Chapter 19
The silence inside the cabin was deep and comforting. For the first time in many days, there were no gunshots, no chases, no fear hanging in the air. Just the soft whisper of the wind against the mountain pines.
In the master bedroom, Vincenzo slept deeply, one of his large, warm hands still resting on Sara’s belly even in his sleep. As if, even unconscious, he needed to confirm that the two of them were there. Safe. Alive. With him.
They had both passed out from exhaustion right after dinner. The sun had set hours ago. The night was calm, almost magical.
Until…
“YOU ALMOST DROVE THE CAR INTO THE RIVER!”
The voice thundered through the entire cabin.
Sara’s eyes flew open in alarm. Vincenzo woke in the same second, his whole body tense.
“No I didn’t!” another voice shot back, just as loud. “Because I pulled the brake before the curve, genius!”
“You pulled the wrong brake!”
“But it worked!”
“BY LUCK!”
“You barely even drive and you want to lecture people. Next time you drive, Mr. Getaway Driver.”
Vincenzo slowly closed his eyes, recognizing those voices with a mix of relief and an oncoming headache.
“Looks like they’re alive…” he murmured, his voice rough with sleep.
Sara blinked, still confused.
“Who?”
He sighed, rubbing his face.
“My brothers.”
Sara gave a weak, sleepy smile. “Oh… Good… They’re okay… and loud.”
The voices kept echoing through the house until the two brothers burst into the living room, talking over each other, gesturing wildly, and giving a thoroughly confused account of how they had survived the attack.
When Vincenzo appeared in the hallway, the two of them threw their arms open dramatically.
“WE’RE ALIVE!”
“Finally… Care to explain why you never got in touch?” Vincenzo asked, crossing his arms. His expression was closed.
“He looks mad…”
“You’re yelling,” Mateo warned.
Lorenzo spoke up. “Sorry. Our phones got smashed during the fights with the guys chasing us. You missed the party—half a dozen of them bit the dust…”
“Unfortunately, little brother,” Mateo continued, “on the way back, when we hit that dirt road in the car, it broke down…”
“Both of you keep it down or I’ll knock you out myself,” Vincenzo cut in, his voice low and dangerous.
Immediate silence.
The two of them froze for a full three seconds.
“Is she sleeping?” Lorenzo asked.
“Who?” Mateo looked genuinely confused.
“The pregnant girl… his woman…”
“It’s Sara, you idiot… Our sister-in-law. What we need is sleep…”
Vincenzo took a deep breath, already losing patience.
“Can you focus on the main subject? What happened?”
Finally the two seemed to remember what actually mattered and started explaining at the same time, talking over each other:
“The car got hit.”
“Fuel leak.”
“We ran out of gas.”
“No phones.”
“Lost.”
“Starving.”
“Abandoned.”
“Almost became local legends.”
“I was already accepting becoming Tarzan.”
“You don’t even have the build for that, Lorenzo. You can’t even start a fire right.”
“I’ll learn. Or do you think Tarzan was born knowing how?”
Mateo held back a laugh.
Vincenzo dragged a hand down his face, visibly relieved but still irritated.
“I thought you guys were dead… I was worried, and you’re making jokes about a serious situation.”
The two stayed quiet for a moment. Then one of them smiled.
“You missed us?”
Mateo grinned. “That means a lot to us, little brother.”
Vincenzo shook his head and stood up, leaving the two alone in the living room. When he turned to head back to the bedroom, he stopped.
Sara was standing in the hallway.
Completely disheveled, wearing a lacy robe that gently outlined her round belly. Eyes still heavy with sleep, hair a mess. Small. Fragile. Beautiful.
The two brothers froze, leaning in a little to get a better look.
“My God… What a beautiful woman…”
“Stop lusting after her. She belongs to our brother.”
“But she really is pretty… and so cute with that sleepy face.”
Vincenzo shot them a lethal look. The two immediately stared at the ceiling and off to the side, pretending innocence.
He walked over to Sara and gently cupped her face.
“Amore… I told you to stay in bed.”
She rubbed her eyes, still half-asleep.
“Hmm?”
“I told you to rest.”
She made an adorable little pout.
“I know.”
“So?”
She took a few seconds, as if gathering courage. Then she spoke softly:
“I wanted some cake…”
Silence.
Vincenzo blinked.
“What?”
“A cake.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“Sara…”
“With filling.”
