My brother nodded, moving ahead of Isa and me, opening the car door to the back seat. I gently pushed Isa inside, bending down and pulling the seat belt over her. She was quiet, offering no resistance. I looked up and met her eyes. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking now, but God, I wish I could.
I tucked a strand of her dark-brown hair behind her ear, taking in her face for a moment, before I straightened. Matteo was standing behind me. He shot me a strange look, one that I ignored. All my brothers were astute men. We had to be, given our line of work.
They didn’t miss much. And I didn’t want to think why Matteo might be looking at me like that. We climbed into thecar, and I pulled out of there, heading straight for Valentino’s apartment.
Valentino was pacingup and down his apartment when we arrived.
“Thank God,” he said, rushing over to Isa and pulling her into a big hug.
She smiled and hugged him back. “Tino!”
He frowned and pulled away, looking at her before turning to me. “Is she drunk?”
I nodded.
He closed his eyes and muttered something under his breath. When he opened them, he seemed to have aged a few decades. “I’m going to put her to bed. You guys should go home and get some rest as well. And thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me for that,” I said. “Andyoushould get some rest.”
“I don’t think I can. I keep seeing the image of her lying in the middle of the street, bleeding out.”
I got that. I didn’t think I would be getting any sleep either.
“Try anyway,” I said, my eyes moving over to Isa. I didn’t want to leave her. I wanted to stay for the night and make sure she was okay. I didn’t have the right to do that, and logically, I knew she would be okay. We would talk about whatever had happened to make her feel like she needed to leave her bedroom in the middle of the night tomorrow, when everyone had a clearer head. There was no reason for me to stay behind except for the fact that I didn’t want to leave her.
Matteo and I left the apartment shortly after. I could feel his eyes on me, but I ignored him. Not that ignoring him had ever worked before.
“I don’t think I have ever seen you lose your cool like that,” Matteo said.
I glanced sideways at him but didn’t say anything. I didn’t know what to say.
“I heard something at Luna’s birthday party.”
I grunted in response.
He continued, not at all put off by my nonanswer, “Joseph is trying to marry Isa off. But there has been a lot of resistance from Valentino, and we both know Joseph can’t do shit without Valentino’s approval.”
I had heard about that before. Joseph was a part of the traditionalist men who had served during my father’s time. They still wanted the tradition of arranged marriage to be practiced within the organization. It wasn’t a surprise that he wanted to be the one to set up Isa’s marriage. The fucker never did anything without purpose, so his setting up an arranged marriage for Isa would have to be to his advantage. Not that I thought he could do much damage now, considering the fucker was forced into retirement by Massimo.
He should count himself lucky. Most men in the life didn’t make it to retirement.
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, already having a small inkling of where he was going.
“I’m sure Valentino wouldn't be opposed to the idea of you marrying his sister. And we both know Isa has had a crush on you since she was a teenager.”
“Stop talking nonsense,” I said. “She’s just a friend’s sister. And the last thing I want to do is participate in the archaic practice of arranged marriage.”
“Well, I heard Aldo Valachi is pushing for one with you and his youngest daughter.”
Yeah, that would never happen. Not only because, like Joseph, Aldo was a part of the traditionalists who wanted things to go back to the way they were, but because the thought of spending the rest of my life with Chiara left a bad taste in my mouth.
I had never taken to it. Our parents’ marriage was arranged, and our mom spent most of her life fearing and resenting her husband. And my piece-of-shit father spent most of his life terrorizing his family. I had never seen one good example of an arranged marriage, save for Massimo and Luna’s marriage. But they weren’t the norm—they were the exception.
The idea of an arranged marriage made me think the women didn’t have much choice in the matter. I knew Valentino felt the same way.
He wasn’t just opposing his father’s idea about setting up an arranged marriage for Isa. He was fighting against it in its entirety. And once it was safe to do so, he would let the choice of who she wanted to marry be up to Isa. Besides, I doubted I would be his first choice for his sister. He knew she was too good for me, and I agreed with him.
The elevator doors opened, and I got out before Matteo could say anything else. There wasn’t anything left to say. And the last thing I wanted to do with my time was to spend it getting into the what-ifs.
