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I draw in a breath. She's questioning the Don in front of us? Sure, she’s his wife, and it's only close family who’re around, but still... You'd think the Don would be unhappy about this, right? I expect Michael to tell her off. Instead, he drums his fingers on his chest. "She may have told the truth, but it doesn’t excuse what she did. Seb was hurt because of her, as were the other men."
"I didn’t know that’s what would happen." Tears press down at the backs of my eyes, and I blink them away. "If I'd any idea that Seb would be hurt... If I’d known that’s what he intended, I wouldn’t have agreed. I would have… stayed away from Seb. I never would've agreed to marry him. Please, believe me."
Michael’s gaze intensifies, but there’s no change of expression on his face.
Karma draws in a breath, while Aurora grips my shoulder before looking toward Christian. "She needs her family even more right now. She’s away from home, trying to do what’s best for her child. If we don’t help her, who will?"
"We trusted her last time, and see what happened? Seb landed in the hospital. He almost died."
I gasp and bite back a sob.
Christian rubs the back of his neck. "Next time, it could be you who's hurt, and you know I could never let that happen."
"This is not right." Theresa grips Axel's arm. "You know she’s not the guilty party here.
"She’s also not innocent," Axel retorts.
"She’s already explained she hadn't expected Seb to be hurt. Surely, she should, be allowed to be at Seb's home waiting for him, when he returns from the hospital?" Aurora insists. "You know that's what Seb would want too."
The guys glance at each other, then Michael jerks his chin. He turns to us. "I’ll talk to Luca."
37
Seb
I push the car door open and step out onto the driveway in front of my house. My knees tremble, but they don’t give way, thank fuck. I refused to leave the hospital in a wheelchair. Even though I’m still weak, I insisted on walking out on my own two feet, albeit with Massimo and Luca’s help.
A stony-faced Luca told me that he and Michael had spoken, and he’d agreed to back down on holding Elsa under house arrest in her apartment. Apparently, the women had staged an intervention on behalf of Elsa, and asked that she be allowed to move back in with me.
Now she's in there, in my home, waiting for me.
I can't wait to see her which is why I'd insisted on being discharged from the hospital. While the wound is painful, it’s not life-threatening, and the doctors agreed to let me go.
Massimo drove me back to my home, while Luca said that he and the others would be coming by to catch up with me soon. Something I wasn’t looking forward to. For the first time, I didn’t want my brothers with me.
I appreciate that they’re looking out for me, and while I’ll always defend Elsa to them, the truth is, I need to understand the motivation behind her actions. Did she not believe I’d keep my word to her? Did she not trust me enough when I promised I would help her get full custody of her daughter? Is she… I pause halfway up the path to my home. Is she still in love with thatstronzo,Fabio? Is that why she colluded with him?
Next to me, Massimo pauses. I refused to let him help me, but he insists on walking me to my door. Like I’m a fucking weakling. "You okay,fratello?" he murmurs.
"Why the hell wouldn’t I be?"
"You don’t have to hide your disappointment from me." He grips my shoulder. "I know you’re a stubbornbastardo—hell, we all are. But to find out your wife has been colluding with someone else behind your back... It's got to hurt."
"You know nothing," I reply through gritted teeth.
"I know that you would have done anything for her. I know that you’re in love with her."
I whip my head around in his direction. My shoulder protests, but I ignore it.
"You married her, didn’t you? You may have fooled the others with your talk of doing it to honor your promise to Nonna. You may have even fooled yourself. But I’ve seen the way you look at her. I’ve noticed how you can’t take your gaze off of her. You want to protect her and her child. It’s natural. It’s why you want her to move back in with you; so you can get to the bottom of what actually happened."
"That’s no secret." I shake off his hand. "As for the rest... Yeah, it hurts, but she’s my wife. I believe in her. My instincts couldn’t have been completely wrong. There’s a reason for what she did, and I’m going to find out what it is. She would not have knowingly harmed me."
"I agree."
I narrow my gaze on him. "You do?"
"We all do. We may have our differences of opinion, but one thing we all agree on is that family comes first. We’d do anything to protect what is ours, so on some level, we understand why she did what she did." He chuckles. "And that includes thatstronzo,Luca."
