely held back from scoffing.

The priest surely wouldn’t appreciate that.

“La famiglia, Dino? What has the family ever done for me?”

“Raised you.”

“Raised me?”

The question came out as a sharp whisper. Dino winced in response. Lily took a little bit of satisfaction in that.

“Us,” Dino corrected quickly.

“No, la famiglia turned us into orphans. And since when is my life of any importance to the Outfit, Dino?”

“It just is, little one.”

Lily’s teeth grinded at his casual use of that pet name.

Again.

“It doesn’t matter,” Dino said softly. “Whatever you think I’m doing is unimportant. What I am doing is for your best benefit, Lily. Trust me.”

“I don’t know anything about what you’re doing, Dino.”

“Well, you’re probably not going to like it either way. Nonetheless, I’m trying to save you a lot of trouble and heartache if you would just give me the chance to do so.”

Nothing her brother said made sense.

Lily was over the runaround.

“I’m a grown—”

“You’re a mafia child,” Dino interjected swiftly. “You’re a born and bred DeLuca. You’re a woman, sure, but you also know what that means. You don’t get to make the choices here, Lily. Follow the rules and everything will be fine.”

Rules.

She shuddered in the pew, disgusted at the thought of what her brother’s vague words could possibly mean.

“I’ve let you run away long enough,” Dino said, his mouth tugging down into a frown. “It’s time for you to come back to the family and do what we need you to do, now.”

Lily’s heart stopped as she looked her stoic brother over. “What does that even mean?”

“I’ve let you run away long enough,” he repeated simply.

Lily didn’t want to be immersed in their world. As a child, she hadn’t been given a choice. As an adult, it should be only hers. She was not some pretty Mafioso principessa for her brothers to show off and dangle in front of others’ eyes.