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“This is Kat,” Dante says.
“It’s lovely to meet you both,” I say with as warm a smile as I can manage with my stomach twisted up in knots.
Lorenzo gives me a faint nod and then whispers something in his wife’s ear. That’s when her eyes finally meet mine, and she smiles at me, her face transforming completely. She is stunningly beautiful and absolutely captivating.
“Shall we leave the ladies to become acquainted?” Lorenzo says, addressing Dante now.
“Yes,” Joey says excitedly, grabbing hold of Anya’s hand. “We have so much to catch up on.”
Dante gives me a soft kiss on the forehead. “I’ll see you before dinner, kitten.”
Then he releases my hand from his, and he and his older, incredibly mean and moody looking brother, disappear along the hallway to his study, leaving us ladies alone.
As soon as Lorenzo is out of sight, Anya walks toward me. “Kat?” she says with only a trace of a Russian accent. “It’s so wonderful to meet you.” Then she pulls me into a hug, and I wrap my arms around her slender frame. She smells like candy floss.
“Let’s go. Sophia has made us some cocktails in honor of your return.” Joey giggles like a carefree twenty-one year old for once. “Alcohol-free for you two obviously,” she adds.
“Then what are we waiting for?” Anya says, clasping one of our hands in each of hers as we head off to the kitchen.
“Do you not drink, Anya?” I ask.
“It doesn’t agree with my medication,” she replies with a sweet smile.
“Oh,” I reply, not wanting to ask what medication that is because it feels too much like prying.
“So I hear we have a wedding and a baby to prepare for?” Anya asks excitedly, changing the subject.
“Kat still won’t set a date,” Joey groans, making Anya chuckle. “And she won’t let me choose any bridesmaids dresses or buy anything for the baby.”
“I’ll set a date soon, but I don’t want a fancy event. And as for the baby, it’s too soon to be buying anything yet. I’m only ten weeks.”
“Ugh,” Joey says with a dramatic roll of her eyes.
“Patience, my dear Guiseppina,” Anya says softly, and the sweet smile Joey gives her in return makes my heart swell in my chest. They have a beautiful relationship and it gives me hope for my own future in this family. Although I’m not sure I like Lorenzo, I think his wife is going to become one of my favorite people.
Chapter37
Dante
Lorenzo’s heavy footfall echoes around the empty hallway as we head to the study. My study. It could have been his. It should have been.
“Is he here? In Chicago” he barks, breaking the silence.
“No, he’s gone to the Keys for a week with his new side piece,” I reply, aware he’s referring to our father. “No fatted calf for the prodigal son today.”
Lorenzo snorts.
I open the door and step aside to allow him in first. As soon as it’s closed behind us, he turns to me, and in here where there is just the two of us, he lets the mask slip. There is so much sadness in his eyes that it makes me feel like the air is being sucked from the room.
“Is it back?” I ask him.
“More aggressive this time.”
“I’m so sorry, brother.”
He nods, defeated.
“I’m sorry you had to come back.” After Anya’s cancer went into remission, Lorenzo decided to take a couple of years off and has been living in Lake Como with his wife for the past two years.
