“You fucking asshole.”
I punched Daniel across his face. Blood splattered and a sick satisfaction washed over me.
“Fuck.” He staggered back.
I came after him.
“This is not fair, man,” he said. “I’m not fighting back.”
“And I’m not hitting you again until you will,” I snarled. “But fuck you for sticking your nose in my marriage.”
“Sera is a friend and you lied to her.”
“I omitted.” It was a losing excuse and I knew it. Nico was already shaking his head, while Daniel sneered, and if he would just fight back, I would have hit him again. So I threw a verbal jab instead. “You were too pussy to own up to your feelings for Sera. I got tired of you hurting her.”
“Would someone mind telling me what’s going on?” Renz scrubbed his face in frustration. “Because I’ve got a pissed-off Sera at my apartment and I wanna know what I’ll be expecting.”
“Matteo and I hatched the fake-dating plan,” Daniel said.
“Wait a minute,” Renz said. “It was never real?”
“At first,” I corrected. “When Wu chickened out at the dance club, I was done playing with Sera’s emotions.”
“I told you why.”
“It’s as weak of an excuse as my own for omitting the truth from Sera.”
“You should have told her before you got married!” Daniel shouted. “And guess what else you should have told her before you flew off to Vegas? The shares!”
“Wait. Wait. Wait,” Renz cut in. “It has to be real. That time when you asked me to teach you to make that latte art?”
“I already wanted Sera then.”
“You asshole,” Daniel said. “You’ve been waiting in the wings all along.”
“I gave you an opportunity, Wu. You fucked up. I took over. I’m not sorry. Sera deserved better.”
“Yes. She deserved the truth!”
“Back up,” Renz cut in. “And what is this about the shares?”
Nico gave the gist of it to our youngest brother, who started shaking his head and looking at me like I’d committed the crime of the century.
I glanced in the direction of the staircase. I couldn’t erase the image of Sera’s distraught face and the tears rolling down her cheeks. I was the bastard who put them there. “I’ll make it up to her.”
Daniel huffed and checked his phone. “It’s not going to be easy.” He looked at me. “She brought reinforcements.”
Sera
“What we need is a plan,” my alcohol-lightweight friend slurred. “I can’t believe my brother used our friendship to pump me for information. And how dare he hide this she-cret shtuff from me.”
Apparently her brother told her about the real nature of the shell company Bowman Inc. before he left for the Archer meeting tonight. That included the sale of Gustavo’s shares. They probably knew it wasn’t fair for me to know about the Archers and continue leaving Ivy in the dark. At least they didn’t fuck that up. But right now, both Matteo and Daniel were on our shitlist.
Liz was on our side and equally appalled with what the men had done.
She’d already put Sam to bed, so she joined us in the kitchen where we continued our rant about deceitful men.
“A plan for revenge!” I was getting fired up. It was embarrassing enough that Daniel knew of my attraction and purposely suggested to use it to sway me. I was so hurt, more than angry, and I was damn glad Ivy was offended for me.
“Yes.” We raised our tequila glasses and took shots. I hadn’t had alcohol in a while in solidarity with Matteo. But fuck him, I was getting drunk tonight.
Our relationship was built on a lie.
Which meant our marriage was a lie.
“You’re lucky you married the good brother,” I told Liz, sliding my shot glass to Ivy, who poured me another shot.
“I am.”
“You’re lucky he didn’t get corrupted,” I continued.
“Can I make an observation?” Liz asked.
“It depends.” I swayed toward her. “Are you going to defend my lying husband?”
She winced. “I really think Matteo was just scared of losing you.”
“Ooh…ohh…” I made a humorous sound. “I’m sure that’s his first excuse. But guess what? It’s not going to work.”
“Let him work for it,” Ivy agreed. “Here, drink up.”
“Aren’t you two going too fast?” Liz said.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Are you lecturing us? Why aren’t you drinking?”
“Someone’s got to be the responsible adult until Renz returns…”
The doorknob rattling called our attention to the entryway. Renz walked in, followed by Matteo and Nico.
“You shall not pass!” I yelled.
“Cool it, Gandalf,” Nico said.
I narrowed my eyes, recalling it was a line from The Lord of the Rings. I wasn’t sure. But I know for sure these De Luccis take their movies seriously courtesy of the McGrath side of the family.
“I don’t want him here,” I declared.
“Baby…” Matteo started.
“Don’t you ‘baby’ me.”
“You’re drunk.”
“Ha! Good observation.” I stood, but the room started spinning. Matteo and Renz rushed forward, but I held up a hand. “Don’t come near me.”
“Maybe Sera should stay with us tonight,” Liz said.
