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“I know you can’t forgive him for lying right now, but please, just let me see him,” I beg. “You know I’m safe when I’m with him. He would never let anyone hurt me.”
“And who will keep you safe from him, Joey?” Dante asks.
Kat leaps to his defense. “Max would never hurt her.”
“Not intentionally,” Lorenzo adds.
“Or unintentionally,” I insist. “I know the kind of man he is. He would never…”
Dante and Lorenzo glare at me. I’m fighting a losing battle. They think they know him better than I do. He’s reckless and unhinged—but not when it comes to me. I switch gears. “And what if he does hurt me? I get to choose who hurts me and who doesn’t. Me. Not you. Didn’t Kat hurt you when she tried to leave, Dante? Didn’t Anya hurt you when she refused to have any more treatment?” I feel bad for bringing up their pain, but Kat and Anya stand beside me without flinching, their presence calm and reassuring. “Would you trade any of the pain if it cost you even a second of your time with them?”
Dante stretches his neck, and Lorenzo grinds his jaw while the air in the room grows thick with tension. But finally, after the world’s longest silence, Dante speaks. “He is never to set foot in this house again.”
“But I can see him?”
“You will take a security detail with you,” Lorenzo says.
“What if he picks me up outside the gate? I won’t need a guard then, right?” I mean, Max used to be my armed security, why do I need both?
Dante rolls his eyes. “Do not fucking push it, Guiseppina. You will have an armed escort at all fucking times. Do I make myself clear?”
I resist the urge to roll my eyes back. I can see Max. That’s all that matters right now.
“Thank you.” I swallow the lump in my throat and refrain from launching myself across the desk and hugging them both. “I promise it will all work out.”
Lorenzo snorts as he stands up and walks around the desk to Anya. He slips a comforting arm around her waist. “You look tired, Passerotta. I think you need to lie down,” he says, and the change in his tone is evident to everyone in the room. She’s no longer in charge here. Anya does look tired, but she looks that way all the time now. She grows weaker and sicker by the day, and it breaks my heart to see my vibrant sister-in-law like this. I choke down a sob. She’ll be okay. Lorenzo would never let anything bad happen to her.
“Yes, Sir,” she says quietly and follows him out of the office.
Kat checks her watch. “I’d better go check on Gabriella. She’ll be awake from her nap soon.”
Dante shakes his head. “Joey can do that.”
“I’m going to call Max.”
He glares at me. “You can multitask, right?”
“I can go,” Kat assures me.
“I don’t think so, kitten. I believe we have something to discuss, don’t you?” Dante says coolly, and my sister-in-law blushes deep red.
“Ugh, you two should get a room,” I groan.
“We have one, and you’re in it,” Dante fires back without taking his eyes off his wife.
“Fine. I’ll check on your child while you two do whatever it is you’re about to do.” I sigh dramatically, but I catch Kat’s eye and smile before I leave.
My niece kicks her legs when she sees me. Picking her up, I snuggle her close while I dial Max, but his phone goes straight to voicemail. I leave him a message to call me back as soon as possible. The fact that I can see him again makes me feel like my heart’s about to burst from my chest. And he must want to see me too, right? All those things he said to me when I spent the night with him weren’t a lie. I know he said things were complicated, but my brothers will come around. As stubborn as they are, they love us both too much not to.
Gabriella squishes my cheeks together and giggles. God, I love this kid. “Hey there, my little smooch.”
I sit down in the rocking chair and bask in the purity of her love. “Do you know what me, your mom, and your aunt Anya just did, baby?” I ask, and I swear she makes a cute little sound that makes me wonder if she knows exactly what I’m saying to her. “We just smashed the patriarchy, Gabs.” I drop a kiss on top of her downy-soft head and inhale her fresh baby scent. “I promise you will never have to deal with all the bullshit that I did growing up.” I give her another kiss, and she giggles. “Don’t tell him I said this, but your dad is kind of cool and not a complete asshole like mine was. And I bet you’re going to have a whole lot of brothers and sisters to fight in your corner too. But also, your mom, Anya, and I will fight for us girls every freaking step of the way.”
An unexpected sob wells in my throat at the thought of our future. There’s no escaping how sick Anya is now, and there’s every possibility that my niece will never get to know her wonderful aunt.
ChapterTwenty-Six
MAX
