“Listen, my father wants to see you both.” Raf glances at me and I can tell something’s not right. “He wanted to be here, but?—”
“Papa’s in bad health,” I finish for him, almost daring Luca to make a comment.
Instead, my husband only nods. “I’d be happy to meet with him.”
“Very good. Then we’ll head over now.” Raf rubs his hands together and glances at the looming Enzo and Stefano. “But only family.”
“What, my men aren’t family?” Nobody speaks, and Raf’s clearly uncomfortable. But Luca only grins and waves a hand. “No worries. They have to get back to work.”
“Job’s never over,” Enzo says, and he leaves with the hulking Stefano beside him.
“Is Papa okay?” I ask Raf once we’re moving again.
He only glances at me, his expression grim. “He’ll tell you everything soon.”
What started out as a bad day looks like it’s only going to get worse.
Chapter 11
Fiorella
Ikeep looking down at my finger. I swear, the ring weighs like twenty pounds. I can’t stop thinking about it every time I move.
“Would you stop playing with that thing?” Elisa whispers to me as Raf and Luca walk together through my family’s house. Papa’s office is tucked in the back of the first floor. We live in a spacious Victorian home in the heart of the organization’s territory out on the fringes of the city in a place called Germantown. It’s still technically Philadelphia, though barely. There’s more space in the suburbs for garages. Most of the cars stolen in the city make their way out here sooner or later.
“Just keep thinking how weird this is.” I glance at my little sister. She seems too young to me sometimes. I know I did the right thing, marrying Luca, because it means she’ll have a chance to live her own life. I’d do it again a thousand more times if I had to.
Especially since she’d never run away if she were in my place.
“Weird but also kind of good?” She slows slightly and lets the men get further ahead. “What do you think of your husband?” She’s got a mischievous little smile on her face.
“I don’t think anything of him.” I give her a hard stare in return. “He’s just some guy.”
“Just some extremely attractive guy.”
“Elisa.” I elbow her lightly. “Don’t start this.”
“What? I’m just saying. You two are married now, right? So you can—” Her eyebrows waggle dramatically.
“There won’t be any—” I do the eyebrow thing, but exaggerated. “Okay? Can you stop with that? We’re not ten years old.”
“Right, sorry, forgot you were so mature. I’ll call it sexual intercourse from now on.”
“That’s somehow worse.”
“I’m just saying, he’s hot, you’re hot, why not get involved?”
I cover my face with my hand—and feel the cold metal of the ring against my nose. “Why does my sister insist on talking about my sex life? It’s a little weird.”
“I’m living vicariously through you. Also, we have no boundaries. You know that.”
“Maybe we should get some,” I mumble.
She slips her hand through my arm. “Why bother starting now? Seriously, Fio, I love you. I just want you to be happy. And sometimes you need a little push in the right direction.”
“There’s noright directionwith this guy, okay? There’s no future with him.”
She shoots me a quick look. “Don’t talk like that.”