“Good idea,” I agreed. “That way I won’t be charged with spousal homicide tomorrow morning.”
“I’m not leaving my wife here. She sleeps with me,” Matteo said.
“Well, it’s not your choice anymore,” I retorted. “So scram. We girls are having a discussion on how to take our revenge.”
His brows drew together. “Revenge?”
“Shh…” Ivy said. “Don’t spill the beans. Revenge is sweeter when they are not expecting it.” She looked drunkenly at the guys. “Where’s my brother?”
“He went home,” Nico said. “I told him I’ll take you but it seems it’s better if you sleep this shit off.”
Ivy squinted at him. “You’re also a part of this conspiracy.”
“For heaven’s sake,” Matteo exploded. “It was an omission.”
I turned to my group of girlfriends. “Is he still making excuses?”
“Looks like it,” Ivy agreed.
Liz nodded.
“Renz, tell your wife to stay out of this.”
“Tell her yourself, asshole. “
Matteo looked up to the ceiling and then glowered at his shoes before returning his eyes to me. “You’ll sleep here. I’ll stay on the third floor.”
“Ask Nico to stay with you,” I said.
My husband raised a brow. “So you still care about me?”
“I’m not stupid. The sooner you heal, the sooner I can leave you.”
“You are not leaving me,” he snapped.
“Come on, bro.” Renz grabbed his biceps and then tipped his chin at Nico. “You too. We all need to have a chat.”
“What chat?” I asked suspiciously.
Renz rolled his eyes. “They obviously don’t know how to handle women. I’m on your side on this, Sera—”
“Wow, thanks, bro,” Matteo said disparagingly.
“But they’re still my blood and I’d hate for them to dig their holes deeper.”
“Oh, let them dig,” I said. “I’ll help with a shovel.”
Ivy and I high-fived each other.
Liz was staring at us, also, giving a shake of her head. “Women scorned.”
Matteo was about to open his mouth again, but Renz dragged him out of the apartment.
Matteo
“You two are idiots.”
Our youngest brother forced us to go up to the rooftop. I remembered the first night Sera came to the apartment and she was curious about what was up here. A pang stabbed my chest. I was breathing heavily because my body had been laid up for a while and walking up an extra flight of steps took a lot out of me.
Who was I kidding?
It was my anxiety, and I was close to hyperventilating.
“Oh, just because you’re married, you’re an expert now?” Nico sneered.
“Better than you two,” Renz shot back. “Liz and I have our problems but we’ve been married five years and we love each other now more than ever.”
“That’s sweet, but your situation is different from mine.” I pinched my brows. “She’ll get over it, right?”
I hated how Renz looked at me with pity. “What?”
“I don’t know Sera enough. Why exactly did you agree to Daniel’s plan?”
“I told him that was a shit move,” Nico said.
“You mentioned it, but you didn’t talk me out of it,” I argued. “We needed to light a fire under Gustavo’s ass. He rejected our offer.”
“You never told me why he refused to sell.”
I scrubbed my hand over my face, not wanting to rehash reasons I wasn’t sure of anymore. Renz had never been interested in our business dealings. His life was his family and the café.
“He holds a grudge over Aunt Carlotta picking a De Lucci over him.” I gave my youngest brother a gist of that failed arranged marriage.
He shook his head. “That was thirty years ago.”
“Exactly. These people have long memories.”
“He’d deal if it was with Dad. He told me as much.”
“Ouch.”
“To him we’re mongrels.”
“But he changed his tune when I showed an interest in Sera. Our agreement was I would back off and he’d sell me the shares.”
“Is Daniel interested in Sera?”
It pissed me off to hear my former friend’s and my wife’s names in the same sentence.
“He went pussy on her. It cost him,” I said. “Sera is mine now.”
“Hmm, not for long, I hear.”
“Fuck you! Are you on my side or not?”
Renz crossed his arms and eyed Nico, who’d been smoking a cigarette in one corner. “Don’t leave that butt up here.”
Nico flipped him off.
“Why do I feel like the grown-up here?” Renz groaned.
“You probably are,” I mumbled.
“What?” Renz cupped his ear. “Did my big brother just admit to immaturity?”
“Maybe. So tell me what to do.”
“This is not a one-size-fits-all solution, brother.” Renz regarded me thoughtfully. “Why did you pick Maine?”
“She loves lobster rolls. She doesn’t like fancy food. I don’t think I can get her to go with me there right now.”
“It’s not safe to leave New York anyway,” Nico said. He flicked the ash from the tip of his cigarette.
Renz scowled at him. “You’re sweeping that.”
“Can we focus on my issue?” I growled.
