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“I gave Livvy permission to ask your wife to lunch. I didn’t say your wife could go.”
That soothes my irritation, my brother letting me know he wouldn’t go over my head with Emilia. He’d never interfere with my marriage, just like none of us would ever presume to tell him how to deal with his wife. Where Isabella is concerned, we’ve all been biting our tongues for a while now. Even Leo, who was first in line wanting to put a bullet between Isabella’s eyes, has realized it’s time our oldest brother talked to her. With the benefit of hindsight, we’ve started to doubt whether Isabella is actually guilty of conspiring with the Gallos. She’s too nice of a girl to be complicit in a hit on her husband, even if she wasn’t thrilled about marrying him.
“Speaking of my wife,” I say as I push to my feet. “I should head home.”
“Yeah, go.” Antonio waves me off. “Fuck your sweet little bride. See if you can put a baby in her belly.”
I don’t bother to reiterate what I said the other night at dinner about Emilia and I being in no hurry to have a child. Though it goes against my nature, I’m going to let my wife set the pace.
Leaving Antonio in the office, I make my way along the private corridors at the back of the club and exit into the parking lot where my prized Aston Martin Vanquish is waiting. I don’t drive myself often, preferring to let someone else take the wheel while I attend to business.
I get in the car and start the ignition, experiencing a thrill as the V12 engine roars to life. As I peel out of the parking lot, a black SUV carrying Stefan and a couple of other guys follows. Though my brothers and I are all capable of taking care of ourselves, it’s prudent to have backup.
It’s nine-thirty and traffic is light, so I make it back to my apartment building in under ten minutes. I drive into the underground lot and park my car in its usual space by the elevators. The SUV pulls up behind me, but the guys don’t get out. Stefan has an apartment in this building, but lately he’s been spending his nights with some waitress from Brooklyn. Now that I’ve no further need of him tonight, he can go to her.
When I get upstairs, I’m surprised to find Jimmy Marrone sitting in one of the tub chairs outside my apartment with Tomaso. The fast-food cartons on the glass table between them tell me they’ve been out here for a while. Both men go to rise when they see me, but I hold up a hand, a silent command to stay seated.
“You been out here all day?” I ask Jimmy.
“Yeah, since noon.”
“The girls haven’t left the apartment all day?”
Emilia knows she isn’t supposed to go out, but my sister can be persuasive if she wants to do something.
“Nope,” Jimmy replies. “They sent for hotdogs at lunchtime and tacos about an hour ago.”
That makes me smile. It seems my bride wants to sample some of the street food the city has to offer. I guess it’s a novelty to her.
“Don’t know what they’re talking about in there,” Tomaso adds, “but they’ve been laughing a lot.”
That’s good, I think. I want Emilia and my sister to get along. Her options for forming friendships will be limited to women within our organization. Outsiders can’t be trusted.
“I’ll not need you again tonight,” I tell Tomaso before turning to Jimmy. “I’ll send Livvy out.”
He nods in acknowledgement. My sister leads the guy in a merry dance, but he’s proven himself more than capable of protecting her, so we trust him to rein her in when necessary.
As I walk into the apartment, I find my wife and sister sitting cross-legged on the floor by the window.Fuck!Emilia looks so young and carefree right now. She does not deserve this life. The two women are giggling over something on Livvy’s phone. An empty takeout box lies next to Emilia and there are two glasses filled with what I hope is soda.
“Something wrong with the couch?” I ask, making both women jump.
Livvy is the first to get over the fright I gave them. While Emilia clutches her chest, my sister fixes me with a challenging glare.
“Apart from being too sleazy for a strip club, it’s fine.”
I don’t give Livvy the satisfaction of knowing I completely agree with her. I have no idea what I was thinking when I gave Martina approval for her designs on this place.
“Did you come to critique the décor, dear sister?”
“No, I came for lunch, as you well know.”
“That was hours ago.”
“Lunch became dinner,” Emilia explains as she gets to her feet. “You know how it is.”
She offers her hand to Livvy and helps her up from the floor. My sister stumbles, knocking into Emilia and they both laugh. My eyes narrow as I glance at the drinks on the floor again.
“Are you two drunk?”
