Chapter 45
COSIMO
“Last Christmas” drifted in from the living room, seeping under my office door. I studied my half brother from behind the desk, my hands clasped in front of me.
The fucker seemed to have forgotten how to sit the moment he entered my house. Instead, he sprawled like he wanted to mark my territory as his own.
That’s what he was doing right now on the office sofa—half lying, half upright—with a newspaper spread open next to him. An actual physical newspaper that he’d requested from the maid after she’d made the mistake of asking whether there was anything she could do to make him more comfortable.
Apparently, there was quite a lot.
An extra set of goose-down pillows. A bathrobe in a very specific shade of navy. Fluffier towels. “A few” special items at breakfast.
Fabiana and I had come downstairs that morning to find a full fucking buffet laid out across the dining room table.
If Dominic kept this up, I was going to start charging him a daily rate.
Fabiana had only laughed when I muttered that to her. In fact, she’d looked delighted by the spread, which had taken some of the edge off my irritation. And made me worry I hadn’t been feeding her enough until now.
She would’ve said something about that to me, right? Maybe not.
I’d watched her and Dominic fall into easy conversation over croissants and jam while I drank my coffee and cataloged all the ways I’d failed to make Nettle comfortable in my home.
Our home. She wasn’t leaving it. Not in six months, not ever.
She just didn’t know it yet.
I wanted to handle that conversation with care, and that meant waiting until after the vote in a few days. The moment we’d landed, my phone had started to blow up. One of Alvarez’s shipments had been seized by the DEA, and I’d had to deal with that mess on top of negotiating with Dominic.
“You know,” I said to Dominic, “you can read the news on your phone. Like normal people have been doing for the past twenty years.”
Dominic didn’t lower the paper. “Yes, but then you miss the tactile experience.” He turned a page. “The feel of the pages under your fingertips. The smell of the ink and pulp. It engages more of the senses. Turns something mundane into something enjoyable.”
Annoyingly enough, I understood what he was saying.
My brothers—my younger brothers—liked to call me a luddite because I hated spending time staring at screens unless work demanded it. I always tried to print off any contracts I needed to review so that I could read them on paper.
But I wasn’t about to admit to Dominic that we had something in common. The man was already far too comfortable in my house.
“Life is here to be enjoyed, little brother,” he said and lowered the paper just enough so I could see his gray-blue eyes. “Spend a little more time with me, and I’ll show you how to live the Italian way.”
I rolled my eyes. I’d been doing that so often since meeting him that they were eventually going to get stuck facing the back of my skull.
He was annoying as hell, but after spending a good bit of time with him in preparation for this meeting with my brothers, I’d started to develop a reluctant respect for him.
He was sharp. Strategic. And far more reasonable than I’d expected when it came to the terms he was asking for.
The fact that he was family meant something too. I just hoped my brothers would see it the same way.
The sound of voices drifted down the hallway—Romolo’s first, then Alessio’s.
The door opened, and the two of them walked in.
Rom wore a plain red sweater like a normal person.
Alessio, on the other hand, appeared to have taken Fabiana’s suggestion about Christmas sweaters as a personal challenge.
The green monstrosity stretched across his chest had blinking lights sewn into it and three snowmen bumping against each other above the words Rollin’ with my snowmies.
What the fuck? This was supposed to be a serious meeting. I pinched the bridge of my nose.
“You look like you’re expecting a lump of coal under the tree,” Romolo commented on my expression as he approached.
I sighed. “Sit down.”
Alessio’s eyes went to Dominic, who was folding the newspaper away. “This is the new business partner you want us to meet?”
“Can you just sit down first?” I ground out. “And turn off those lights. They’re giving me a migraine.”
Les clucked his tongue as he reached under the sweater. “You’ve got no holiday spirit.”
“I thought that particular scolding tone of Cosimo’s was reserved exclusively for me.” Dominic smiled at Les like they shared some private joke, which only irritated me further. He hadn’t even met him properly, for fuck’s sake.
Romolo finally dropped into one of the chairs. “Nah. He talks to everyone like that. We’ve all learned to live with it.”
“You’ll have to give me some pointers,” Dominic said. “My feelings may not survive much longer.”
Rom let out an amused scoff.
My temple twitched. Christ. Was this man capable of winning over everyone in a room within thirty seconds?