My youngest brother stared at me in a way that made me squirm.
“What?”
He shook his head. “That right there is the issue. Your issue. Not Sera’s issue with you.”
“Semantics.”
“Maybe, but we return to the lie.”
“It was an omission!”
“It was an omission until you said your vows, Matteo. After that, it became a lie.”
“How do I fix this?”
Envy snaked around my heart that Renz had his shit together. He was content with his existence. I’d be bored. I couldn’t quit the rat race. Yet those days with Sera in Maine and these past few weeks of convalescence, I’d been irritated with anything that encroached on my time with her. At the same time it validated my existence to be the patriarch of the family I was going to build with her. I didn’t think I would change who I was, but even now, my priorities were shifting to Sera.
I just needed for her to see it.
“Only you can answer it.”
“That’s not very helpful.”
“No, you already said it. What are you willing to change or give up to have Sera? You used her to get Gustavo to sell you the shares.”
“You’re not suggesting I get rid of the shares.”
“No, but you’ll have to prove she’s more important than them.”
“We’re not only talking about business. We’re talking about the Galluzo becoming too powerful.”
“You’re smart. You’ll find a way.”
We stayed on the rooftop for another half hour just shooting the shit. I brooded while Nico and Renz got into a good-natured ribbing. When had my youngest brother grown up to be the most sensible man between the three of us? I didn’t know. Liz domesticated him. But was that so bad? And they had Sam.
I imagined what our kids would look like and my heart rolled over in my chest. I wanted that future very much. But our relationship, our marriage had to go back to normal.
She was just mad. After she got over her snit, she would forgive me. I would remind her of our time together in Maine, and how devoted she was when I got shot.
I scowled. Was it simply duty that made her take care of me? I swore there was love.
We never said we loved each other.
I was pretty sure this was what love felt like. A punch in the gut when you hurt the person you loved. The betrayal in Sera’s eyes ripped me apart, made me want to roar that I didn’t mean it. I would have told her if I knew it would have made a difference to how she viewed our vows. Things happened so quickly between Maine and Vegas, I thought I had time to come clean. I didn’t think of it as a betrayal. I didn’t want to ruin the moment.
Turned out my omission didn’t ruin the moment. It obliterated our vows.
No. It was real to me. My chest grew tight. I needed to hold Sera. “Let’s go back to your apartment.”
“Wait, I thought you were sleeping separately tonight?” Renz protested.
I checked my watch. “I still want to check on her.”
“Yeah.” Nico exhaled an irritated breath. “I promised Daniel I’d take care of Ivy.”
“Just text him,” Renz said. “They can stay with me.”
Not if I had a say.
When we returned to his place, the women were lying on the sectional. Liz was watching television and she cast a wry smile at the two women mumbling nonsensical stuff.
“You!” Sera said when she spotted me. “Why are you still here?”
If I wasn’t in such a precarious position, I’d tease her. She was a cute drunk.
She rose from the couch and then her eyes widened. “I’m going to be sick again.”
She ran from the room and it appeared that despite the alcohol in her system, she knew the way to the toilet.
I stalked after her. By the time I reached her she was dry heaving into the porcelain bowl.
“Oh, baby,” I said and sank to my knees beside her. I gathered her hair into a ponytail and held it up while she retched some more. I’d done this for Bianca before. It seemed to be part of an older brother’s requirement.
And right now, a husband’s requirement.
“I hate you,” she said between heaves.
“I know.”
“I wish I’d never married you.”
I swallowed. “I’ll make it up to you.”
“How?” She started to sob. “This is so fucked up.”
She rose from the floor, ran water in the sink to wash her face, and swished mouthwash to freshen her mouth.
She sniffed and looked at me, eyes blotchy, face tragic.
“I’ll make it up to you,” I repeated.
“You need to go home.”
“I don’t want to leave you here.”
“I need space, Matteo. You owe me that.”
My possessiveness roared inside me. Space to do what? I gave a brief nod. “For tonight.”
“Until I say so.”
I didn’t acknowledge or deny her request. She was too exhausted and I wanted her to sleep. I probably wasn’t going to have any, but at least I’d be upstairs.
Nico and I left after the girls retired to the guest bedroom. Ivy was already out of it and Nico had to carry her. Liz helped him get her more comfortable.
As my brother and I trudged up the stairs, we were both silent. I was too consumed with my own thoughts and he was probably annoyed that he was forced to look out for Ivy just to keep Daniel and me from going at each other’s throats.
“You can go home,” I told him finally. “I don’t need help.”
“Just open the damn door and let this fucked-up day be over,” he grumbled.
I couldn’t agree more.
