Page 28 of Blood and Redemption
Despite the throb of my cheek from her earlier hit, I don’t fear getting close to her. Even if she’s not happy about contact, I tug her into my arms and hug her.
“I know you’ll never forgive me, Eliza. And I know it’s hard to believe, but I do love both of you.” Sighing in her hair, I grunt when her fingers dig into my chest.
Just when I think she’s trying to get away, I realize she’s clinging to my shirt. It’s almost like she can’t decide what she wants to do.
“Thank you for taking care of her in all the ways I failed.” Pulling away, I give her the best smile I can. A small curve, but enough to make her brows lift. “I’ll be a better man. Whatever it takes.”
If it means becoming best fucking friends with Santino Bertelli, I’ll do it. Or treating Camellia the way Eliza wants me to.
Turning away from her, I push open the door. Feeling the heavy thump of my heart, I can’t remember the last time I felt so nervous.
Two steps in and I see her.
Sitting on a bench, her back is to me. While an older woman picks and pokes at her hair, she uses her finger to spread something along her lips.
All at once, her eyes lift in her reflection, and those blue eyes meet mine. Just like the cloudless sky outside, they part wide in surprise before she jerks to look over her shoulder.
“Rocco!” Her voice is so soft, so melodic as she moves to her feet. “You came!”
It feels like I have claws sinking deep into my lungs, making it impossible to breathe. As much as my body demands I look away from her, my eyes remain.
The memory hits like a backhand. Our mother’s face, flushed crimson, her lips purpled with rage as she spat curses at our own blood in her fleeting last moments. Her hatred was a living thing—twisting her features, poisoning the air between us.
Then, Camellia steps forward, pushing past the images forming before me like a hallucination.
Alive.
Not just breathing, but vibrant. Her smile is soft, her eyes bright with warmth—no trace of the pallor or stillness I’d feared. The relief is so sharp it nearly doubles me over. Here, now, she’s nothing like the ghost of our mother’s fury or her death.
Standing in a wedding gown whiter than snow, I can see that my sister looks…beautiful.
Once more, I can’t help but think I don’t deserve this. To be forgiven by those I’ve wronged. Camellia is at the top of the list. If she can forgive me, then others can as well.
“You look…” My words shake as I take her in.
“Like a freaking bombshell,” Eliza finishes off for me, her lips forming into a smirk. “Santino is going to drop to his knees at the altar.”
The older woman in the background chuckles at her comment. When she looks my way, I don’t recognize her, but she seems to recognizeme.She moves toward me, and I don’t need an introduction.
The curve of her brow, the sharp cut of her jaw—it’s all Urzo, all Santino. Their mother.
“You’re Elio’s son, alright.” She drags my father’s name over her tongue like a relic, her eyes crinkling at the edges. “I always wondered who inherited his face. You’re nearly his mirror.”
My throat tightens, but Camellia’s fingers suddenly wrap around mine, pulling me back.
“You look… healthy,” she says, scanning me with palpable relief. “I expected a ghost. Instead, here you stand.”
Eliza snorts. “Probably has everything to do with his fiancée.”
Camellia’s breath catches—sharp, audible.
She doesn’t jerk at the thought of my happiness. Rather, shebeams.
I’m blinded so much that I grow dizzy. It hurts to look at her for a whole new reason.
“You’ll get to meet her soon enough,” I promise. “Hell, you might like her. You both have some things in common.”
Locked away because their brother has an ulterior motive. Fell for the first man to save them. Ecetera ecetera.
