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I can’t believe that I’m taking Marcello back with me. This is a dream scenario that I practically lived a second life in when I was single. I spent so much time envisioning our little domestic life together that it sometimes felt like he was actually there with me.
Now, as we’re able to take a few minutes to breathe for the first time in weeks, I realize that there are a lot of things that I’ll have to address in the most mature way possible when I return home. I still don’t have a passport to show my mother, and she’ll be stunned that I was able to find Marcello at all. I’m positive that I can’t tell her about the true circumstances that we endured together, even though it would lend quite a bit of necessary context to the situation.
“Do you think the boys are going to like me?” Marcello asks as we hit our maximum altitude. He hasn’t spoken much since we got on the plane, and now I know why. It’s kind of sweet that he’s getting nervous about meeting the boys, and I take it as a sign that he truly wants to be there for them.
“I think they’re going to love you. Just a fair warning, Archer can be a bit strong-willed. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it can make certain situations a bit more difficult. I think he’ll be a great leader one day, or maybe a punk musician,” I reply, taking his hand and flipping it over to trace his palm.
He laughs a little, the nervousness in his eyes abating somewhat. “I guess that sounds about right for someone with half my DNA. How about the other one?”
“He’s very passive, kind of a crybaby, but it’s endearing most of the time. You’ll have to be easy on him until he warms up to you. I promise that he will, though. So please don’t worry,” I say.
“What about your mom? Or the rest of your family? What are they going to think?” he asks, staring past me to look out the window as the night takes over the sky.
I smile awkwardly as I envision Marcello meeting her for the first time. She’ll be polite, of course, but I’m certain I’ll be hearing about it as soon as he’s out of the room. It’s nothing we can’t work on together.
“I think it’ll take my mom some time to get over all of the tattoos you have, but once she actually gets to know you, she’ll be bragging about you to all of her friends.”
He shrugs, turning away from the window as he chooses to lie flat to rest his head in my lap. I love how intimate and close this feels, being able to feel him near me without any sex implied. Of course, I would fuck him right here in front of his assistants if he wanted to, but I think we’re both a little tired from the day’s events.
“What do you think happened after we left the wedding? How do you think things unfolded?” he asks, opening his eyes and gazing up at me.
After focusing so hard on not being suspicious as we left the building, I hadn’t even thought to stop and think about how the rest of the night would go on once Franco’s body was found in the bathroom,
“I don’t know. How did you leave his body?”
“Slumped against the wall inside one of the stalls. He bled fuckingeverywhere.It would be hilarious if the new couple had to pay the bill for getting his body cleaned up. I mean, it obviously wasn’t a suicide,” he replies with an evil grin.
For a moment, I think about how the bride must have felt, having her wedding ruined by a petty dispute. I wouldn’t ever tell Marcello, but I empathize with her greatly. I feel awful for her and the guilt she’ll carry with her forever, no matter how innocent she is in all of this.
“You know, my brother always said he was never going to get involved with the family business. He said it was beneath him, like he was perfectly capable of being a strait-laced, normal person,” Marcello says, closing his eyes again and putting his arm over his face to block the overhead light.
My ears perk up. I’d never thought to consider that he was involved in a well-established crime family, which was maybe sort of stupid on my part. How else could he have been so prolific at it? Is organized crime just another hotbed for nepotism?
I stroke his hair slowly, working my fingers through it as his eyes roll back. “What changed?”
“He knocked up his girlfriend. It was hard to see, honestly. He struggled for months to work in a factory, hardly making enough to pay their rent while I was raking in thousands a week. I tried to help him, but he wouldn’t accept my charity,” he replies. “After she ended up in the hospital for three days with complications, he was practically begging me to get him in.”
I can hear the pain in his voice as he remembers, and I wish I could take it from him. “So, you think he’ll be set free now that Franco’s dead?”
“Yeah, no doubt in my mind.”
I continue stroking his hair, riding the wave of excitement and nerves that build up in my chest throughout the rest of the journey.
ChapterThirty-Five
JUNE
When the plane touches down, something comes over me that sends me through an almost incapacitating series of doubts and fears. I’m not sure if it’s the stress of the plane ride that’s catching up with me or if it’s the fact that my life is about to change in ways I’d never imagined.
I never considered myself the kind of person who was too scared to be happy, but now that I’ve gotten what I’ve always wanted, all I can do is imagine how devastated I would be if things didn’t work out.
Having not seen my boys in weeks now, all I want to do is hold them tight for the rest of eternity. I want to promise them that I’ll never go away for work, and I’ll definitely never put myself in a position to almost be killed. I’ve suppressed the heartache I’ve felt from missing them so much, and the idea of having to walk them through the process of meeting their father sounds so taxing and stressful right now.
I should have anticipated that I would feel this way, especially after a transcontinental flight. Even though the amenities on the plane were far better than any commercial jet I’ve been on before, I’ve had way too much time to run through every worst-case scenario I could imagine.
Why can’t I focus on the positive more? My boys are going to have a father. My workload is going to be cut in half, and he can teach them things about growing up into men that I never could. That’s all I ever wanted for them.
I’ll have a life partner, someone to protect me and keep me on the right track as we navigate our future together. I dreaded the idea of dying alone, and some nights it would keep me up to the point that it took hours for me to sleep.
