Chapter 19 Gio
GIO
Miko’s Volvo is still parked where I left it last night, and I glance at the house for sale as I wonder just how far I’m going to take this ruse to make it convincing.
I have the cash to buy the house outright, but pulling the trigger on a commitment that size when it would only be digging my hole further about the lie feels wrong.
I should tell Stephanie the truth. I should tell her everything I know. She deserves to hear it.
But I’m too much of a coward to do the right thing.
Because if I tell her the truth and she wants nothing more to do with me, I’m not sure I could live with that.
I ache to be with her every waking moment. And now that I know she’s alive—and she’s letting me back into her heart—nothing else matters.
The drive back to the Novikov estate goes by in the blink of an eye, and I’m mildly surprised when I arrive at the automatic gates and stop to wait for Miko’s guard to grant me entrance.
I’ve been so consumed with thoughts of Stephanie, I hardly paid attention to the road.
But by some miracle, I managed to make it back safely.
That is, until I open the garage to pull the car into its waiting bay—only to find Miko, Sandro, and Raf standing there, waiting for me.
Miko’s collection of pristine vehicles is one of the few things we salvaged from our family estate after the Tanakas burned the place to the ground, and they gleam innocuously beneath the bright lights as I pull in, silent witnesses to the conversation that’s not going to be pretty, judging by my brothers’ faces.
Killing the motor, I drop the keys into the cup holder before stepping out of the Volvo with a sigh.
I close the door behind me, bracing as I turn to face Miko and the twins.
“Where have you been all night?” Miko growls, his blue eyes icy with fury. “You didn’t think it might be wise to check in—considering this city is crawling with people who want to kill us and you never bothered to mention you were leaving?”
I snort. “What are you, my mother? You could have called if you were so worried.”
“You left your phone by your computer,” Raf cuts in. “We figured that out by about the fifth call.”
Oops. “Sorry. I… lost track of time.” I do genuinely feel bad if they’ve been worrying about me, and I scratch the back of my neck as I come to stand in front of them.
“Doing what, exactly?” Miko presses, Sandro scowling silently beside him. “If I recall correctly, you’re supposed to be the only brother I shouldn’t have to keep a close eye on to make sure he doesn’t do something stupid.”
“Hey,” Raf objects, his eyes snapping in Miko’s direction.
“Oh, don’t even get me started. I got an earful from Don Augusta the day you showed up at the house, a wedding ring on your finger and an ex-stripper on your arm. Not that I could have stopped you from eloping, but I’m pretty sure that responsibility still landed squarely on my shoulders.”
Raf doesn’t argue, and my brothers’ fury returns to me as they reform their united front.
“So? Where were you?” Miko demands. “I think you owe us an explanation at the very least, considering you’ve all but disappeared off the face of the earth this past week.”
“Not to mention you’ve seemed completely indifferent to our plans for revenge lately,” Raf piles on, his tone sharp with resentment. “You’re supposed to be the new Chiaroscuro Don, and it seems like you’ve gone on vacation.”
I nod. “You’re right. I’ve been… distracted. And you deserve to know why. You might want to sit down for this,” I suggest.
But my brothers simply cross their arms, waiting impatiently for my reason.
“Stephanie’s alive.” The truth comes out hard and blunt, but I don’t know how else to drop what is most assuredly a bomb.
My brothers look stunned, their arms slowly dropping back to their sides as they stare silently at me.
But the intense relief that washes through me as soon as I tell them makes the rest tumble from my lips before I can stop it.
“I stumbled upon her walking downtown a couple of weeks ago, and I followed her home.”
“You’ve been stalking her?” Raf clarifies, his intelligent eyes sharp as he studies my face.
I nod. “Stalking her, lying to her—now sleeping with her without telling her who I really am—because I just couldn’t stay away…”
I swallow down the guilt, dropping my gaze as I scrub at the back of my neck, and silence stretches heavily between us as my brothers wait for further explanation.
“She has amnesia. Woke up in the hospital eight years ago with no inkling of who she is or how she got there. And when I found her… she didn’t recognize me.
At first, I thought she changed her name to hide from me.
” Shaking my head, I drag my eyes back up to look at their faces, expecting to find horror, disgust, shame.
Instead, all three of my brothers look genuinely sympathetic, their anger replaced with rare understanding.
“She’s alive,” Miko repeats in disbelief, and I nod. “Damn, man. That must have been… a lot to wrap your mind around.”
“You okay?” Sandro asks, catching me by surprise.
As a family, we might spend a lot of time together. In a sense, we’re about as close as brothers can get, but we don’t make a practice of talking about our emotions.
Our father wasn’t the type to encourage any form of weakness, as he would have called it.
“I’m working on it,” I admit. “I… asked her on a date yesterday, and she said yes. One thing led to another, and I kind of… unintentionally spent the night.”
“I mean, who could blame you?” Raf asks, his voice tinged with a bitterness he sounds like he’s desperately trying to hide. “The love of your life miraculously comes back to life after all this time? If I were so lucky, I know I wouldn’t stand a chance of trying to keep my hands off Genevieve.”
My chest constricts with empathy for my younger brother. Because, while I never dreamed I would be lucky enough to have Stephanie come back into my life, Raf knows his wife could never do the same.
He held her in his arms when she died—watched the life drain from her eyes as she bled out in a matter of seconds.
And the fresh wave of sympathetic pain reminds me of why Raf is so thirsty for revenge.
“So, what do you want to do about it?” Miko asks, then he glances toward the twins. “We know how crazy you were about Stephanie before…”
Raf and Sandro nod.
“Honestly… I’m out. I don’t want revenge. And while I don’t like bailing on you guys, all I care about is making things right with the woman I love.”
My brothers exchange glances once more, their expressions grim but resolute.
“So, you’re stepping down as Don,” Raf says. “That’s fine. But we fully intend to move forward with our plans.”
I swallow hard, anxiety knotting my stomach. “I know. But just so we’re clear, I wish you wouldn’t.” I’m so tired of losing people I love in these pointless battles for territory. But I get it. I understand why they want revenge after everything the Tanakas took from us—Raf more than anyone.
“Yeah, well, we don’t all get to live out our happily ever afters. I love you, Brother, but this fantasy world you believe in, where you can make peace happen if you will it hard enough, just doesn’t exist,” he says bitterly. “Especially now.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, a prickling sense of foreboding rippling down my spine.
“Sandro and I heard a rumor that the Yakuza are building up their forces again. The Murrays sound concerned that they’re going to be the Tanakas’ next target, but I think they’re coming back to finish the job—wipe out the Chiaroscuro name once and for all.
So, even if you are out, watch your back. We’re not ready to lose you, either.”