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“I can’t do that,” there is no emotion in my voice as I speak. “I will claim him and do it while strengthening our family.”
“You are weak,” my father snaps at me.
I hang up and set my phone down. There’s no point speaking to him when he’s that angry.
I get up and walk to the decanter to the side. I pour myself a drink and sip it, sitting back at my desk. I need to work out how I’m going to strengthen our position while still being able to be involved in my son’s life.
My phone buzzes with my father’s number, but I don’t answer. When my brother calls me after that, I don’t answer that either.
My brothers start shooting me text message after text message, saying they’re going to come over so we can talk.
I message them back to let them know I’m busy making an important decision and cannot be disturbed. I will summon them when I’m ready.
More texts, but I ignore those. I open my office door and ask Harry to go tell the guards not to let any of my family members in until I say so, and he marches off to do as he’s told.
I look down the corridor where Jarred is standing guard.
I walk over there slowly and open the door. I’m silent as I go over to the bed where Kira is sleeping. I tuck the blanket around her once again and sit on the edge of the bed. I stroke the hair out of her face, and I remember how well I slept in her arms. She said we fit perfectly together like a puzzle piece.
I stopped sleeping the day she left.
Insomnia is what my doctors called it, but it was a broken heart, and I’ve held onto that for thirteen years. I wish I’d known. I would have traveled the world to be with her, no matter the cost—even if it meant losing my family.
But I can’t think like that now because people rely on me, and I need to do what’s right. Kira and my son are also my family, though. I need to incorporate the Sorvinos and Rossi into one unit so we can coexist peacefully.
I don’t know if my family will go for it, but Alessandro, I can at least speak to Don to Don.
I walk out of the room and stand near a vase with roses. I pluck one out and step back into the room, laying the rose on the pillow beside Kira before I kiss her head and leave.
I go downstairs, feeling weary.
“Lyle?” I call. “Where are you lurking?”
Lyle comes out from the kitchen. “Yes, Don Rossi?”
“Get word to Alessandro Sorvino, I want to negotiate to hand over Kira, and I want to do it where we met in Central Park. Two hours.”
Lyle nods and shoves what looks like the last bite of a sandwich into his mouth. He dusts off his hands and walks toward the front door. He pauses there and turns around. “What about us? What will happen to our family?”
“We’ll be stronger than we ever have been,” I say, smiling.
Lyle nods. “I trust we will.”
He leaves, and I go back upstairs to shower and get changed for my meeting with Alessandro.
I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to say, but I know I need to get the ball rolling, or my world will always be a complete imbalance between what I have to do and what I want to do.
And I always do what I want to.
Chapter 25 - Kira
I feel so rested when I blink my eyes open. I sit up and see the rose sitting on the pillow beside me, and I smile softly. That can only be a good sign. I hope Miguel is open to listening to reason today.
I’m surprised I slept so well, but getting everything off my chest to Miguel in the early morning hours had relaxed me.
I get up and go shower. I take a long one, not out of spite but because I want to feel fresh when I approach him this morning. I’ll judge his mood at breakfast, and from there, maybe we can talk about him releasing me back to my family. Especially now that he understands I need to take care of Raphael.
I dress in slacks and a shirt, and I open the door. Jarred isn’t there. In fact, there is no guard in the hall at all—another positive sign.
