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CHAPTER18
Christian
Daniella has called me a coward countless times, and I’m starting to realize she might be right. I haven’t been home in a week, partly because I’ve been busy with work but also because I’ve been avoiding her. The look in her eyes, that fire, that casual unassuming beauty. I haven’t wanted to deal with the way she makes me feel. I also haven’t been in the mood for an argument. So I’ve stayed away, and she’s been content to let me do so.
I step out into the light rain, walking toward the bright red door of the condo my brother has been living in. I’m under strict orders from our mother to, in her words, “make up with him.” She’s basically telling me to apologize when he was the start of this entire issue in the first place. My jaw is pulled tight as I knock on the door.
Topher answers wearing nothing but boxer briefs with a print of the ocean with whales swimming across. I sigh softly, crossing my arms over my chest, when he refuses to let me gain entrance.
“Can I help you?” Topher drawls. His dark hair’s a mess, overgrown and hanging haphazardly over his head.
“You look like a hobo,” I say.
He arches an eyebrow. “Isn’t this supposed to be an apology visit?”
Ah, I see Mamma already told him I was coming.
“No, idiot. This is an involuntary house check-in,” I say, pushing past him and walking into the house that, as I suspected, is a mess. “I’m here to make sure you’re not keeping any illegal drugs in the house.”
“Don’t be a hypocrite, Chris. Your job is literally selling thoseillegal drugs.”
Facing him, I take in a huge breath. “It was stupid that you slept with that woman.”
He rolls his eyes. “You think everything that everyone else does apart from you is stupid, Christian. You’re a perfectionist and you expect everyone around you to be the same. You don’t get that sometimes people fuck up. Hell, you don’t even understand that, sometimes, fuckups can be necessary.”
I frown. “How and why would a fuckup be necessary?”
“Because then you’d grow from it,” Topher says.
My lips twitch. “Were you watching the Hallmark Channel before I walked in? Because this is some next-level, romantic Yoda shit.”
“Stronzo,” he mutters, glaring at me.
“You can call your older brother an asshole, but that doesn’t mean I’m not right, like, ninety-five percent of the time,” I say, leaning against the wall.
“What happened to the other five percent?”
“That’s reserved for those slim situations where I do something like yell at my little brother and send him packing from the house.”
Topher’s eyes narrow. That’s as good as an apology he’s going to get from me. He knows it, I know it, hell evenMammaknows it. So when he sighs and heads over to the couch, I follow and sit beside him. He grabs the remote and flips through some channels before settling on the Hallmark Channel. I roll my eyes, giving him a look.
“I’m sorry for trouble I caused the family. In hindsight, my actions were reckless and stupid.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Hindsight?”
“Shut up,fratello,” he groans.
“Apology accepted. But I’m not watching some cheesy rom-com with you. Let’s—”
My next words are cut off by my ringtone blaring. I pull my phone out of my suit jacket, my brows furrowing when I see the caller ID. It’s the head of staff back at the house. And they only ever call when it’s an emergency.
“What is it?” I question, picking up.
“It’s Ms. Daniella, sir,” she states.
That’s all it takes for me to get to my feet. I’m pretty sure my heart stops.
“What’s wrong with her?”
