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I ignore them and focus on Dario’s arms around me. Nothing else matters.
CHAPTER8
Dario
“Dario!” My aunt, Giana, exclaims the moment I open the front door. Staring back at me is her sunburned face, along with my uncle, Leonardo, who looks annoyed.
I pause. “What are you two doing here?”
“We’ve come to spend some time with the family!” With each word, Giana’s voice gets louder.
I wasn’t expecting this at all.
After Pia panicked in the pool, I took her to our room, where she’s been resting. I think the sheer exhaustion of everything that has happened has taken a toll on her. It doesn’t help that Serafina won’t stop being a bitch to her. At least Adelina is trying.
And now, my aunt and uncle are here—two people I haven’t seen in a year. They usually show up once a year, but I wasn’t expecting them till the holidays. Yet here they are in the summertime. After my parents died, they made it their mission to check on me and the twins, which is normally appreciated, albeit exhausting, since Giana is a force to be reckoned with. But right now, it is not a good time.
“Yes, but I wasn’t expecting you until December.”
Giana pats my cheek. “Aren’t you going to let us in?”
There’s no turning my aunt away once she has her mind made up about something.
I open the door and let them in, my mind racing about what I should do. I’m not sure Pia’s in the right mindset for guests, and besides, I can’t let her location get out and back to her father.
“The place is looking clean,” Giana comments. She swipes a finger over the side table in the foyer. “Could be a bit better.”
“My maid couldn’t come this week.” Because I was rescuing Pia from her father, I don’t add.
“Shame. Isn’t that a shame, Leonardo? These poor children, all alone out here.”
Leonardo looks like he’d rather be anywhere else than here. Always with a glass of something alcoholic in his hands, my uncle prefers to spend the day sleeping away his retirement. Instead, he has a wife like Giana, who’s always forcing him to family functions.
“Need I remind you,” I say, “that I’m thirty. Not exactly a child.”
“But the twins. They’re only eighteen. Still children in my eyes. Now, where are they?”
God, this won’t be good. The minute Serafina shows up, she’s going to blab about my marriage to Pia. I want the world to know I’ve claimed Pia as my own but not until the situation with her father is resolved.
“Before I go and get them, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“Tell who what?” Serafina’s voice echoes from the living room as she enters the foyer. “Aunt Giana and Uncle Leonardo. Oh. What are you to doing here?” At least this is one thing my sister and I have in common—we’re not the biggest fans of our relatives.
“Who’s here?” Adelina joins us in the foyer. “Oh! Aunt Giana, hi!” Giana smiles indulgently when Adelina wraps her up in a hug. “Uncle Leonardo.” Despite his best efforts not to smile, Leonardo does just that when Adelina hugs him. She has that effect on people. “Happy to see you two!”
Giana pats Adelina’s cheek gently. “Always happy to see you, darling.” She then approaches Serafina and gives her a pat on the cheek, too, albeit a more forceful one. “Be more cheerful, dear.” Serafina just grimaces. “Now, what were you going to tell me?”
I glance at my sisters before turning back to Giana. “Uh, something major happened, but it can wait. Let me get you two settled in.”
“Oh, so you’re not going to tell them about your new wife,” Serafina coyly says.
I shoot her a look.
Giana pauses while Leonardo looks like he’d rather be asleep. “What new wife? Have you been holding out important information, Dario?”
“No, no. It’s just …”
“He’s ashamed of her,” Serafina cuts in. “She’s amute.”
