25. Alex
Alex
The world seemed to tilt sideways.
For a long moment, I couldn’t find my voice. I felt the bottom of my stomach drop out completely as I stood there in the doorway, half-naked, and staring at my parents like a deer caught in the headlights.
“Mom…” I managed, my voice coming out strangled. “What are you… how did you even…”
Mom pushed past Leo and into the house, throwing her arms around me. “I had to come, Alex.” She pulled back, her hands on either side of my face. “I had to apologize to you. Michael and I both needed to after how we treated you after the divorce. That wasn’t fair.”
I stood there dumbfounded, completely caught off guard by my mother’s sudden apology. She and my stepfather had been avoiding me for months because of Amanda. Even before that we hadn’t had much of a relationship because I was always working. But why now? Why this sudden grand gesture?
“Okay,” I said, unable to think of anything else to say.
“Come on, let’s go inside,” she smiled, taking me by the arm. “Show me around! We’re only here for a few days, so I want to see everything. We can chat later!”
I glanced back at Leo, seeing just as much confusion in his eyes. Behind him, Matteo was gathering up my parent’s bags. Leo ran to help him and I felt my stomach twist. Matteo knew about me and Leo. The question was, how much had he told our parents?
My mom was already moving through the living room, commenting on the high ceilings and the way the light came through the windows.
Michael followed behind her with that patient expression he always wore when my mother was in one of her enthusiastic moods.
I trailed after them, my mind spinning, trying to figure out how to navigate this sudden invasion of my carefully constructed bubble of safety.
Nobody was supposed to see us here, especially not family.
“This place is beautiful, Leo,” my mom said as soon as Leo came back in with Matteo close behind. “I can see why you wanted to vacation here.” She let out a short burst of laughter. “I’m not sure I’d ever want to leave!”
I saw Leo wince out of the corner of my eye, but he recovered quickly. They had no idea he’d bought the place. Nobody did.
“That’s why I chose it,” he nodded. “And it’s got the best view in town.” He pointed toward the back door in the kitchen. “Out in the garden. You should go see it!”
It was a clever distraction. And Mom, true to her nature, grabbed Michael by the arm and immediately dragged him outside. The moment the door shut behind them, I turned to Leo.
“Fuck,” I said, shaking my head. “What the hell are they doing here?!”
Leo looked pale. “I have no idea. I didn’t even tell them where I was staying.”
“Signora Ferretti told me to pick them up,” Matteo chimed in.
“What?” Leo asked, rounding on him. “How does she know my parents?”
He just shrugged. “A woman called to let her know they were coming and would need a ride to the villa.”
“A woman?!” I barked. “What woman?”
Matteo’s brows furrowed at my outburst. “It was a woman with an American accent,” Matteo said, scratching the back of his neck. “She said she was a friend of the family. She paid me extra to make sure I picked them up on time.”
My stomach dropped even further, if that was possible. An American accent. A woman who knew we were here. A woman who knew my parents well enough to arrange their travel.
“Amanda,” Leo breathed, and I could hear the horror in his voice.
“What?” I turned to look at him, my mind struggling to catch up. “Amanda wouldn’t—”
“She absolutely would,” Leo said, his face going white. “Alex, she threatened to call your mother. Remember? She said she still had her number.”
“But she believed you! She thought you would sue the shit out of her!”
Leo gestured toward the door. “Apparently not enough.”
The pieces clicked into place with sickening clarity.
Amanda hadn’t just threatened to expose us, she’d actually gone through with it.
But not in the way I’d expected. Instead of calling with accusations, she’d called with concern.
She’d probably painted some story about how worried she was about me, how she was afraid I was having a breakdown, how she thought my parents needed to check on me.
Or maybe it was an entirely different story. I had no idea.
Whatever the story, it had worked. My mother had come running halfway across the planet to surprise me.
“Fuck,” I muttered, running both hands through my hair. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“I should probably go,” Matteo said awkwardly, clearly sensing the tension. “I’ll just leave the bags—”
“No, stay,” I said, surprising myself. If my parents were already here, if this was already happening, I needed someone who knew the truth.
Someone who could back up whatever story I was about to tell.
“Actually, can you do me a favor? Can you tell my mother that you’ve been helping Leo with the villa?
That you’ve seen us working together on projects? ”
Matteo looked confused but nodded slowly. “I can do that.”
“Just don’t tell them we’re together, alright?”
Matteo nodded again. “Okay.”
Leo grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the stairs. “We need to talk,” he whispered urgently. “We need to figure out what we’re going to say.”
“I know,” I said, but my mind was blank. What could we possibly say? That we were just stepbrothers on vacation together? That seemed flimsy now that my parents were actually here, especially with Amanda clearly pulling some unseen strings.
Through the window, I could see my mom pointing out something in the garden to Michael, her hands animated as she talked. She looked happy. Hopeful, even. Like maybe she really was just on a vacation and popped in to surprise her sons.
The irony was that she was actually about to destroy the only good thing I’d had in years. The thing I wasn’t ready to admit to myself, much less the entire world.
“We could tell them the truth,” Leo said quietly, and I could hear the tremor in his voice. “We could just... tell them.”
I turned to look at him, searching his face. He looked terrified. But there was something else there too. Something that looked almost like resignation, like maybe he’d been waiting for this moment all along.
“My mother will have a stroke,” I said flatly.
“Probably,” Leo agreed. “But at least it would be honest.”
