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"Which may not be for a while."
"So?" I shove my hands in my pockets. Gesù Cristo, does everyone in this family have it in for me, or what?
"So," he snorts, "do you want me to spell it out for you?"
"No idea what you mean." I hunch my shoulders.
"Cazzo, you still here,stronzo?" Massimo prowls over to stand behind me.
"Why does everyone keep saying that?"
"Because everyone can see the truth, except you." Luca wanders over to flank Massimo.
"The fuck is going on?" I turn to glance between my brothers. "Can’t a man just get some space to do… Whatever it is I’m doing?"
"No." Michael leans his shoulder against the frame of the doorway.
"Not you too." I scowl at him. "Don’t you have a Mafia empire to run or something?"
"Not when one of my brothers is lying wounded, and the other is hurting so much, he’s acting like a complete carogna."
He uses the word that implies I’m lower than rotted meat, and anger sluices through my veins.
"Fuck off, Michael," I growl. "You may be Don, but that doesn’t give you permission to interfere in my personal life."
Theresa glances between us. "I’m going to hunt down the doctor and badger him until he allows me into Xander’s room to see him. If I hold his hand, I’m sure he will awaken faster; I know he will." She spins around, pushes past the men, and rushes out of the room.
"Damn," I shake my head, "that woman is sure doing an incredible job of fooling herself."
"Because she’s not afraid to grab at her chance for happiness with both hands?"
"You mean fool herself into believing that man lying in there is her future, when it’s more likely he’s going to wake up and hate her… And all of us, probably."
"I know what Nonna said earlier must have come as a shock," Luca offers.
"Shock?" I laugh. "Which part are you talking about? The fact that the woman I thought was my mother isn’t really my mother, or that Nonna and our father decided to split the three of us when we were born, so my blood mother could leave with my triplet?"
"Christian," Massimo grips my shoulder, "it doesn’t make you less of our brother."
I squeeze my fingers into fists. Of course, I know that. Just because my brothers are my half-brothers does not change anything… Except that my entire life to-date has been very much a lie. "Fuck," I shake my head, "this entire conversation is doing my head in."
"I understand…" Seb’s lips twist. "It hasn’t been easy living with the fact that I’m not a legitimate part of the family."
"Being a legitimate son isn’t all that it’s cut out to be either," Luca snorts.
Silence descends on the space. The tension in the air ratchets up. I glance over to find Michael scowling at Luca.
"You chose your way to make your disapproval known to the world," Michael snaps, referring to how Luca had helped Karma escape when she had run from Michael. This was before the two had gotten back together and realized they were in love and wanted to spend their lives together. And isn’t that what I want too? So why did I let go of her? Why didn’t I allow myself to listen to her? To forgive her for her mistakes?
"And I am sorry for what I did. I apologized to you, didn’t I?" Luca offers.
"And you were lucky I chose to look past your digressions." Michael scowls. The two glare at each other, then Michael blows out a breath, "Not here to dwell over the past, brother."
Luca jerks his chin, "Me neither." He walks over to Michael and holds out his hand, "We good?"
Michael grips his hand. "For now." The two shake, then Luca turns toward me and both of them glare at me with twin expressions of frustration.
"What?" I lean forward on the balls of my feet. "If you guys have something to say, then you better spit it out."
