Page 76 of Fractured Empire

“Sounds just like my Lily.” Maria sighs happily. “She won’t leave the house without her accessories.”

“Gee-ia my cousin,” Leo suddenly chimes, reaching into Katya’s lap to grab her arm and hold it. “Right, Kat?”

Katya grins and lifts his hand to kiss it lightly. “That’s right, Gaia is your family now.”

He grins in return. “Can we send pit-cher to my Rayna?”

“Of course,” my wife agrees easily. “How about we send one after dinner, hmm?”

My son bobs his head. “Yes, okay.”

“Hello, Lily,” I hear Bastian say, his voice gentle and low. “How are you?”

Gino and I share a look as his six-year-old daughter lights up, turning to speak with Bastian easily. They’re so close in age, and have been slowly developing a friendship for years. The possibility of joining our families in the future is something we’ve discussed, but never too seriously. We won’t force our children into a marriage arrangement but I think both of us would appreciate knowing the family of our kid’s future partner when the time comes. It’s so much easier to imagine letting your child go when it’s to someone raised by a man you trust implicitly.

Lily seems to be easy for Bastian to talk to, since he doesn’t shy away from conversation beyond the polite greeting. He listens when she tells him about her summer, and replies to her questions when she asks them. I often refer to my son as shy, but he’s really more timid than anything. He’s slow to warm up, but he does warm up.

“Damnit, I need to take this,” Gino mutters suddenly, looking down at his phone with a furrow in his brow. His chair scrapes backwards as he stands up and he gently lowers Rose into his wife’s lap.

“You said no work tonight⁠—”

“I’ll be right back, I promise.” He kisses the top of her head and heads toward the door before she can protest further. If he’s taking a phone call in the middle of dinner with me, Maria will know it must be important.

“Sorry about that,” Gino’s wife says, smiling tightly. “He’s normally good about putting work away for family time.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Katya replies, gesturing with a wave of her hand to brush off the explanation. “We have a couple of busy men. They make time, but things come up, it’s okay.”

Maria looks reassured by Katya’s response, her shoulders dropping slightly. She seems more worried about appearing rude in front of my wife than actually upset about Gino needing a moment away from the table.

The two of them fall into an easy conversation when Gino peeks his head back into the room and nods for me to join him. Neither of our wives notice him before he disappears again and I withhold a sigh.

“I’ll go check on him and the kitchen,” I tell the table, standing up casually from my seat. Looking unsuspecting is a skill that I’ve developed over many years of living this life, and it’s started to feel more instinctual than performative. It’s a mask that easily slips into place. “Keep chatting, the guards will stay in place and I won’t be far.”

“Leon saves the day,” Maria jokes, lifting her wine in salute. “Do pull him back in here before I decide that I’m angry with him, will you?”

Katya muffles a laugh behind her hand.

“You got it.”

Gino is just hanging up his call when I find him. His body language is tense, his broad shoulders pulled back into a straight line. His eyes meet mine, and it’s then that I understand whatever is wrong, is personal. Eyes speak even before lips do, communicating mood and tone with striking accuracy.

We’re left alone in the alcove, the sounds of the public and private dining rooms muffled behind oak doors on either side of us. It provides some semblance of privacy for a conversation to be had without prying ears, and yet he doesn’t open his mouth to report to me until I’m merely a foot away from him.

“You’re going to be pissed.”

Not a good way to start off a conversation.

“How pissed?”

“Honestly? I don’t fucking know.” Shoving his phone in his inside jacket pocket, Gino releases a long breath. “There’s pictures going around from your wedding, and from tonight.”

I blink, knowing there has to be more information. The underground society’s gossip network could rival any celebrity and paparazzi relationship. Pictures go around of our family constantly. We only step in when a line is crossed, like a couple of years ago when Melani and Emilio were on vacation and someone tried to distribute pictures of them in a state of undress on the beach.

No one has tried anything like that since we made an example out of the situation.

“Pictures aren’t news, Gino. Get to the point before our wives are pissed that we left for too long.”

“They’re pictures of Katya with Leo specifically. People are starting to compare her face and your face with his. He’s always glued to her, and with the hair…” Gino groans, likely wishing he didn’t need to report this to me. “People are saying that Leo is hers. That you had an affair with her and Leo was the result of that. Some people think that you knew about Cleo being sick early on, and you started the affair when she started to decline. Other people are saying⁠—”