Epilogue
MARCO
Dante, Armani, and I sit outside on the back patio, smoking Toscano Originales.
I brought a whole box of the famous cigars back from Italy. The Bellanti men aren’t generally smokers, but it’s not every day you get the chance to taste true Tuscan tobacco.
“You’re not trying to tell us something with these, are you?” Armani jokes as he settles back in his chair.
Dante smiles broadly. “Do we have big news to celebrate, little bro?”
He primes his cigar, toasting the end over the flame of his Zippo, then looks at me expectantly.
“Nope. Not yet, anyway.” I take a slow draw, letting the sweet, aromatic smoke fill my mouth before releasing it. “I mean, we worked on it, but it’s still too early to know.”
My brothers laugh, but I just shrug.
As much as I enjoyed my time in Italy, it’s good to be home again.
I smoke slowly, watching the birds flit along the tree line as the last rays of the sunset fade.
The air is warm and sweet, and my lingering jet lag is helping me relax.
Which is a good thing, because I need the help.
Ever since Karina and I got back from our trip a few days ago, I’ve been trying to work up the nerve to talk to my brothers about what happened with Sergio Bruno in Palermo.
Speaking of my wife, she’s still very much on Sicilian time—so by three in the afternoon, her body thinks it’s midnight.
She was struggling to stay awake during dinner tonight, and she went to bed already.
Which means I can have this discussion with Dante and Armani man to man to man, and all of us can speak freely.
Despite my cavalier attitude about Bruno’s threats, I am worried.
I just hadn’t wanted Karina’s honeymoon to be ruined.
I take another draw from my cigar.
“What was the best part of your trip?” Dante asks. “Besides the fucking. Frankie was so excited about the schedule she put together for you two, even though I told her you could have managed on your own. Did you even leave your hotel rooms?”
“It was about fifty-fifty,” I say, smirking. “But no, seriously. The itinerary was perfect. Karina had the time of her life. I had no idea there were so many Greek ruins on the island.”
“I’ve heard they’re incredible,” Armani says. “Of course, I’ve only gone over there on business, never pleasure.”
“Maybe you should change that,” I tell him.
“Block out a little downtime for yourself one of these days. We’ve already talked about going back, maybe next year.
We barely scratched the surface of the little beach towns on the southern coast of the boot tip, and Karina still wants to see Rome and Venice and Florence, all the tourist hot spots we purposely avoided this time. ”
“Could be a family trip,” Dante puts in. “I know Frankie misses Tuscany.”
Armani grunts. “I’ll think about it.”
For a while, we just sit in companionable silence as we smoke and ruminate (me and Dante) and brood (Armani).
I haven’t yet broached the subject of me and Karina setting up an Italian outpost for Bellanti wines, but this isn’t the time.
For that, I’ll want to meet with Dante alone and make sure Karina is still interested enough for me to make a case to my oldest brother.
“I’m going to be outnumbered soon, aren’t I?” Armani muses, seemingly out of nowhere.
I turn to him, blowing out a stream of fragrant blue smoke. “What do you mean?”
He waves a hand between Dante and me. “You’ve all gone domestic. With your wives, your kids—”
“Hey, I only have one kid,” Dante interrupts. “Or I will, soon enough. We’ll have to wait and see if Frankie wants any more after the first one. Though the new house has plenty of bedrooms to spare. If they ever finish hanging the damn drywall, that is.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Armani says, shaking his head. “Point is, I’m the only free agent left.”
Dante looks up at the sky, where the stars are starting to come out, pinpoints of light in the gloaming. “Maybe you should work on that, then. Got anything to tell us about Candi?”
Armani goes completely still, his cigar halfway to his lips. Probably because Dante has touched a nerve, but maybe it’s something more. When Armani doesn’t respond, I decide to take advantage of the lull to spill the info that’s been weighing on me.
Clearing my throat, I say, “We ran into Sergio Bruno in Sicily. He told Karina the war’s not over. That there are men above him.”
My brothers both look at me calmly, but I can feel the crackle of tension in the air.
“He flew all the way to Italy to threaten you?” Dante says, an edge in his voice.
“He said he was there for meetings, something like that. We were at one of the top-rated restaurants in Palermo, so it’s possible he just happened to be there at the same time, but…I don’t know. Seems like it was a pretty big coincidence.”
Armani snorts. “It wasn’t. He was playing his hand.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” I say. “Obviously, I told Karina it was fine, nothing to worry about. But it’s been keeping me up at night. What if this really isn’t over?”
“We’ll handle it,” Dante says. “If these fucks want World War Three, they’ll get it.”
“Jesus, bro. For a second there, you sounded exactly like Armani,” I try to joke.
My oldest brother shrugs. “We’ll take it as it comes, how ‘bout that? In the meantime, just live your life. We’re done making moves from a position of fear or weakness. And the second someone—anyone—even thinks about crossing the line, we’ll rain down hell on them.”
I nod. “I guess that’s all we can do.”
Armani takes a slow draw on his cigar and then blows a few smoke rings.
“Show off,” I accuse.
“Maybe.” He just shrugs. “Anyway. Suppose this is as good a time as any…”
“For what?” Dante says.
“To tell you I recently received some…rather intriguing intel on Candi,” Armani says.
“Huh?” It takes me a second to realize we’ve circled back around to the start of the conversation, but something in his tone makes my pulse pick up. “Seriously? Our Candi?”
“Spit it out,” Dante prods. “Is she quitting her job with us?”
“Nothing like that,” Armani says.
“Okay…” Dante makes an impatient motion with his hand. “So?”
Taking a deep breath, Armani waits just enough to let the drama build.
“Her name isn’t really Candi.” He takes another long draw of his cigar. “And she’s our mole.”
CAPTIVE brIDE
Captive Bride is the final series in the Bellanti Brothers and is a forced marriage, billionaire romance with high angst, dominant alpha, mafia, steam, suspense, and sexy times. I hope you enjoy the blurb!
I was supposed to get close to him…but Armani keeps his secrets closer.
Everyone knows that Armani is the most dangerous Bellanti brother.
No one knows what he’s capable of.
I do know there is nothing he won’t do for his family.
For months, I’ve interacted with the dark, broody man.
The way he looks at me moves the earth under my feet.
His touch makes my skin tingle.
But I’ve had my own agenda.
Then after a night I can’t remember, I wake up naked in his bed.
He’s sitting at my side, a cruel smile on his face.
Now I'm his captive--and his wife.
We might share his Bellanti name, but I'll never share my heart.
Get Captive Bride here!