“Honest?” I laughed, a bitter sound. “Leo, we’re stepbrothers. Our parents are married. This isn’t just about us being gay. This is about—”
“I know what it is,” he interrupted, his voice sharp. “I’ve been thinking about it every single day since we started this. But I’m not going to hide it forever, Alex. I’m not going to pretend to be something I’m not just to make other people comfortable.”
The passion in his voice caught me off guard. This was a side of Leo I hadn’t seen before. This wasn’t the people-pleaser, or the sunshine personality, but someone with a spine. Someone willing to risk everything for what he wanted.
It made me care for him even more. Which only made the next thing coming out of my mouth even more painful.
“We’re not telling them,” I said, sounding more sure than I felt. “We can’t.”
“I’m not saying you can’t take time to figure it out—” Leo began.
But I held up a hand to silence him.
“No,” I said firmly. “We’re not telling them.”
His brows knit together. He was confused. So I took a deep breath.
“This… thing between you and me,” I said, hating every single word that was coming out of my mouth.
“We both knew it was temporary, Leo. Nothing was ever going to come of it. There was no future with you and me. I’m not…
” I paused for a moment, gathering up my courage as my heart raced.
“I’m not in love with you. It was a fun experiment, but that’s all. It’s out of my system now.”
Tears were welling up in Leo’s eyes now and he’d stopped breathing.
He was just watching, listening to every word that came out of my mouth with the intention of breaking his heart.
He didn’t deserve it. But what else could I do?
He was my stepbrother. Our parents were in the garden right now, waiting for us to meet them out there.
I didn’t want to hurt him, but if this was going to come to an end between us, I needed him to walk away with no doubts in his mind.
“You’ll find someone here,” I said, glancing toward Matteo without meaning to.
“You’ll find someone that’s better than me, less fucked up, less…
damaged. And you’ll build a happy life. But we both know my return flight is in three days, and I’m going to be on that plane.
That was always where this charade was going to end. ”
Leo’s face crumpled, and I watched as he processed what I’d just said. The hurt flickered across his features like a candle flame guttering in the wind. For a moment, I thought he might argue, might fight back, might tell me I was full of shit. Part of me desperately wanted him to.
Instead, he just nodded slowly, his jaw clenching as he looked away from me, his expression utterly broken.
“Okay,” he said quietly. His voice was steady, but I could hear the fracture underneath it. “If that’s what you want.”
“It doesn’t matter what I want,” I said, the words tasting like poison on my tongue. “But it’s what has to happen.”
He didn’t respond. He just walked past me toward the stairs, his shoulders rigid with tension. I wanted to reach out and stop him, wanted to pull him back and tell him I was lying through my teeth. But I didn’t. I let him go.
The sound of the back door opening snapped me out of my spiral. My mother’s voice carried through the house, cheerful and bright.
“Alex? Leo? Come see the lemon trees! They’re absolutely gorgeous!”
I took a breath, steadied myself, and forced a smile onto my face. By the time I made it outside, I’d buried everything, the guilt, the longing, the crushing weight of what I’d just done. I was back to being the man I’d been when I arrived in Italy. Controlled. Distant. Safe. Broken.
My mother pulled me into a hug the moment she saw me, and I hugged her back, breathing in the familiar scent of her perfume. She smelled like home and lies and everything I’d been trying to escape.
“I’ve missed you so much,” she said, pulling back to look at me. “You look good, sweetheart. Really good. Happier than you have been in years.”
The irony was almost laughable.
“Thanks, Mom,” I said, and I meant it. “It’s good to see you too.”
Michael came over and clapped me on the shoulder, his weathered face creasing into a smile. “Your mother wouldn’t stop talking about this place the whole flight,” he said. “I think she’s got half a crazy notion to buy a villa herself!”
I laughed, the sound hollow in my own ears. “Well, maybe Leo can point you in the right direction. He knows this place better than I do.”
As if on cue, Leo emerged from the house. He looked composed, his expression carefully neutral. But I could see the tightness around his eyes, the way his hands were clenched at his sides. He was holding it together by a thread, just like I was.
“Leo!” my mother exclaimed, hurrying over to hug him. “Honey, this place is absolutely stunning. How did you find it?”
“I had a good travel agent,” he said, and his voice was perfectly pleasant, perfectly normal. “The owner had a last-minute opening, and I fell in love with it the moment I saw the pictures.”
He didn’t mention that he’d bought it. Didn’t mention that this was supposed to be his fresh start, his new life. He just smiled and made small talk while my heart broke silently in my chest.
I watched him interact with our parents, watched him slip back into the role of the dutiful stepson, the people-pleaser, the one who always put everyone else’s comfort before his own.
And I realized with a sinking sensation that I’d just pushed him back into that box.
That I’d taken the one place where he’d finally felt free to be himself, and I’d locked him back inside.
“Why don’t we all go into town for dinner?” my mother suggested. “There must be a lovely restaurant nearby.”
“Actually,” Matteo said, and I was grateful for the interruption, “there’s a place about ten minutes from here. I can recommend it. Very good food. Very authentic. It’s an easy walk down the hill.”
“Perfect,” my mother said, clasping her hands together. “Let’s go get ready and head out. We can all catch up properly over a nice meal.”
As everyone dispersed to freshen up, Leo caught my eye for just a moment.
In that brief glance, I saw everything I’d destroyed.
The hope, the possibility, the fragile happiness we’d built together over these past two weeks.
And then he looked away, and I was left standing alone in the garden with nothing but the weight of my own cowardice.
I stood there wondering if this is what Amanda had in mind when she called my mother. Whatever her plan had been, clearly it was working because I felt like shit.