Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
G aetano
After Bianca is out for the night, I can’t stop thinking about all the ways to get ahead of problems we could have. I’m going to do everything in my power not to fuck this up again. Checking the time it’s still relatively early. I make a call to see where Sandro’s at and decide there’s no time like right now.
I jump in the shower and give Bianca a kiss before I leave. Up until now, I’ve given Sandro a wide berth—letting him guide the relationship. I don’t think we’ll ever be the way we were before, but I’m hoping somehow we could become friends again sometime in the future.
Sending a text to Sandro, I let him know I need to speak with him—about work.
The issue is, I’m at work all the damn time. It hasn’t been easy adding in what he needs me to do and still handling the money laundering. Not anyone can handle the money laundering, it requires knowledge of all we do and experience. So it isn’t something I can hand off. At the same time, Sandro hasn’t wanted anyone but me to be his second. For a few weeks, I wondered if he would.
Sandro is waiting in his office.
Per his usual, he doesn’t say anything, waiting for me to start the discussion.
So I tell him.
He’s quiet for a long time, considering my words. “What if you don’t need to handle the business of the property in old Vegas?”
I shrug. “It would mean I could do this and not lose my mind. The only problem comes with me not making any money if I do. If I could come here full time, maybe as vice-president on the paperwork.”
“You’re working for me and the Outfit. You deserve a salary from the Outfit. I’m not going to be able to pay you what you’re worth. Let me call Carlo.” He says as he picks up his phone.
Sandro relays what we’re thinking to Carlo. Fuck. Carlo isn’t open to it at all. He’s pissed, saying I don’t work hard enough to earn a salary.
I’m clocking Sandro opening a few documents and adding up shit on a calculator. I wonder what the hell he’s doing.
Shaking his head, he puts Carlo on mute. “How does six hundred a year sound?”
I consider the number. Right now, I have a little more than eighty-five million in the bank, spread around from investments. Before I took over the hotel, I earned around three hundred a year. Even though my money is doubling, so are my responsibilities. I nod. “That will do.”
When Sandro gives the number to Carlo, I wonder if Carlo is going to keel over from a fucking embolism or some shit.
It’s almost twenty minutes before Sandro can calm him down enough to get a word in edgewise.
Somehow it happens. Carlo agrees as long as the income for the hotel on the strip goes up by my salary. Then he slams the phone down with a last curse word.
“How the hell is that going to happen?” I wonder.
Laughing, “I don’t make a deal without being certain. The income is going to increase because of the traveling Van Gogh exhibit. It’s what Luca worked out when he went after bringing it here. The projection is for an extra seven hundred and fifty thousand.”
Gaetano
Sandro and I are a little easier now. I’m aware of how much it hurts Bianca that she’s no longer close to Sandro. She pretends she’s fine. Hell, she’s even had lunch with Carina a few times, yet she won’t talk about Sandro.
I’m trying to figure it out without being disrespectful to him.
“What’s the matter?” Sandro nods at me.
Giving in, I sit down in front of his desk. “Bianca, she’s…”
“Your problem now.” His hands go up.
“It’s things like that. She’s not as much of a brat as I called her. I told you long ago, she was what you made her, and I still believe it. Jesus, Sandro, the way Marissa walked away from her. One by one, she lost everyone. The only person she had left was you. And you left her in the end too. At least with her father, she didn’t have to see him walking away from her.”
He loses his smile. “It was a joke. And watch yourself.”
“Watch the truth?”
His jaw works. “It wasn’t like that.”
“It was exactly like that. Do you have any idea all the damn programming of fear she’s been living in that I have to undo? She’s afraid to pick what she wants to eat.” I give in and tell him what Bianca told me about her dad cheating on her mom and the awful shit they told her.
“My mom didn’t tell her that.” He’s begging me to lie to him.
I’m not letting him off easy. If I have to know, so does he. “She sure as fuck did.”
Shaking his head. “I had no idea…”
“Look, I know you didn’t. This isn’t about who is right or wrong, I just want my wife happy again. Could you please be the one to make the first move?” “Yeah, I will.” He assures me. Studying me, he nods. “Whatever was going on, you two worked it out?”
I shrug. “Yeah, it was…” Exhaling a laugh, I admit. “I needed to get over it, but it wasn’t easy. She got pregnant on purpose, without telling me.”
