Chapter 1
Lucio
I t’s Friday night, which means it’s movie night at Val and Eli’s apartment.
At least that’s where we used to have it before my niece, Bianca, was born.
Now we do it at Ma’s townhouse. A guard stands at each side of the door; I don’t acknowledge them as I pass by them and push the door open into the entrance.
The smell of popcorn floats around and another smell follows behind. I don’t know what it is.
“Hey, Ma. How ya doin’?” I ask as I step into the kitchen, where she’s standing by the brass sink, rinsing a cup.
“Don’t ‘hey, Ma’ me. You and your brothers never visit me anymore.” Wiping her hands on her apron, Ma moves toward the tray on the brown marble counter, the accent lantern lights above it adding a soft glow.
“Ma, you know I’m busy and can’t come around often.”
She narrows her eyes. “Don’t give me that bullshit. You have time to go drinking and clubbing, but you don’t have thirty minutes to spare for your mother?”
Ma lifts her hand, stopping me from speaking, before she continues.
“At least Emiliano has an excuse. He needs to help his wife with Bianca. You and your other brother are both little shits who can’t even come up with a decent excuse. I can’t believe I birthed a bunch of self-serving assholes,” she mutters under her breath.
I have to cover my mouth with my hand because if she spots me smiling, she’ll whack me with her wooden spoon.
“Ma, he’s laughing.” My little sister, Mara, says as she walks into the kitchen, her blonde hair in a high ponytail.
When she brushes past me, I take the opportunity and yank her back using her hair. She’s in a pink tank top and black shorts, her face makeup-free.
“Nobody likes a rat, Mara.” I tug at her hair before letting it go and patting her head.
She takes that opportunity to smack me on my arm and wrinkles her nose when I laugh at her sad attempt at hurting me.
“Fuck you, Lucio.” She flips me off to add salt to the wound.
I stick my tongue out at her. “Don’t be a sore bitching loser.”
“Language, the both of you,” Ma says, putting a stop to our little squabble.
“I’m guessing Lucio’s being an ass, as usual,” Matteo says, walking past Mara and me and into the kitchen.
He plants a kiss on the top of Ma’s head. The fucker is taller than Romiro and me, but still stands a couple of inches shorter than Eli.
“You guessed right.” Mara says, walking further into the kitchen, wrapping her arms around Ma.
The twins are the youngest, which means they get babied, even at twenty-one years old.
“Ugh, I’m going to the living room.” Turning, I head down the hall to the family room.
I can hear Valentina and my cousin, Alessia, talking. Something about the proposal Romiro had set up a couple of months ago.
Stepping down the three small stairs, I enter the living room.
The black piano that Pops used to play lies untouched to my left.
I spot Eli and Rom sitting in the far corner, both flipping through papers that are sprawled out in front of them on the coffee table, their elbows on their knees.
The TV mounted above the fireplace plays the news, but no one pays it any attention.
Baby Bee is sitting up on the white and gray Persian carpet, her mouth closed around her teddy bear’s ear as if she’s trying to rip the thing off.
“‘Sup, assholes?” I ask, moving closer to where Bianca is sitting.
“Language, Lucio. Not in front of Bianca,” Val says, a sigh leaving her lips as she shakes her head.
I don’t know how many times she has told me she doesn’t want me swearing in front of Bianca, but it’s not like they don’t swear like sailors.
“She doesn’t mind.” I say, picking Bee up. “Do you, Bee? You don’t mind your favorite uncle swearing.”
She gives me a smile; she only has one tooth at the moment, which gives her an even more cartoonish look than her wide sapphire blue eyes. Her fist is wrapped around her teddy that’s wet with drool. I grimace and try not to gag, but Emiliano spots my expression.
He chuckles. “Try holding back a gag while trying to clean up a baby’s throw-up off yourself and her. Not to mention the diaper blowouts. Jesus. The smell is atrocious.”
“ Emiliano ,” Ma chastises as she walks in, a tray of fruit and pretzels in her hand.
“What?” Eli is holding back a laugh as if talking about diapers is something funny.
Christ. I’m definitely not having kids, because what the actual fuck?
“Please, not before we eat. We love Bianca, but don’t talk about changing diapers, or vomiting.” Ma’s clearly holding back a gag as well.
Baby Bee looks around, clueless as to what is going on.
We all settle down, some sitting on the couch and some on the floor. I’m on the floor with Baby Bee in my lap, my arms loosely tied around her small frame. Her fingers trace over my hands; she’s probably curious about the tattoos that cover the entirety of them.
