Never Say Never (Vitale Brothers Book 4)

Epilogue

Benito”s placewas full of people. Each of the brothers and their spouses. I was in a house full of criminals, and I didn”t feel nearly as weird as I should have. The girls ran right over to Benito with a smile plastered on their faces. With the holidays quickly approaching, I realized it wouldn”t be such a lonely Christmas this year. We had Paolo and his family now.

”Uncle Benny,” they shouted in unison.

”Since when did the girls start calling Benito uncle?” I asked.

Harlow came out of nowhere, moving from behind me. ”Your guess is as good as mine. They love him.” He sighed, staring at my kids as if they were aliens, instead of children.

”Huh, guess that”s good.”

”Good for who? Now my husband is thinking we should potentially have two more kids. I”m struggling with the one we got.” Harlow scooped his hair up and let fall only to repeat the motion.

”I love my girls, but I think I”m good on kids. There was little to no sleep the first few months. Don’t think I have it in me at my age.” Thinking about starting over sent chills over my arms.

”Exactly, and not to mention the shit and puke everywhere. Give me a dead body to clean up any day, but the stuff that comes out of babies? No, thank you.”

I opened and closed my mouth. Was it weird I understood Harlow? I definitely found working cases and scouring over multiple gruesome crime scenes was a lot easier then when the girls had blow outs or got the flu.

”York.” Ash raced across the penthouse with a smile on his young face. He really looked out of place amongst the room full of hard-cut men.

”Hey, Ash.”

The young man smiled even brighter.

”Oh, yeah, the paper you sent me was great,” I said. “I had a few pointers, from an agent”s point of view. I left them on the document you emailed.”

”Really? You didn”t have to,” Ash said, nearly blushing. “Thank you. Anything helps.”

Harlow ruffled Ash”s hair. ”Why are you taking the class again? It”s not to become a fed, right?” He glared at me as if I was influencing Ash into a bad profession.

”You”re not going to let this go, are you?” I asked.

Harlow shrugged. ”You going to stop being the enemy?”

”I told you, I switched divisions. I”m now in the behavioral analysis unit.”

”Still a fed.”

There was no pleasing someone like Harlow, although that would never be my priority. Gianpaolo and I talked it over. Being an agent meant the world to me, and giving it up felt like cutting off a piece of myself. I didn”t have to stay in organized crime. It was fun, but I had plenty of interests elsewhere. The current director of the department now did ask for me to come on to consult from time to time. I wasn”t going to turn him down. I still wanted the streets to be safe and the world to be a better place. I just wasn”t willing to get rid of my boyfriend and his family.

Ash ignored both of us. He stared behind me. Right at the door.

”Where is Gin?” I asked. He was the only one missing. Enzo had Tex next to him and Gianpaolo was talking to Benito while they played with the kids.

”I don”t know,” Ash twisted his fingers, a nervous look coming over his face. ”He hasn”t been answering my calls or texts and that”s not like him. I know Benito said it”s safe to be out and about again, but I haven’t been able to get a hold of him.” Ash pulled his phone out and showed the multitude of messages and calls.

I squinted, reading one strange line. ”Why the hell did you threaten his hammer?”

Harlow groaned. Ash rolled his eyes, putting his phone away.

”Because he loves that stupid thing. He sleeps with it, bathes with it, I swear he started taking it out on dates.”

”You”re competing with a hammer?” I asked, making sure I understood exactly what he meant.

”Pretty much,” Harlow confirmed.

The elevator doors on the opposite side of the room opened. Ash whirled around and was gone before I could question him any further. He was at Giancarlo”s side in a matter of seconds. But that wasn”t what grabbed my attention the most; it was the balled up blanket in his arms.

”Gin!”

”Shh, puppy, you”ll wake the baby,” Giancarlo chastised.

”He didn”t,” Harlow whispered. ”Ugh, this family will drive you to drink.” He took one look my way. ”I have wine.”

