2. ~Emilio~
2
~Emilio~
“What the hell is going on?”
I’d just finished up with Rocco finalizing the details for the enhanced security system that Nico had demanded, then I’d been on a call with Carlo updating him on the situation concerning Marco being MIA and Leo gathering forces. While I’d taken the call, I’d seen Julian leading delivery guys through the main doors and up the stairs near where Nico and Caterina’s rooms were located.
I hadn’t been able to do much about it while I’d been focused on reporting every pertinent detail to Carlo.
But I sure as fuck could see to it now.
Julian spun at the sound of my voice outside one of the spare rooms that was right beside Nico’s. His eyes lit up with barely contained excitement as he told me, “A special surprise.”
“What? Right now? After a home invasion?”
“I ordered this beforehand. I didn’t know this shitshow was gonna play out like this tonight, or that all this stuff would arrive a couple of days early.”
“ All this stuff? What are we talking about here? You know Nico’s not gonna take well to you renovating the Manor without his approval.”
“He just gets stuck in his ways sometimes and it’s hard for him to accept anything different or spiced up. He’ll have to get used to it with all four of us moving in here permanently soon.”
That hadn’t actually been officially decided upon.
He was definitely getting ahead of himself.
But that was Julian.
And, yes, he was obviously overcompensating too because of the state of everything right now—and the Angelo of it all.
Nico not being on board with Julian’s renovating suggestions in the past hadn’t been about him being stuck in his ways. It had been about Nico not being a fan of Julian’s bold and often flamboyant style of interior decorating, his apartment being the ultimate testament to that. It really didn’t mesh with Nico’s much more toned down and somewhat minimalist and simple approach to the décor around the Manor.
Although, I did agree that a balance would need to be struck there if Julian and Caterina did move in here permanently.
“Besides,” Julian went on. “I’m not renovating the Manor. This is something special. I’ve got a decorator coming in a couple of days as well to paint a mural.”
What?
Before I could get a word out, two guys in navy overalls emerged from the room and told him, “Got it set up for you. Any questions, or you need anything else, we’re one call away.”
“Thanks,” Julian said, slap-shaking with them.
They both gave me a polite chin lift, then headed on down the steps, where they were met by two of Nico’s soldiers, then escorted out of the house, the doors sealing behind them.
“Come,” Julian urged me. “Check it out!” he cried enthusiastically, disappearing inside the room.
I followed him in and came to a jarring stop just over the threshold as I took in the sight before me.
The room had been empty beforehand, but now it was boasting three new pieces of furniture.
A bookcase in the shape of a huge stunning tree in one corner, an oversized turquoise couch, and then, the feature piece being a golden crib against the right wall.
“Is that… is the crib—”
“Real gold? Yeah,” he said gleefully, running his fingers over it reverentially.
Well, damn.
He pointed at the wall behind it. “We’re gonna put a mural here of a mythical castle, like right out of a storybook. I’ve got a change table coming too, a shag rug, and I was thinking we could also put in a cozy area full of cushions and pillows for when the baby’s a bit older and crawling around.”
“Wow, this is… wow.”
“Just the reaction I was hoping for. Do you think Cat and Nico will like it?”
I walked to him. “This is one of the most thoughtful things you’ve ever done. That’s saying a hell of a lot, considering how many there have actually been, Sunshine. They’re going to be touched. I have no doubt at all.” I made a show of rubbing my chin as I looked around.
“What? What are you thinking?”
“A dragon, maybe? On the opposite wall?”
“A dragon? Hmm, well, I guess it will fit in with the fantasy theme. But only a friendly one, not a fearsome looking one. We don’t want to scare our baby.”
“Friendly dragon,” I chuckled. “I can work with that.”
“Maybe some knights? Cat’s whole King Arthur thing?”
“Perfect.”
“We could also bring in something from Nico’s love of Roman and Greek mythology. Although, a non-violent element. That probably means Vikings are out and then—”
I pressed a kiss to his cheek, and it pulled him up short.
“What was that for?”
“Just being you.”
I tossed one of his classic winks at him for a change.
And then I grinned and went to head out of the room.
But he snagged my arm, pulling me up short.