Throwing back his head, he laughs. “You thought you knew what you were getting into, you had no idea.”
Fucker. “What pissed me off was how unrepentant she was about it. All she said was it was the only way to get you to accept us without me dead.”
A hand goes over his mouth as he battles his smile. “She’s not wrong.”
Damn it. I hope he doesn’t tell her that. She’ll love being able to remind me of it in the future.
“Right up until I met and fell for Carina, only her pregnant would have saved you. After I understood what the hell it’s all about, I’d like to think I wouldn’t have been so pissed. Although, honestly, I can’t say for sure. Be careful, she’s going to run rings around you.”
“It’s no more than she deserves. I was put on this earth to be whatever she wants or needs.”
“How long have you loved her?”
“Since that first night,” I admit.
Shaking his head. “If nothing else, I’m glad you’ll help me keep me a part of the promise I made my mother. You’ll protect her from our world and give her the life and love she deserves.”
When I get home, it’s to Bianca glowing from Sandro’s phone call. He’s invited her for lunch the next day.
Bianca
I’m in the library studying the journals again, one last time before I do what I should have done after the first time I read them—destroy them. Finally, the horror I felt when I read them has left me. It’s replaced by sorrow for the girl. And she was a girl. She never grew up in the years they were married.
The first journal was started before she married Gaetano. There were two more, one was written in the last few months of her life. Apparently, her mother kept them after she died, and they were in a box here in the closet of the room. Gaetano ignored the box all these years, yet he admitted there was no way I would have understood why he was worried about us without reading them. As a way of holding out hope, he never threw them away.
I cringe to see so much of what I thought of Gaetano mirrored in the beginning of the journal. He had every right to be worried. At eighteen, I had no idea what the hell love was. Getting involved in Gaetano after the week I spent with him would have been a complete disaster. It’s really annoying how right Gaetano was.
My phone ringing pulls me out of the sad thoughts in the journal. It’s Sandro, and my stomach twists in nerves as I answer. “Hello?”
“Hey, I have some time tomorrow. Are you free for lunch?”
“Yeah, sounds good.” I work to keep my voice even.
“I’ll have the dining room in the restaurant downstairs emptied in the back for us.”
“Okay, see you then.”
I’ve barely ended the call with him when my phone rings again, it’s Nico. I’m surprised how I’m almost as happy as when Sandro called. Nico started calling me after I admitted I lied to Gaetano, and he moved into the hotel. The first call was a short one, simply him checking in on me. And one that came after Dario dropped in for dinner, and he found out Gaetano was gone.
Gradually, the calls went longer, and he was teaching me to play chess over the phone. It was fascinating. He’s kicked my ass three games in a row, although he was proud of how close I came to winning the last time.
“Nico, Sandro called me.” I can’t contain my happiness. “He invited me for lunch tomorrow.”
“There you go, little sister. I told you that he would come around.”
“Maybe...”
“Ah,” he chuckles. “You’re wondering how low you must grovel to earn his forgiveness.”
It’s not fair how easily Gaetano and his brothers can read me. “Maybe.”
“Your brother loves you. The grovel will be there on both sides. However, it is a part of life. As long as your apology is sincere, he will accept it and move on. It’s a part of life, little sister. The sting of needing to face your error is enough to grow from the experience so that next time you will handle things differently.”
“You make it sound easy.” I sigh. Is it really?
“I believe we make things harder than they need to be.”
The next day, as I get to the restaurant almost ten minutes early, I’m hoping he’s right. Maybe he is, because instead of me waiting for Sandro, he’s already waiting for me.
His eyes widen when he sees me. I go easily into the arms he holds out to me. It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten a hug from him, and I hate that I burst into tears the minute he closes his arms around me.
“I’m sorry.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. Carina was in tears when I didn’t immediately kiss her the moment I came through the door last night. I’m surprised by how different you look.” He helps me into the seat across from him.
I run a hand over my large stomach. “Well, I am about to pop. So a little different.”
Shaking his head. “It’s not you pregnant. You’re just…I don’t know, different. Gaetano has been good for you.”
“Yes, he has. From the very beginning. It’s why I was so certain he was what I wanted. He didn’t have to be, and he fought against what he felt.”