”I”ll take a glass.” I had a feeling I was going to need it.

The girls ran over to Giancarlo and he instantly dropped down so they could see the baby in his arms.

”It”s real,” I pointed out. ”How?”

”Who the fuck knows with him? I think Benito”s nuts, and then I look at Giancarlo and remember I got the second easy brother.” Harlow sighed.

I looked at Enzo as he took another step away, keeping a hold on Tex as if the baby was a bomb threat. He was probably the easy brother. Gianpaolo wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. I should be freaking out a whole lot more, but I wasn”t even sure what I should do or if I needed to do anything. Benito walked over to us and handed Emika over to me before storming toward Giancarlo. I looked down at the sweet child in my arms, and remembered the first time I held my girls. It had been terrifying holding something so small and fragile. I”d been filled with determination and love. And then they’d grown up on me.

Maybe one more wouldn’t be so bad.

Harlow came back over with the glasses of wine. He paused for a second before kissing Emika”s forehead. He sipped his wine and held out the other for me.

The arguments started. Gin was adamant about keeping a baby that no one knew where he got it from. Paolo, my idiotic boyfriend, was on his twin”s side. Enzo wanted nothing to do with the baby, and Benito was against it all. In a strange twist of fate, I was in agreement with Benito Vitale. If someone would have said I’d choose his side prior to being with Paolo, I”d have punched them in the face and gotten them fired.

”You can”t steal a baby,” Benito said.

”I didn”t. I paid the mother a lot of money, and before you all start crying, she was giving him up for adoption anyway. I just beat all the other offers,” Gin said.

”Gin, that”s a real baby,” Ash said.

”Yeah! Benito got married first and had his baby before me. Now Paolo has kids. It”s not fair,” Giancarlo pointed out.

”Has this been a running argument?” I asked Harlow.

”Yes, he”s attempted to steal Emika a few times. Benito beat his ass, and I had to threaten his life. The man is baby obsessed.”

I wasn”t too sure if that helped or hurt his case. I could understand wanting a family, I had wanted one. It was in my plans since I was young, but Giancarlo didn”t scream family man, let alone a dad. Then again, none of them did. Each of them had thick case files full to the brim of their crimes that pointed to them being heartless bastards. In my opinion, however, that was far from the truth. The Vitales loved hard and they viciously protected those they held dear. That now included me and the girls.

The argument raged on, the baby surprisingly calm in Giancarlo”s arms. Any time he started to fuss, the big mafia man would shake him gently. Giancarlo on paper, terrible father. Giancarlo in person? Rocking a baby and keeping his voice down. He was different. A knock at the door pulled my attention. Harlow glanced over and sighed before heading over to it.

I followed him, not sure what to do. I didn”t want to be pulled into the argument. He opened the door, and Tony stood outside of it. He glanced inside but stayed out in the hall. That was for the best. If he ever got too close to me, I had an ass whooping ready with his name on it.

His eyes darted from me to Harlow. ”I”m headed home to see Caleb but before I go, there”s someone downstairs asking to be let up. Wanted to mention it to Benito before I gave the clear.”

Harlow didn”t bother getting his husband. ”What do they want? We are in the middle of a crisis.”

Tony took a step back. ”Some young guy, saying his father”s the boss of the Vitale family.”

I followed Tony”s body language, holding Emika tight, and took a step back. Murderous intent rolled off Harlow; he turned on his heels and stormed toward Benito.

This was the family I willingly accepted. ”Girls, playroom now.” They didn”t question, but fled to the room that had apparently used to be a gym.

How is he so good at that? They don’t listen to me at all? I need to ask him when the world isn’t on fire.

Pure insanity erupted in the penthouse, reminding me that Paolo needed to choose a new place to live. As much as I loved my girls having a family to hang out with, their crazy was bound to rub off on us at some point. I locked eyes with Paolo for a brief second and he grinned.

This was my family now. Insanity and all.