I turned back to him, raising an eyebrow.
The happy-go-lucky demeanor he’d been putting out there in spades had retreated, and he was actually showing me behind it, emotion swimming in his eyes. “Tonight was a lot, wasn’t it? Cat being taken and thinking something had… that she’d been hurt… or worse?”
“It was a lot, yes. Especially on top of everything else that’s already been a lot to bear as it is.”
“Like finding out about Leo?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“How are you doing with that? You haven’t said a word to me about it.”
“I can’t risk processing it yet because of everything else going on.”
“So Cat was right? Nico did teach you how to compartmentalize it?”
“He did, yes. Just temporarily.”
“Until it’s the right time to kill the asshole?”
“In a sense.”
“You haven’t said anything about the other thing either, you know? Not for a while.”
I frowned. “You made it clear that me doing so and pushing it was causing you pain.”
“It’s not like you to back down. Not when it comes to this.”
“I don’t understand. Do you want me to push you to discuss it?”
“I don’t want you hurting by worrying about me. I’m doing okay. For right now, I’m doing okay with it.”
“Only because you’re not processing it. When you broke down at the warehouses, I know that was you trying to purge it, fooling yourself into believing you could relieve enough of it to then shut down again without it being so much of a strain to do so. Then you’ve been operating as normal since, even being the architect behind us fucking together in the pool that night. You know as well as I do that Caterina blacked out that text from Angelo because what was beneath that was obviously about you, comments or threats toward you, yet you barely reacted. Santino is dead because she lost control, which means the power vacuum we were worried about has happened. Dante doesn’t want it after everything that’s happened and been done to him—the guy was tortured, for fuck’s sakes—so Angelo is the likely candidate to take his place. That ill-equipped Capo, Elia, sure isn’t ready for it. With that militia in play, Angelo also has a force at his back to steal that power. To be here and wield an empire, Julian, the son of a bitch who tortured and assaulted you. Yet, once again, you’ve barely reacted. Because you can’t , can you? You’ve buried it, yes? Compartmentalized it to such a level that’s beyond anything Nico’s ever even done before, right?”
“Yes.”
I started. Was he actually admitting to it? “Excuse me?”
“You’re right on the money. All of that is true. I am shutting it down.”
“Especially when factoring in your history with your father, doing that is incredibly dangerous and—”
“Just temporarily, like you.” His eyes darkened. “Until I destroy him.”
“My situation is very different.”
“There’s no other choice while we’re caught up in all of this.”
“Why not? Why can’t you let me help you through this like I did last time? Nico and Caterina too? Why did you shut down with your therapist? She’s trusted by you, she knows your history, the whole deal, and—”
“ Because !” he yelled, tugging at his hair. “I can’t function if I do any of that! Okay? I fucking can’t! Not this time!”
“Sunshine,” I uttered, reaching out to him.
He pulled away, shaking his head. “It’s… it’s too much. I was able to work through what happened in the past, but having this now on top of it… it’s too heavy. And the way it happened with Angelo… the shame involved that he kept driving home to me, getting inside my head like that, making me… beg… I… it doesn’t just make my skin crawl, it’s like poison in my veins threatening to destroy me from the inside out.”
He brought his hand to his face and turned his back to me, cursing to himself.
I walked to him and fingered the hem of his white tee. He jolted at the contact, but didn’t move away.
I pushed his shirt up to reveal the angel wings tattoos decorating the expanse of his back. “Remember why you got these?” I asked, tracing the designs.
“Yes,” he murmured.
“You’re a survivor. But that’s only part of it. You’re beyond that. So far beyond that. You’re extraordinary. Fucking truly. And Angelo managing to get inside your head doesn’t change that fact. It never could.”
He looked over his shoulder at me. “I thought… no, I was certain that after the past, that nobody could ever get inside my head again. Like my father with his broken boy comment.”
Yeah, that was something that had haunted him for a long time.
“I mean, I know I was physically weakened at the time from the crash, but I still should’ve been able to withstand his torment, especially the psychological aspect.”
“You did withstand it. This isn’t about you failing or succumbing like you seem to think. You connected with Angelo.”
“I… what?”
