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“Oh, shit, son! You’ve gone and done it now.” Orlando punches Dante’s arm.
“Mom, I just made Nonna tea. Want some?” Dante asks his mother.
“No, I want you to tell me what Tilly is too scared to say.” Livvy uses her no-nonsense lawyer voice, the one I’ve seen her dish out in the courtroom on more than one occasion. There is something disarming about that tone that has even me wanting to confess, and I’m innocent in all this… as far as I know.
“Ah, yeah, about that. I can’t. You need to ask her. Brotherly loyalty and all that,” Dante says, making a run for the door.
“What ever happened to motherly loyalty?” Livvy yells after him, and then looks to me. “What happened?” she repeats.
“Tilly and Romeo were in a gelato shop when someone did a drive-by. They’re both fine,” I tell her quickly.
“Matilda Valentino, where are you?” Livvy yells as she walks out of the room.
I get it. It’s never a good feeling hearing that your child was shot at. It’s even worse when your child gets hit though. I will never forget the two times Luca got shot. It felt like those bullets pierced my heart and embedded themselves in my soul.
ChapterTwenty-Six
Ilook down at my phone and read the message from my wife.
Katy:
Whatever you’re doing, do it safely. I’m too young to be a widow, and your son is too feral to be fatherless.
I smile and text her back.
Me:
Safe as a nun’s virginity, babe. Be home soon.
Katy:
Your twin might not want to come home too soon. Livvy is on a warpath that would put the one you four are on to shame!
Me:
What’s wrong with her?
Out of all of my sisters-in-law, Livvy’s the one I worry about the most. I’ve seen her broken once before, and I do not ever want to see her like that again.
Katy:
She found out that Romeo and Tilly were shot at. She’s not impressed. Going into real mama bear mode.
Me:
They’re both fine.
Katy sends me back an eye roll emoji. I look across the table to Romeo and lift a single brow. “Your wife is pissed,” I tell him.
“Oh, I know,” he says, waving his phone at me. “You might need to hide me in your room when we get back, switch places for a bit. Ever wanted to be mayor? She’s threatening extreme bodily harm.”
I laugh and thank God I’m not dealing with an overly emotional wife right now. One of the things I love about Katy is how she’s always calm, cool, and collected under pressure. Don’t get me wrong, my wife will be biting her nails down to the beds with worry, but that will be the only external sign she’ll give you.
Katy once told me that as much as she might want to blow up my phone and curse me out for getting into dangerous situations, she knows that putting that kind of extra stress on me won’t help and that all it will do is distract me from the task at hand.
Katy will tell me after the fact, once I’m home. Whereas Livvy tells Romeo exactly what she’s thinking, when she’s thinking it, for how ever long she’s thinking it. It took her a while to get to the place where she freely speaks her mind to anyone. But he did that. He lifted her up. Showed her that she can do and say whatever she wants and it’s okay. She’s also a fantastic defense attorney, better than Matteo even, so anyone who enters an argument with Livvy better come with an arsenal of knowledge on whatever they’re looking to debate.
“When you two are done sipping tea and having your little chitchat, wanna put your phones away and come play with the big boys?” Matteo grunts at us.
