Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Leon
Just like she said she would be, Rayna is up at seven in the morning, baking muffins while Vaughn babbles quietly in a wrap on the front of her body. Dad and Apollo are there too, sipping on their coffees and helping her when she needs something from the fridge, or tools from the cabinets.
The two of them look perfectly rested despite spending most of the night up with me.
Neither of them is sporting the same dark under eyes that shade my face.
I’ve pulled all-nighters before—we all have had our fair share of sleepless nights—but I’m exhausted from the emotional toll yesterday took on me.
The mortuary people were delayed and didn’t end up making it to the house until after my family arrived, which actually worked out for the better.
Dad insisted on handling them, so I didn’t need to watch my dead wife being removed from our home in a body bag.
I’m not sure it would have negatively affected me any more than watching her last breath did, but it was a nice gesture from my dad either way.
After Cleo was officially gone, nothing changed.
The house was still cloaked in the silence of night, and my brother and father were still by my side.
We sat in the den, rotating topics of conversation in between bouts of silence.
We talked about The Outfit, mafia politics, and nothing that could even remotely deal with Cleo, or even death itself.
By the time the sun started to come up, we all agreed to go our separate ways and get ready for the new day.
For my part, I took another shower. A cold one this time, to try and wake myself up.
I’m not sure how helpful it was.
Rayna gasps playfully as she sees me walking into the kitchen.
“Oh my gosh, who is that?” she asks, her voice coming out with added enthusiasm as she looks down at her son. “Is that your uncle Leon? Do you want to tell him that we’re making his favorite muffins, hmmm?”
Vaughn responds by blinking up at her dreamily and blowing a raspberry.
Dad chuckles quietly and I can’t fight the smile that comes over me. Babies tend to have that effect on people—breaking through the bleakest of days with their effortless sunshine. Try being mopey when there’s a precious little creature giggling near you, it’s not easy.
“I just put the blueberry in the oven for the boys, and I’m almost done with your chocolate ones,” Rayna informs me happily. “There’s more coffee if you want it.”
“Yeah, all right.”
Apollo passes me a mug and I fill it up with dark roast, inhaling the steam.
“Boys still asleep?” Dad asks as I sit at the counter next to him.
I nod and grunt. “I just checked on them, they’re still knocked out but they’ll miraculously be awake and full of energy in an hour, I bet.”
“It doesn’t take much to energize kids at that age,” he points out with a small chuckle. “You boys used to run around the house for hours. Only Cesar could keep up with you, I was already getting too old.”
Apollo scoffs, shaking his head. “You say that as if you’re not still giving us a run for our money at this age.”
Dad tries and fails to hide a smug grin. “And if you’re lucky, you’ll inherit my ability to age so well. Try having as many children as possible, they tend to keep you young.”
“Or give you grays,” Apollo counters with a huff.
“That too,” Dad agrees, chuckling. “I’ve been told gray looks good on me.”
“That’s because you barely have any,” I inform him dryly. “You have salt and pepper going on at most.”
“Women love that,” Rayna quips, wiggling her brows playfully.
“Behave,” Apollo warns, narrowing his eyes.
She snorts at him. “He could be your older twin, you drama queen. You look exactly alike, and you know you have nothing to worry about. You’re the only P-R-I-C-K that I need in my life, love.
” Rayna spells out the insult as she’s become accustomed to doing since giving birth.
Not that Vaughn is old enough to understand her or mimic her yet, but with as much as she curses, it’s probably smart to get into the habit of censoring herself.
Turning around without another word, she opens the oven and quickly pops the chocolate muffin tray inside while staying to the side so that the baby doesn’t get a face full of hot air.
She probably didn’t get a full night’s sleep either since she had to come here in the middle of the night, but with a newborn, she’s used to being woken up.
At least where she lives, there’s plenty of help.
I’ve gotten used to being farther away from my family, but I imagine that having extra hands here is going to be vital.
“Jade and Dmitri are back from California, aren’t they?” I ask suddenly, wondering how my little sister would take my father up and leaving while she slept.
She and her husband went to visit his family on the West Coast after the birth of her newest baby, Viktor.
In a couple of years, they’ll move there permanently so Dmitri can take his place as the future Pakhan.