“I saw the footage. All of it, unfortunately. And there was a point where I saw you recognize that he’d been tormented like you had, been abused, then been lost when it came to his sexuality, the fact he was having trouble accepting what had been awakened in him, that he didn’t know what to do with it. You do. You were always very good at embracing that part of yourself. You even really helped me to be able to as well. You recognized that you could help him. But he… that motherfucker used it against you. It was his way into you… into your head.”
“But when I… when I begged him…?”
“You were delirious at that point. He didn’t break you. You’re rewriting that in your mind because you weren’t fully cognizant at the time.”
“You’re saying I’m filling in the missing bits wrong?”
“In a way, yes.”
He turned fully back to me, my hand slipping from his back in the process.
“Regardless, being broken isn’t a permanent state. That’s a misconception. So many have been broken by circumstances or others. But we remake ourselves, we rebuild.” I reached out and stroked his hair. “We learn to fix our broken pieces. We go on.”
He grasped my hand in his hair and brought it down between us, holding it tightly. “Once this is done, I don’t want to be alone in this anymore. I don’t want to keep it inside. I want to let you all in, let you help me. But for now, this has to be it, all we say about it. I hear you, though, I do. And thank you, Milo. Thank you.”
“I’m just glad you let me in this much.”
“I wasn’t trying to push you away, I was trying to push it away.”
“I know. But if your plan to hold it all off until this war is won becomes too heavy, I’m here, all right? We’re all here. Don’t let it get to the point of near self-destruction that it did for you the night of the Price takedown.”
“I promise.”
Relief sung through me. Thank hell.
“Come on,” he said. “I want to show you the expansion plans specs I’ve been working on tonight before this delivery came in. I think Cat’s gonna love that, too.”
I followed him out of the room.
We’d only made it a couple of steps down the corridor, though, when my phone rang.
I pulled it from the back pocket of my jeans and took in the call display.
Unknown Number.
I came to a stop, and Julian noticed, spinning around and asking, “Is that Nico or Cat?”
“Doesn’t look like it.” I frowned, then took the call. “Milo. Who is this?”
“Levi.”
“Levi?” I questioned. It had Julian tensing and coming right up to me. I put my phone on speakerphone mode and held it between us. A loud thrumming sound came down the line then, along with sirens piercing in the background. “What’s going on? Is that a—”
“A medevac chopper. Yes. That’s why I’m calling.”
A shudder rolled through me.
“Nico and Caterina didn’t make it to you, did they? They’re hurt?”
“They’d reached the border when they were run off the road into the ravine.”
“Christ,” Julian choked, taking a staggering step back.
I swallowed hard and forced the next words out, “What’s their status?”
“Mason and I arrived on the scene. We’ve had them airlifted to the nearest hospital and they’re being seen to as we speak. Rina is unconscious and Nico… well, he needed to be sedated.”
“So Nico was all right, but Caterina wasn’t?” Julian asked.
“I don’t want to make guesses. All I can confirm is that Nico suffered a dislocated shoulder and a head injury. Until they’re checked out, I don’t know how severe it is. As for Rina… it was worse, yes.”
“Worse, how?” Julian demanded now, panicking and grabbing my hand around the phone, urgency blasting out everywhere.
“She was bleeding. Significantly.”
“Bleeding? Where?” I pushed.
Levi’s voice was unsteady as he responded, “It looks like the pregnancy is in trouble.”
“No,” Julian rasped. “No, that can’t… no.” He pushed away from me and started stalking up and down the corridor, pulling at his hair.
“Text me the address. We’re heading down now.”
“You need to know something before you do. And you’ll have to approach covertly. They were run off the road by Angelo and the militia Rina was coming to me to help her track. We were able to chase him off, but he’s still out there.”
Julian stilled at that and then swung his head toward me, his eyes blazing with unadulterated fury.
“Understood.”
“I’ll be here when you arrive.”
“Thank you, Levi.”
“Of course.”
With that, I hung up and sucked in a breath in a strained effort to keep calm.
“I need to call Rocco and Cassio and have them hold things here, then we’ll head out.”
Head out.
To the hospital.
To the hospital because Nico and Caterina had been badly hurt.
Fucking shit.