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“When you raise four small children, you will develop them as well,” she assured.
“Thank God that was directed at you this time,” Mira said, holding her fingers out in a cross, like she could ward off babies the way you might evil spirits.
I fucking loved his family.
It had taken all of, what, fifteen minutes, and I was head-over-heels for each and every one of them.
Then I got to do something that I never did before.
Host.
Shower people with my love in food form.
It took all of two minutes after everyone dug in for me to feel it, that sort of pride and pleasure that came from making a meal that everyone else was devouring.
My gaze immediately slid to Emilio’s mom across the table. She was already looking at me, smiling, nodding.
Emilio was right.
The lasagne was the right choice.
By the time everyone shuffled out—Mira and Vissi just a little drunk, hanging all over each other, Primo and Isabella carrying sleeping children, Emilio’s mom and Ant leaving with leftovers—my cheeks actually hurt from smiling.
“I told you they would love you,” Emilio said, locking the door, then reaching for me.
“Oh, not half as much as I love them,” I told him. “And by the way,” I said, waiting for him to ask.
“Yeah?”
“I want like ten of them,” I said, beaming up at him.
“Yeah?” he asked, hands pulling me flush against him. “Then maybe we should get started.”
Emilio - 1 month
“We can’t be going through this again,” I said, feeling a pit forming in my stomach. Wholly unwelcome, since I’d been been free of that kind of feeling for weeks.
“It’s different this time,” Lorenzo insisted, trying to be a voice of reason, to keep me from spiraling out of control over this shit.
“Different how? A forced marriage is a forced marriage.”
“Is it forced, though?” Silvano asked, and I wasn’t sure why his ass was hanging around so much lately.
Typically, we only saw him when there was a body that needed disappearing. But since his step-brother had been arrested and stuck on house arrest, he seemed to be an ever-present part of the Family. Like maybe some part of him thought that had he been more active, he might have been able to do something to stop Cosimo, to prevent all this shit from happening.
“Since no one is in love with that fucker, yes,” I said.
“But he’s not saying you have to deliver any particular girl,” Silvano said. “And not at all against her will.”
“Listen, when you have sisters or daughters, you can weigh in on this shit.”
“Okay, alright,” Lorenzo said, holding up his hands, sensing the tensions rising.
I was pissed.
And Silvano had a hair trigger with his sarcasm and surly-ass comments. It wasn’t a good combination.
“Listen, all I heard from Renzo was that he thinks the only fair way to really bring the Families together in peace is through marriage. At no time did he say that he has his eye on anyone, or that we have to find someone to offer to him like some kind of fucking sacrifice. He’s just… looking at the situation with Primo and us, and he wants that.”
“If he kidnaps—“ I started.
“Stop,” Lorenzo barked, seeming to sense he needed to put his foot down before I got out of control. “You think I didn’t send out that warning?” he asked, offended. “He touches one hair on one head of our women, and he knows it will be war. I don’t get the impression that he meant that. He just wants that kind of treaty. Only time will tell how that will come to pass,” he said.
“Besides, don’t we got more important shit to be worrying about?” Silvano asked.
“The difference here being that whatever woman Renzo wants is innocent. Cosimo murdered that man.”
“Fuck—“ Silvano started.
“The fuck am I walking in on here?” another voice asked, making us all turn to find Gio Morelli standing there.
Gio was a capo in the Morelli Crime Family. Tall, muscular thanks to his love of the gym, brown hair, brown eyes, with a pretty boy look, dimples and all, you wouldn’t clock him and immediately think he and his brothers were in the brick-laying business. As in… cocaine.
“Gio,” Lorenzo said, standing, holding out a hand. “Was I expecting you?”
“Me? Nah. I just got word about some scheme I heard through the grapevine about Renzo Lombardi. Figured I’d come here to see if it was true or not before all the gossiping and shit starts.”
“What did you hear?” Lorenzo asked.
“That he wants to marry one of your girls,” he said, making all of us share a look, not comfortable that news like that was spreading so far so fast. “Relax, I got ears down on the Lombardi turf. It’s not common knowledge. Not yet. But it sounds like it will be.”
“It’s true,” Lorenzo confirmed. There was no reason to lie to a Morelli. When Lorenzo took over for his old man, the Morelli Family and the D’Onofrio Family had been immediate allies. It had been the Espositos and Lombardis that had been a problem.