The fact that they’ve been able to live with our family for so long is highly unusual but something that all of us appreciate after missing out on seventeen years of her life.
“They’ve been home for a couple days,” Dad confirms. “Dmitri was awake when you called, so he told her when she woke up this morning. I called Matteo, though.”
Matteo, my youngest brother, who fell in love and then joined the fucking Bratva.
He met Dmitri’s little sister Anya at Jade’s wedding, and struck up a virtual friendship with the girl shortly after.
I think a lot of us expected him to fall for the pretty Russian ballerina, but I doubt any of us saw him changing his entire life for her.
Instead of asking her to marry him and become a Moretti, he worked his way into becoming a Morozov with her.
Another family might disown him and label him a traitor, they might even try to kill him without taking any excuse as valid enough for his actions.
But not us. Morettis are for life, and even though he’s Bratva now, he’s still my little brother.
The Morozovs have become a close ally since Jade’s marriage and the birth of her children, and now that connection will only be solidified further.
“He’s not coming home, is he?” I ask, worried that he would feel the need to drop everything and fly out here. There’s nothing for him to do here, and disturbing his life now that he’s found his happiness would only make me feel worse.
“He’ll come for the funeral,” Dad replies with a grunt. “Or if you ask him to—”
“I won’t,” I interrupt, shaking my head. “He should stay where he’s needed.”
It’s not that I don’t love my little brother or his company, quite the contrary actually.
He’s a good time, and he always knows how to cheer people up.
He’s kind and compassionate, and I never regret spending time with him.
But I have all the support I need, any more and it would start to get crowded around here.
Clearing his throat, Dad gets my attention again. “Melani is pretty upset. Emilio had to step in and prevent her from coming here. Obviously, she’s going to want to talk to you eventually. But the kids come first, and she needs to cool down before she comes here.”
“Cool down?” I ask with a frown. “She’s mad?”
Dad hesitates. “She isn’t fully convinced that you didn’t know she was sick.”
My eyebrows draw in, fast and hard. “What the fuck?”
“She’s just grieving, Son,” he tells me with a sigh. “She’s mad that Cleo hid something like this from her, and she can’t take it out on her friend so—”
“So I’m the next best thing,” I fill in, sighing and tipping my head back to groan.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be here,” Rayna says, her voice suddenly devoid of its previous pep. “If she talks to you some type of way I’ll drag her out of this house by her bottle-blonde hair.”
Dad winces, Apollo smirks, and I just chuckle.
“Thanks for the offer.”
She grins. “Anytime.”
Rayna and Melani haven’t made up since they got into a screaming match over Melani’s younger sister Sienna.
Rayna and Sienna have been friends for years, despite having a small age gap between them.
They existed as prisoners in the same territory.
Rayna in an abusive marriage, and Sienna trapped by her parents who operated within the Casa Nostra just as Rayna’s husband did.
The girl was not only held captive in her childhood home but apparently abused for years, forced into plastic surgery by her mother while Melani sat happy and healthy in a loving marriage—seemingly forgetting about Sienna completely.
It was a whole situation, and one that hasn’t really been resolved.
Even since Elio and Nico liberated the now young woman from her family.
Even with all of the details that were spilled during that family dinner fight, no one really has the whole story.
Well, apart from Emilio and Melani I imagine.
My brother has been madly in love and obsessed with his wife since almost immediately after being arranged to marry her years and years ago.
They have two beautiful children, and live a lavish life together in their own little area.
If Melani didn’t have some kind of reason for leaving Sienna behind, I imagine the revealing of her circumstances would have caused more of a rift between her and my brother.
Whatever reasons she may have, she never shared them with Cleo.
So, I guess both of them had their secrets.
Though, one might argue that Cleo’s was bigger.
As far as I know, Melani’s secrets haven’t concealed something as permanent as a terminal illness.
Death is something that you can’t come back from, and I don’t know if Cleo will regret not confiding in her only friend.
Can you even feel regret after you’re gone?
I doubt it.
A ding sounds and Apollo stands up to get the blueberry muffins out so that his wife doesn’t have to.
She smiles at him gratefully and presses a little kiss to their son’s head.
