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Matteo’s mouth dropped open. “Are you fucking kidding me? Yesterday, you were determined to get rid of her. I bring you information that shows she could be a threat and—”
I interrupted. “And dad doesn’t care,” I admitted.
We all paused as the waitress placed plates of food down on the table. When she left, I leaned closer to my brother and cousin. “Carla might be a threat, but for now, we need to deal with her by not doing anything.”
Matteo and Luca did not know this, but Carla was my ticket to getting out of the family.
“This is fucking insane,” Matteo said.
“Why are you so freaked out?” Luca asked. “It’s not like Moreno’s enemies are gunning for us. It’s been a quiet few years. Hell, according to our parents, we have had a soft life.”
They weren’t necessarily wrong. Our parents were born in the middle of a war between the Blanchi and Petrov families, and they had the scars to prove it.
“The cartel is nothing to fuck with,” Matteo snapped. “We might be playing at being nothing more than the sons of captains of industry, but we all know that the cartel doesn’t fuck around, and I’d rather not come home to find our mother dead.”
Anger zipped through me, hot and heavy. “Don’t fucking joke about that.”
Luca’s eyes were also hard. Matteo’s words pissed him off as well. Luca could be an ass, but he kept the women in his heart close to him and safe. When Ingrid was taken in the fall, he’d been willing to die to get her back.
This conversation was starting to get out of hand, and I knew I needed to rein my brother back in. After all, it was my fault he was worried. “Nothing is going to happen to Mom or anyone in our family. I plan to be stuck to Carla like glue.”
“And if someone comes for her?”
I shrugged. “They can have her.”
Carla might have been sent to New York for her safety, but if it came down to her or my mother, I’d throw her to the cartel in a second. No one was more important than family.
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
“Are you angry with me?” Sophia’s soft voice asked from behind me.
I turned, surprised to see her staring at me with regret in her eyes.
“No,” I said. “Why would I be?” The question had caught me off guard. Partly because I’d been stuck in my own world thinking about how I was going to write a paper on a book I still hadn’t finished, and also, because I was lagging ass from lack of sleep.
“You haven’t said anything to me since the party, and it’s been two weeks.”
My cheeks flushed as I remembered the party. The embarrassment I felt whenever my mind went back to that time made me cringe. Luckily, Matteo and Eli hadn’t brought it up, and I’d done my best to avoid Sophia. I kind of figured she wouldn’t want to hang out with me anymore. After all, I had freaked out in the middle of a party and brandished a letter opener towards Matteo and Luca.
“I can understand if you’re angry with me considering I got you wasted…”
I snorted. “I’m pretty sure I got myself drunk. No one forced tequila shots down my throat.”
Sophia didn’t laugh as I expected her to, and I tried not to sigh. This was one of the reasons that I avoided her—the questions in her eyes. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” I told her. “I’m just trying to keep my head above water here.”
Sophia looked as though she wanted to ask me more. I couldn’t blame her. The freak out was not normal. While Eli allowed me to get away with not telling him what really happened, Matteo hinted at it at every turn, and even Luca, who I’d seen a few times, gave me worried glances.
It was why I didn’t want anyone to know the truth. For better or worse, New York was a fresh start.
“Do you want to go shopping?”
The question slipped out before I could think too much about it.
“Huh?” Sophia’s eyes were full of shock as she looked at me.
I was probably giving poor Sophia whiplash, but I didn’t care. I’d talked to my father this week, or at least, I tried to. He had been too busy to talk for too long. Apparently, this was busy season.