Alessio sat down beside Romolo, eyeing Dominic curiously. “Who are you exactly?”
I blew out a breath. “This is Dominic Santoro.”
That killed the cheery mood fast. Romolo straightened. Alessio grew very still, his expression going cold.
“He seems awfully calm,” Alessio said, “for a man who’s not going to walk out of here alive.”
“We’re not going to do anything to him.”
“And why the hell not?” Romolo asked.
I dragged my tongue over my teeth and ripped the Band-Aid right off. “Because he’s our brother.”
Silence.
Romolo looked between Dominic and me. “Did someone spike my coffee?”
“If they spiked yours,” Alessio said, standing up, “they spiked mine too. Because I could’ve sworn Cos just said this man is our brother.”
“Half brother to be precise,” Dominic said pleasantly. “Same father. Different mother.”
I brought them up to speed. When I was finished, Rom and Les stayed quiet for a moment, both squinting at Dominic with some mixture of shock and suspicion.
“I don’t know if I buy it,” Rom said.
“He does look like Dad,” Alessio muttered as he moved to sit on the edge of the coffee table right in front of Dominic. He braced his elbows on his knees and leaned forward, studying Dominic’s face.
“Shouldn’t we do a DNA test or something?” Rom asked.
I reached for the journal sitting on my desk. Fabiana had shown me photos of it on the flight home and pointed out one particular drawing.
I opened to the page she’d marked and turned it toward them.
“We could. But I don’t think we need to.
” I pointed to the boy in the tree, above the three others playing in the grass.
“At first, Fabiana thought it was a drawing of the three of us, but look at the boy in the tree and the letter on the back of his sweater.”
D.
Alessio took the journal from me. After a few seconds, he passed it to Rom.
“There’s some text underneath,” Rom muttered. “Dad wrote, I hope that one day my sons will visit Villa Lucente, the place where I spent many happy summers.”
Alessio shook his head. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I think it means our father wanted the four of us to find each other eventually,” I said. “Even if he never told us we have a half brother.”
A heavy silence settled over the room. Romolo rested an ankle over his knee, brow furrowed, rubbing at his mouth while he processed everything. Alessio still kept his eyes on Dominic, as if he didn’t fully trust what might happen if he let him out of his sight.
To Dominic’s credit, he didn’t seem to be bothered by their apprehensive reaction. He wore a magnanimous smile while he waited for them to come to terms with the situation.
“So what’s next?” Les asked eventually.
“Dominic and I have been talking. We think the best way through this conflict is for us to make a deal.”
Rom’s expression darkened. “A deal. With the man whose family killed our father.”
“To be clear,” Dominic said, “I did not issue that order. That was Mamma.” A pause. “I imagine the three of you understand better than most what it is to have a mother whose decisions you don’t endorse.”
Alessio frowned. “I guess so, but the capos want vengeance. This deal needs to be very fucking convincing. What exactly are we talking about?”
“We partner on a massive development in Hudson Yards,” Dominic said.
“I have the capital, and the Ferraros have the relationships and the infrastructure needed to get it built. In return for your assistance, I’ll grant you the construction and security contracts.
Should bring in close to half a billion over five years and provide steady dividends for the capos. ”
Romolo’s fingers tapped against his thigh. “Have you assembled a team to—”
“We’ve discussed some things,” I interrupted. “But I don’t want to get into it tonight. Let’s enjoy the evening. Get to know each other a little better. Holiday spirit and all that.”
Les huffed.
“From tomorrow, every available hour goes toward ironing out the terms of the deal. The vote is soon. We have only a few days. We all need to feel completely comfortable before we put anything in front of the capos. Whatever we present has to be airtight.” I looked at each of them in turn. “Understood?”
Romolo and Alessio nodded.
“Well then,” Dominic rose from the sofa, “let’s get back out there. Your wife was quite clear that dinner starts at seven. I wouldn’t want to upset her.”
I glowered at him. Did he think I wasn’t keeping an eye on the clock? “Let me worry about my wife.”
“I love that sweater, by the way,” Dominic said to Alessio as they headed out.
“Yeah? The snowmen are supposed to be me, Rom, and Cos,” Alessio told him. “I had it custom-made online. Next year—if this all works out and Cos doesn’t ask me to kill you—I’ll get one with you in it.”
Dominic looked touched. “That is so sweet.”
I rolled my eyes—again—and followed after them.