The brothers exchanged looks.
Mateo spoke, trying to sound serious:
“From my limited knowledge of pregnant women, she seems to be having a craving.”
Lorenzo continued, dramatic and theatrical:
“That means if you don’t find that cake within the next few hours, you’ll be cursed for all eternity.”
“Now I want some too… Is this contagious?” Mateo asked.
Lorenzo looked at his brother. “Now that you said it, I want a chocolate cake too.”
Vincenzo let out an incredulous laugh.
“Amore…”
“With two fillings.”
“Two?”
“Maybe three.”
The brothers stood up at the same time.
“I’LL GO!”
“NO! I’LL GO!”
“HAVE YOU LOOKED IN A MIRROR? YOU LOOK LIKE HELL AND YOU WANT TO GO OUT LIKE THAT?!”
“MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!”
Lorenzo announced, “WE’RE GOING… OPERATION CAKE WITH…”
Mateo looked at his brother. “TWO FILLINGS!”
He continued, “OUR NIECE WANTS TWO FILLINGS AND SHE’S HOLDING HER MOM HOSTAGE TO GET WHAT SHE WANTS! THIS IS AN IMPORTANT MISSION, brOTHERS.”
Vincenzo couldn’t believe it. It was past eleven at night.
“Just go already. I can’t leave her here alone.”
The two froze.
“For real?”
“Yes.”
“Can we take a car?”
“Yes.”
“And soldiers?”
“Just go, for fuck’s sake!!”
The two took off running like kids.
One hour later… nothing.Two hours later… nothing.
Sara was sitting on the couch, tears in her eyes.
“They’re never coming back.”
“Of course they are, amore,” Vincenzo answered, sitting beside her.
“They ran off with my cake.”
Vincenzo laughed. “Of course not, sweetheart… You’re going to get your cake.”
“What if there was an accident and the cake fell in a river?”
“Your cake is already on its way, Sara…”
“I’m never going to eat my cake.”
She started whimpering, sinking dramatically into the couch. Vincenzo rolled his eyes, holding back a laugh for the hundredth time.
He grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl and held it out to her.
“Have one while you wait…”
Sara looked at the banana as if it had personally insulted her entire family.
“I don’t want it…”
“But it’s good for you, sweetheart.”
“No…”
“It’s healthy.”
She pointed at the fruit with a look of pure disgust.
“I don’t want a banana.”
Vincenzo started laughing.
“You like my banana better, don’t you, amore?”
Sara’s eyes went wide.
“VINCENZO!”
“What?”
“You’re a pervert! You talk about your brothers, but you’re just like them.”
“That was a great joke… And yes, I am a pervert.”
“It was horrible.”
“But you like it… A lot, actually…”
She rolled her eyes, holding back a laugh.
“You’re putting words in my mouth…”
That was the moment they heard the engines outside.
Sara jumped up.
“THE CAKE!”
“Amore, don’t run!”
But she was already moving as fast as she could.
Vincenzo almost had a heart attack.
“SLOW DOWN!”
The door opened and the brothers walked in carrying bags. Lots of bags. MANY. Behind them came soldiers with even more.
“Mission accomplished!”
“Operation Cake was a success!”
“We brought reinforcements!”
“And desserts!”
Sara stood there, mouth open.
There were cakes, cupcakes, donuts, sweet breads, savory pies, cookies, cannoli, croissants… more food than any human being could eat in a week.
“My God…”
“All for our niece,” Lorenzo said.
Mateo agreed. “She deserves it. And Mom does too.”
At that moment Eleonora appeared in the hallway, hair a mess and looking like she’d just woken up on another planet.
“What’s going on?”
One of the brothers pointed dramatically at the table.
“OPERATION CAKE FOR OUR NIECE.”
She blinked, then looked again.
“Did you rob a bakery?”
“Bingo.”
“I knew it.”
“It was fun.”
A little later, everyone was sitting around the table. Laughing, eating sweets, talking. The brothers telling stories, Sara eating three different kinds of cake at once while laughing at them, Vincenzo sitting beside her making sure she didn’t overdo it, and Eleonora laughing at the boys’ nonsense.
For the first time since everything had started… they felt like a family.
And watching Sara happy, with a huge slice of chocolate cake in front of her, Vincenzo realized something.
Maybe this was the first night in a long time when no one was just surviving.
They were simply… living.