“I wanted to say I was sorry about all the shit Mom and Dad?—”
Laying my hand on his, I shake my head. “Don’t apologize for them. There’s nothing for you to say sorry for. That was all them. You were the only reason I had a somewhat normal childhood. Which is why when Carina appeared and you were so…”
“I screwed up, with both you and Carina. It wasn’t easy to see because I was fighting against loving her. She was all I saw and all I cared about in the moment. I took your love and trust for granted because I always saw you as there, but in the background, because you weren’t supposed to be in my world. I always believed I would be on the periphery of your world, a two-point-three kids, husband with an office in the corner, civilian world. The thing I forgot was to tell you that.” He sighs.
It isn’t easy to see him as the tears won’t stop falling.
“It never crossed my mind to tell you. A part of me was worried you would think I didn’t want you in my life. Another part of me believed that’s what happens when you grow up, you grow apart. Gradually, slowly, perhaps, but I didn’t think anything else was an option because of the promise I made Mom. Now that I know what she said—fuck that. Whatever life you want to live is up to you.”
“I want more than two-point-three kids, and I want our kids to grow up together, to play together. For us to argue about whose house we cook out next weekend. I want to trade weekends for me and Carina to get a break from our kids. That’s the life I want to live.”
“Sounds like a pretty good life. Since we’re having girls and they’re far easier, it’s going to be a two-to-one situation. We’re also always going to cook out at your place because Gaetano is an amazing cook.”
I laugh. “We’ll see about that.”
I’m still smiling when Gaetano gets home hours later. The moment he walks into the house, he pulls me into his arms and onto his lap. Pressing a kiss to my stomach, he greets our son. I have to admit it’s the most adorable thing, the way he talks to my stomach. One of the books he read suggested it, and so every night he took time to talk to our baby. Sometimes he told him about his day, and other times he told him about how to beat his Uncle Nico at chess.
A hand goes into my hair to hold me still as he kisses me gently. “How are you feeling?”
“Good. I had a really good talk with Sandro. And I think we’re going to be okay.”
He shakes his head. “Not good, you’re going to be great.”
“The same we’re going to be?”
“Almost as great as us.”
“Even if I had lost him, you would have been worth it. Being loved by you is better than…” For once, I’m lost for words.
Running a hand through my hair, he shakes his head. “I understand. As much as I saw him as my brother, you’re my heart, the blood that flows through my veins. Nothing in this world comes before you—not even me.”
Gaetano
We find a house close to the hotel on the strip, so it’s only a fifteen-minute drive. Thankfully, the only thing that needs to be done is some painting and putting up wallpaper.
There’s also the need to build cat trees for the laziest cats I’ve encountered in my life. I broke down and got Bianca the cats she’s always wanted. She chose two of the long-haired Ragdoll cats that were constantly at her side. They annoyed me because I had to remove one to get to her.
Bianca was so grateful for the cats, I felt guilty that I took so long to get them. Especially when I always knew I was going to get her one. Since I remembered the way she said she wanted one, the minute she got her own place. So they were always going to be something she would get.
Although it took a minute to get used to the balls of fur in the house. Sasha and Minka were kind of cute.
Only two weeks before Bianca’s due date, everything is perfect in the house.
I wake up before my alarm goes off with Bianca in my arms, the only way I like waking up. Running a hand over our son, I sigh.
“Do you forgive me?” The words are a whisper.
“For what?” I wonder.
“For lying about being on the pill. And for having a boy instead of a girl.” Chocolate is soft and melting.
“There’s nothing to forgive. I got you. That’s the only thing I care about. Everything else is a cherry on top.”
“Good, because I woke up around four this morning from contractions, and they are still going. Now they’re only about three minutes apart.”
Laughing, I kiss her. “Let’s go have this baby.”
Three hours later, my son is in his mother’s arms sleeping.
“How the hell are you so beautiful when you had a baby an hour ago?”
She giggles. “First time baby luck. By the third one, it will be very different.”
“Three?” My eyebrows go up.
“Okay, really, I want five. But I’m willing to compromise at four.”
I’m stunned. I knew she wanted more kids, but four?
“Give in now, amore. You’re going to in the end.” She laughs.
“And why would that be?”
“Because you love me.” She says proudly.
“Very true. Four it is.” I sigh. “At least I’ll get my girl in all of that mix.”