The little moment is quickly interrupted by the sound of tiny feet slapping against hardwood floors.
Dad meets my eye with a slow nod and I take a deep breath before turning around to greet my boys—knowing full well that their lives are about to change forever.
“Aunt Rain-uhh!” Leo screeches in surprise, a giant smile taking over his sleepy face.
“You’re here!” He picks up speed, rushing over to her in his blue striped pajamas.
Bastian trails quietly behind him, rubbing his eyes and noting all the people in the kitchen.
He doesn’t look confused, or as excited as his little brother.
“Hello, handsome boy,” Rayna says happily, crouching down to greet him with a warm hug. “I am here. And I brought some of your favorite people with me! Papa, baby Vaughn, and Uncle Apollo, isn’t that fun?”
“Yes,” Leo agrees enthusiastically. “Hi, baby. I hold him today?”
“Of course,” his aunt tells him with a chuckle. “In a little bit, okay? Did you sleep well, mister?”
While Rayna speaks to my youngest, Bastian climbs up to sit with Dad and me. Muttering tired greetings to the both of us. A big yawn seems to wake him up further and he rubs his eyes once more.
“Hi, Papa,” he says again, looking up at my dad. “Are you here for breakfast?”
“I’m here to see you,” Dad tells him, patting him on the shoulder. “Your father and I are going to talk to you boys today, is that all right?”
Bastian shrugs. “Okay. Is it about Mom?
He’s too damn smart. “Yeah, bud,” I answer. “It is.”
“Okay.”
“Why don’t we get you two some juice, hmm?” Rayna suggests. “And we can go sit in the living room while Uncle Apollo guards the last batch of muffins. Once we talk, they’ll have cooled down and we can eat breakfast together. Does that sound nice?”
“Love muffins,” Leo replies happily. “And juice.”
That settles it.
The boys get their juice, and Apollo takes Vaughn so Rayna can give my boys all of her attention for our talk. Leo loves the baby, but he’s also elated that he can sit in his aunt’s lap now that it’s free as we settle into the family room.
Everyone looks to me to start, and I know that I could pass this responsibility off to my father.
He would take it in stride, and he wouldn’t mind stepping up.
But I know it’s something that I need to do.
Something I’ll regret not handling myself in the future if I do this wrong.
I know what to say, and now I just need to say it.
“Boys, you know how Mama and Daddy have been talking to you about Mama being sick? That she wouldn’t be getting better?”
“Yes,” Bastian replies while Leo nods.
“Well, last night…Mama had to go. She was too sick, and she died. Do you remember when we talked about dying?”
Their little faces don’t fall with crushing disappointment, or crumble with instant sadness. But they both shift a little. They’re stiff and unsure. You can only prepare young children for so much, but so far, it seems like we may have been doing the right thing these last couple of months.
“Do you remember how I told you once Mama got too sick, we wouldn’t be able to see her anymore? That she would pass away, and that dying would mean Mama couldn’t hurt anymore?”
Both Bastian and Leo nod along, eyes widening only slightly.
“Well, that’s what happened. She’s not hurting anymore, but that means we can’t see her anymore. So…Aunt Rayna, Uncle Apollo, and baby Vaughn are going to stay here with us for awhile now, okay? They’ll be here to help Daddy, and to help the two of you. To love us and spend time with us.”
“Really?” Bastian asks, looking almost relieved somehow.
“Really,” Rayna answers him, smiling waterily.
She reaches out and caresses his cheek softly.
“And I’m going to be here for anything you need.
If you have any big feelings about missing your mama, you can always tell me.
You can tell your daddy, your papa, and your uncle Apollo anything too. We’re all here for you.”
“That’s right,” Dad agrees decidedly. “I’m going to stay tonight, and then I have to go home. But if you want me to come back, you just tell your aunt and she’ll call me to get me back here. Okay?”
Minutes of assurances and repeated explanations of what’s happened go on before we decide that the boys have had enough.
There are no tears, only sad faces and confused questions.
But I know that no tears on day one doesn’t mean they won’t come.
For now, my children put away the worst of their sadness and dig into their muffins, planning out the rest of their day with ease.
I just hope that when the tears do come, they don’t hurt.