The lights in the room dim, and the intro of the movie plays. I can’t believe they let Mara have her way. Who the fuck wants to watch Sweet Home Alabama ?
Instead of watching the movie, I decide to nudge Mara, who is sitting to my right a couple of inches in front of me, with my foot.
She scoots away from it, but she’s clearly stupid enough to think that I won’t nudge her again.
This time, she doesn’t move. She grabs my foot with her hand and sinks her claws into my flesh.
I grind my molars, trying to avoid making any noise.
Oh, it is on.
I hold Bee a little tighter before yanking my foot back and smashing it into Mara’s side. This time, she yelps out in pain, and everyone turns their attention to us.
Mara whips around, glaring at me. “Why do you have to be so immature?”
I shrug, the move uncaring, hoping it’ll piss her off even more. “Why are you such a bitch for sappy movies?”
Mara rolls her eyes.
Of course, Eli interjects. “Lucio, if you don’t want to be here, then leave. No one is making you stay.”
“No, no. No one is leaving. Lucio, apologize to your sister right now.” Ma sounds tired, the bags under her eyes seem to stand out even more right now, and her hair isn’t as well kept as it usually is.
I only apologize because I don’t want to upset Ma any further. “Didn’t mean to piss you off, Mara.”
My sister narrows her eyes before huffing and turning back around to watch the movie.
Everyone else does the same. I rock Bee a little, and she lets out small giggles, her head turned to look at me.
She’s so cute I could just eat her. She has my brother’s eyes, and from the mop of hair on the top of her head, she has her Ma’s inky black hair.
Her round, pink cheeks makes me want to bite them.
I don’t know how my brother can handle not being around this little cutie all day. I think I might be having an overload of serotonin because of how cute she is. But that all gets thrown out the window the moment Bianca starts crying, fat teardrops rolling down her chubby cheeks.
The movie is paused, and Valentina moves to get up, but Eli stops her.
“Is little Bia hungry?” he asks as he takes his daughter from me and rocks her from side to side, trying to soothe her.
“I think she is hungry.” Mara says, slowly getting up from her place on the floor. “If you’d like, I can prepare her bottle?” She directs the question to Val, who gives her a grateful smile.
“Thanks, Mara.” Valentina looks to Eli and says, “Bianca will probably finish half the bottle and then fall asleep. It’s probably best if we head home.”
Ma doesn’t look too happy about that. It has been a while since all of us have gathered and she’s more than likely feeling lonely.
“No pressure, but I would really love for you and Emiliano to stay for the night at least.”
Val looks like she’s hesitating for a second, but nods. “We’d love to stay the night. It’ll probably be better for Bianca anyways.”
Ma looks relieved. Her tense shoulders drop and the smile she gives Valentina is genuine.
It’s not long before Mara returns with the bottle of milk for Bianca, who’s still crying, and my sister hands the bottle to Eli. Bee latches onto the bottle instantly, drinking the milk as if it’s the last drop of water in a desert.
She’s finishes it so quickly we barely have time to blink, and when she’s done, she lets out a loud burp, causing everyone to laugh.
Emiliano hands the bottle to Valentina before helping his daughter with her burps.
The rest of the night feels lighter and while everyone settles back down, Eli heads upstairs to settle Bianca down to sleep after eating.
I roll my shoulders back, trying to ease the tension out.
“Are we going to tell Ma about what we’ve decided for Mara?” I ask Emiliano, whose focus is on his daughter.
Bee is yanking some flowers from their root and trying to stuff the damn things in her mouth.
Eli quickly snatches the flowers out of her hand as he says, “Yes. It’s why we’re here. I’ll tell her when she comes out.”
I look at Matteo to see his reaction, but his face is that of someone who just got some boring news.
“Nothing to say, Matteo?” Provocation. I love provoking my brothers.
He lifts a brow as if to say, Do you really want to play this game, Lucio?
“Is there a reason for me to disagree when I was the one to suggest this in the first place?”
Shrugging, I take a sip of my vodka before responding. “Eh, just thought you might have changed your mind on sending your twin across the ocean just because you guys think you’re incompetent at protecting our baby sister.”
Romiro butts in as if someone was talking to him. “It’s not for lack of trying. We just need to focus our efforts on protecting the Camorra’s interests, and we can’t do that while there’s a risk of the women being taken captive.”
I’d love to stick a knife in his throat someday. But it’s looking more like a daydream rather than a reality with the way his relationship with cousin Alessia is going.
I wave him off. “Semantics.”