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“Would you like a drink. Mr. Costa?” Dante asks politely, and Carlo waves a hand dismissively.
“Call me Carlo,” he says. “And I’d love a drink.”
Dante, Carlo, and I go into Dante’s office for another drink. My head is spinning slightly already from the expensive scotch I’ve already consumed, and so I sip mine carefully.
“Nico, is it?” Carlo asks.
I nod. “That’s me.”
“You’ve been keeping mycarissimasafe all this time,” he says. “I don’t know how to repay you.”
“There’s no need,” I say quickly. “Aurora needed my help, and since my sister was the cause of it, I definitely don’t need repayment.”
Carlo hums. “Francesca is a bit of a hellraiser, but there’s no reason that Marco should have gone off like that. He’s a loose cannon and he’s needed to be dealt with for a long time.”
Dante nods, agreeing. “He’s always been like this; he’s just never gone this far.”
“I used to be a bit of a loose cannon myself,” Carlo jokes, gulping his scotch. “Until I had Aurora and lost my wife.”
I look at him curiously. “What happened to her, if you don’t mind me asking?”
He scoffs. “Some businessman in Chicago happened to her when she was on a trip out there. They ran away together. But I have to admit it was at least half my fault.”
“How’s that?” I ask. I don’t know very much about Aurora’s home life, and I can’t help being curious. I want to know more about her, and I tell myself it’s because she’s the mother of my child.
Carlo shrugs. “I took her for granted. Ran around on her, didn’t care which mistresses I rubbed in her face. I got too caught up in the wiseguy lifestyle, you know?”
I swallow hard. This is beginning to sound really familiar.
“But she left you for another man. Aren’t you bitter?”
Carlo looks at me for a long moment. “I’m not bitter that she left me for someone else.” He pauses. “I’m bitter that she leftAurora. That little girl didn’t deserve to lose her mother.”
I promise myself in that moment that I will never leave my child like that. No matter what happens between me and Aurora, I will be part of that child’s life. I’ll be a real father, and I’ll do my best to protect the mother of my child and my child.
I feel a pang of sympathy for Aurora. She lost her mother at a young age, and I can’t imagine what that was like. I lost my father at a young age, but my mother and I have been close ever since.
“Dinner’s ready,” Mia calls, standing at the door heavily pregnant. I look at her, thinking she looks ready to pop at any moment.
“Thank you, baby,” Dante tells her, and then stands up, going to the doorway to give her a kiss.
Carlo smiles at the two of them. When Mia walks away, he speaks to Dante.
“Congratulations,” he says. “Looks like you’ve got it all.”
“I do,” Dante agrees, and sometimes it is hard to reconcile the man Dante used to be with this new family man.
We head down to dinner and it’s lambchops and creamed potatoes and I’m all but salivating. We’d only had a few home cooked meals while we were on the run, and most of those I’d prepared.
It would be nice to eat something prepared by Marisa. I love eating at Dante’s because I love her cooking.
Aurora’s already sitting at the table next to Francesca. I want to sit next to her, but she still seems angry with me, so instead, I sit next to Mia.
“It’s delicious,” Aurora says to Marisa as she finishes setting the table, and Marisa frowns.
“You’ve barely touched it,” she scolds. “You better eat to get your strength back.”
Aurora smiles weakly at her and cuts into her lamb, taking a small bite. Marisa nods, seemingly satisfied, and sits down to eat with us.
