24. Josephine
Josephine
Smiling, I watch as Dante and Enzo come down the stairs for breakfast. Despite Dante’s normally stern expression, I can tell his cheeks are flushed, and Enzo has a grin so big you could spot it a mile away.
“What took the two of you so long?” Luca asks as they sit down at the table. Each of them taking long sips of their coffee.
I smack Luca on the arm. “Would. You. Stop.”
He grabs at his arm, and Sebastian chuckles lowly on the other side of me. “Ow. What was that for? I was just asking them what—”
I widen my eyes at him, and he looks from me to them across the table and back to me.
He’s thinking so hard I can practically see the gears turning in his head before he says, “Oh. Ohhhh. Nevermind.” He turns to look at them and smiles mischievously.
Bringing his cup to his mouth, he mumbles into it, “Take all the time you need.”
“Oh my god,” Dante groans as he leans back in his chair and looks up at the ceiling.
Enzo just giggles.
“This is my favorite day,” Sebastian says with a laugh, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Leave them alone,” I scold while trying my damnedest not to join in. Because this is pretty fucking cute if I’m being honest. “What’s the plan for today?” I ask trying to change the subject and put Dante out of his misery.
Everyone regains their composure, and Luca turns to look at me. “First of all… chair?”
Well, that fun was short-lived.
“I—”
“She went downstairs to talk to her dad last night. I caught her. She and I got in an argument. Dante walked in at the wrong time and he threw me across the table. I broke the chair. We all kissed and made up. She knows not to do it again,” Sebastian says for me while pinning Luca with a “we don’t need to discuss it further” stare.
Luca and Enzo stare at us slack-jawed before those expressions morph into frustration. “You what?” Luca asks me.
“Baby,” Sebastian says getting his attention. “It’s fine. We handled it. She doesn’t need to hear it again.”
Luca closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, and when he opens them I can tell he’s calm. Disappointed. But calm.
“You won’t do it again?” he asks.
I shake my head. “I won’t. I promise.”
“Okay,” he answers softly.
He turns to face the rest of the table, and I turn to my left to look at Seb and mouth “Thank you.”
A wink and a smile are his only response.
“So when do we want to do it?”
“Do what?” I ask.
“Could do it as soon as tomorrow night. I just need time to get the gear together, and Seb needs time to hack into their system?”
“What are we talking about?” I ask again but none of them look at me.
“We don’t want to wait too long and give them time to retaliate for taking Anya. They’ve probably figured it out by now,” Enzo adds.
“Anya? Wait. Are you guys talking about Maxim and Andrei?” I look between the four of them and nothing.
Okay. Now I’m starting to get pissed, and I was in a really good mood.
“Alright,” Luca says tapping the table with the palm of his hand. “Tomorrow it is. Let’s—”
“Stop!” I shout and stand from my chair. They all finally look at me. “You guys can’t do this.”
“Do what, Mama?”
“Love, we have to take care of Andrei and Maxim before they come after us again. We need to be prepared this time. We—”
“No,” I interrupt. “You guys can’t shut me out of decisions. That’s not how this is going to work.”
Luca stands from his chair. Tucking his pointer finger under my chin he rubs the pad of his thumb along my lower lip. “We’re sorry, Vita Mia. The four of us are just used to moving fast. We didn’t mean to exclude you.”
I take a deep breath. “Okay.”
“What do you want to do?” he asks.
“I—I want you to take care of them?” He pinches his brow in confusion. “I didn’t disagree with your decision, I just wanted to be included.”
Luca smiles softly. “Okay.” Leaning forward he kisses the tip of my nose. “Consider yourself included.”
The two of us sit back down, and I tuck my legs underneath me. Grabbing my mug in one hand, I gesture around the table with the other. “You may continue.”