I sit on the bench in the garden, swinging my legs and chewing on my thumbnail. I need to find a way to fix this. I cannot be responsible for tearing my family apart and Max never being one of us again. If I’d known this was the price we’d all have to pay, maybe I could have fought my desire for him harder.
Jumping up from the bench, I head into the house to find Anya and Kat. I need my girls to help me out.
I find Kat and Anya in my niece’s nursery. Kat is putting Gabriella down for her afternoon nap while Anya watches them from the rocking chair. I love how close they’ve become since Anya and Lorenzo returned home from Italy last year.
“Hey, I need your help,” I say quietly, careful not to wake the baby, although that kid could sleep through a tornado.
“With Maximo?” Anya asks with a wicked grin.
“Of course.”
“What can we do?” Kat says as she ushers the two of us from the room so we can talk a little louder.
“I need you to distract your husbands tonight so I can sneak out. As long as one of you can open the gate, I could call an Uber or get Max to come pick me up down the street.”
“I’m in,” Anya says.
But Kat chews her lip, a deep frown on her face. “No,” she eventually says with a shake of her head.
I blink at her in shock. Kat Moretti is a freaking hellraiser. Dante is the head of the Cosa Nostra, but she has him eating out of the palm of her goddamn hand. She’s my biggest ally in this house. She always roots for me. I can’t believe she’s not going to help me now when I need her most.
“Kat?” Anya scolds her.
“This is not the world I want for my daughter. Sneaking out and having to lie about what she’s doing.”
“But Kat …” I whine, pouting, unable to fathom this new well-behaved version of my sister-in-law.
“You’re not sneaking out, Joey. You’re going to walk out of that goddamn front door.” She grabs both mine and Anya’s hands, and I grin at her. Now that’s the Kat Moretti I know and love.
Dante and Lorenzo are in their study as usual, and their shared shell-shocked expression when I walk in with their wives makes me giddy. We might just do this.
“Something wrong, kitten?” Dante asks with a frown, directing his question toward Kat.
“Yes,” she says with a sweet smile.
Lorenzo frowns. “Passerotta?” he says to Anya.
“We have something to discuss with you both,” Anya says coolly.
My brothers’ eyes land on mine next, and they glare at me, no doubt aware that my sisters-in-law are here to fight in my corner with me. Because it’s not just my corner, it’s theirs too. It’s my niece’s corner, and any other girl who ends up being born into this family.
“You should probably take a seat,” I say.
My brothers glance at each other, but then they each take their seats behind the huge wooden desk.
“If this is about Maximo, you can all save your breath,” Dante says with a deep sigh. “There is nothing any of you can say that will change what he’s done.”
I cross my arms over my chest and take a few steps forward until I’m right in front of the desk. Kat and Anya stand on either side of me, silent but ready to back me up when I need them. “This isn’t about Max. This is about the women in this family being treated like second-class citizens.”
They both scoff at that statement.
“You think this is funny?” I snap, my anger already boiling over.
“When do I ever treat you like anything less than a queen?” Lorenzo asks Anya. Trust him to go for the easy target. She’s his submissive as well as his wife, and ordinarily, she would never defy him in public, although she does it plenty in private. But he underestimated her today.
“Yes, you treat me like a queen, my love.” She gives him a saccharine smile. “I am your little bird in a cage.”
Lorenzo’s face turns beet red. “You think I keep you in a cage?”
“I do not think it, my love. You keep me in a cage because that is the life I want. The life I asked for when I fell in love with you. But I always thought that if I ever needed a little more freedom, you would give it to me.”
His eyes narrow. “I would give you anything, you know that.”
“So why is it that I’m not allowed any freedom at all then?” I demand, smacking my hands down on the desk.
“You are allowed to come and go as you please. You have every freedom that Lorenzo and I have,” Dante snaps at me.
“Oh really?” It’s my turn to scoff now. “Is there any way in hell that anyone would tell either of you who you could fall in love with?”
“This is about Max?” Dante gives a sarcastic laugh.
“No, this is about a ridiculous promise you forced your best friend to make, just because I was born without a dick.”
“This isn’t about you, Joey,” Lorenzo says, sighing.
“No?” I fold my arms again. “If I was a boy, would you have cared who the hell I dated?”
Dante scowls at me, and I direct my attention to my oldest brother.
“Lorenzo, would you have ever dared to tell Dante who he could or couldn’t date?”
He pinches the bridge of his nose. “This is about Max lying to us, Joey. He made us a promise.”
“He only lied to you because of that promise. Why did you make him do that? Why?”
“Because him fucking our little sister muddies the waters,” Lorenzo says, his hands steepled under his chin.
“Lorenzo,” Anya chides him.
“Tell me why you’re so against us being together. I’m an adult. You were fine with me and Toby, and he’s half the man Max is.”
They both go on glaring at me.
“If you’re going to come between us, at least tell me why,” I demand.
“Because you deserve better than him,” Dante shouts. “He is not the kind of man you need, Joey.”
“Why? Because he does bad things?” I challenge.
“You have no idea of the kinds of things he’s done, Guiseppina,” Lorenzo growls, his tone low and menacing enough that it sends a shudder along my spine.
“Things he’s done in your name. Our family’s name,” I shout as anger and frustration burn through my veins. “Why do you get to decide who or what I deserve? I love Max. I want to be with him.”
“No.” Dante shakes his head while Lorenzo scrubs a hand over his face.
“You know you can’t really stop this, right?” Kat pipes up from beside me, earning her a withering glare from her husband.
“I think you’ll find I can, kitten,” he replies.
“Is this really the kind of life you want for our daughter?”
“Where she’s protected every day of her life?” he fires back.
“Where she isn’t given the same opportunities as her brothers?”
“Brothers? Are you …?” He frowns at her. Dante’s desperate for more kids, and considering he can barely go five minutes without dragging Kat off to a quiet room, I figure he’s thinking the same thing I am—that she might already be pregnant and she’s chosen this particular moment to announce it.
“I mean we might have sons one day too,” she says, her cheeks turning pink. “But if this is going to be Gabriella’s life, Dante, then I’m not sure I want to fill this house with children.”
Go Kat! She went straight for his weak spot. The anguish that flashes across his face almost makes me feel sorry for him. But then his mask is back in place, and my sympathy dries up at the sight of his scowl. “We’ll see about that, kitten.”
“How can you walk away from a man who’s been your brother in all but blood just because he fell in love?” Anya asks, and I turn to her, my mouth hanging open as her words wash over me.
“You think Maximo is in love with Joey?” Lorenzo frowns as he voices the same question that runs through my mind.
“You think that a man who risked everything to spend just one night with her isn’t?” she asks, softening her tone.
And right there, I see my first glimmer of hope.
“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.
