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"Mamma, I have enough money to feed my family when they come over. I would have cooked something, but I didn't want Sadie to have to worry about any of that tonight. You're all terrifying enough, without having to worry about feeding you. I don't even like to cook for you."
"Having money is no reason to waste it, Lorenzo," she said, shaking her head as she moved to look at the dining room table. Immaculate as Enzo always kept it, she nodded approvingly and grabbed plates from the cupboard to set the table.
Enzo left her to it, grabbing his nephews by the shirts as they zoomed past. "Say hello to Sadie." He grinned, holding them still as the young boys tugged against his grip for freedom.
"Uncle Enzo!" Lakely groaned.
"Hi, Sadie!" Barrow said, bolting forward as Enzo released him.
Lakely leveled his uncle with a glare, squirming harder against his captivity. "Say hello, little demon," Enzo laughed. "Then you can race off and terrorize my house again."
"Hello!" Lakely finally said, stumbling over his feet when Enzo finally let him go. Rebel jumped up onto the couch, eager to be out of the path of the three terrors racing around.
"Is she yours?" Elisa asked, dropping onto the couch next to Rebel. My girl dropped her head into the teenager's lap, accepting the soothing scratches to counteract the insanity of the kids.
“She’s ours,” Enzo replied, making me swallow my instinctive response that Rebel was mine. Crap. Didn’t people get a dog together as a trial run for a child? My gaze drifted over to the kids zooming around the room, reminded of myself and the terror I’d been when I was younger.
Luna seemed so calm in comparison. Would Luna and Levi be that way when they got older, or were Enzo’s niece and nephews hyperactive like me?
Ugh.
My frenetic energy was enough for me. Trying to picture a kid with my energy just horrified me.
The doorbell rang and Enzo moved to the door to let in the delivery driver. Carrying entire bagfuls in, he set them on the potholders and cutting boards Bianca had laid out on the table for the food. It seemed that Enzo's family gave mine a run for their money when it came to having entirely too much to eat when they got together.
Once everything was set up, everyone gathered around the table. Bianca took one end, and Enzo the other with me at his side. Elisa sat across from me, clinging to her only brother in a way that told me they were particularly close despite the distinct age gap between them. The chairs around the table were tucked tightly together to accommodate everyone, but we all squeezed in.
"I ordered all the basics," Enzo said. "Spaghetti, chicken parm, primavera, arancini, and risotto. What do you want?"
"Arancini," I said, watching Enzo lean across the table to snag a rice ball for me. Rice was always the answer in my life.
"You'll need a bigger table soon, Lorenzo. Aria has a boyfriend, and he'll be joining us soon. We won't have any room left after that."
Enzo's expression darkened as he shifted his eyes to his sister. "Don't start with me. I'm older than you," Aria laughed, holding a fork out in warning. "I do what I want."
"Why haven't I heard of this boyfriend?" Enzo asked, making me chuckle beneath my breath.
"Because you'll chase him off!"
"He must not be much of a man if he would allow a brother to scare him away, Aria. You deserve someone who would fight for you—"
"Not all men want to physically fight to be with a woman. You realize that caveman behavior isn't normal, don't you? Did you fight Sadie's brother for the right to date her?"
"No. I fought Sadie herself." Enzo laughed at his sister's confusion as heat spread through my cheeks.
Fucking shit.
"I run a boxing gym called Fists of Fury," I explained. "So I'm entirely capable of taking care of myself. My brothers aren't the type. Besides, Enzo hasn't met my family yet."
Rebel curled up beneath Gabriella’s feet where they swung, letting the young girl tap her back and giggle. "Soon?" Bianca asked, making me drop my fork to the plate before I could even take a bite.
"Mhmm," I agreed, even as my heart rate sped to the point that I probably needed a hospital visit. Enzo's hand grabbed my knee under the table, an arrogant smile on his face that communicated that I would under no circumstances get out of that meeting.
Fuck.
Music pumped through my veins later that night, the crazy energy of the Underground calling to the wild in my soul. Enzo glared over at me as we descended in the old service elevator of the corporate office building to go to the basement. I wasn’t bothered by it in the slightest, enjoying the payback for the torment he’d subjected me to with his family.
I loved them. They were everything I could have dreamed of having for myself if I’d stopped to think of what my in-laws might be like one day. They only made me want to keep him more, and the battle that raged on inside me was entirely his fault for being so damn perfect.
