Chapter 53
When I come down for dinner, Carlo, Bruno, and Alessio are in the library swirling tumblers of whiskey. They all look like the mafia kings they were born to be. My heart jumps to see them but I hold myself back, and not one of them makes a move.
Their eyes drink in my soft curves under the cream silky blouse, the flattering of my Armani wrap-around skirt draws appreciation, and the sapphire earnings and necklace don’t go to waste, as they highlight the color of my eyes. But I don’t allow myself to be too encouraged.
These men are ultra-alphas. The fact that they all obviously want to fuck me means nothing. It wouldn’t get in the way of them killing me, if that was their purpose. All it would mean is some entertainment at my expense, ahead of the main event.
Bruno is first to break the ice. “After you left, the don made us block you on all of our phones.”
Alessio says, “He kept on with the idea that the raid on the ball and the Crespi killings were part of the same thing.”
“And that you were behind both things,” Bruno adds.
I look from one to the next. They’re all looking at me, waiting for my reaction. But they haven’t told me anything new yet.
Since nobody offered to do it for me, I fix myself a Scotch with a splash of water.
“Did you see Armando?”
“Yeah.” Carlo gives me a sly look from under his eyebrow.
“Armando told us that a crack special forces team came in and took out his daddy and his older brother.”
I nod. “Figures.”
Bruno says, “Carlo knew he was lying. He gave it up in the end.”
“Got to say,” Alessio nods at me and lifts his glass. “Due respect.”
Bruno shifts his weight. “We may have over-reacted, principessa. Well, I might have. I won’t speak for the prince here.”
Alessio gives him a frown before he turns to me. “We all did.” Just the low boom of his voice is enough to make me hot and flustered.
Carlo says, “You all did.” His voice is still flat.
Alessio tells him, “You didn’t do much to make things better.” Alessio turns back to me. “Dad had been in our ears non-stop about how you were this and you were that, bad things from dawn until dusk.”
Bruno says, “So when you started about the houses on Wood Street?—”
Alessio shakes his head. “We misjudged. I did. It made me think the don could have been right. That you were here to, I don’t know, to destabilize us or something.”
Quietly I say, “When I got here, you didn’t look like jurassic cliffs of stability.”
Alessio straightens. I should have put that better. Family loyalty always runs deep. “You have no idea what?—”
“Alessio. She’s right. Leave it.” Carlo cuts in. “Stop taking his part and standing up for him.”
“Yeah, okay.”
Bruno spreads his hands. “Lucy, he’s wrong about you. In a lot of ways he’s wrong about us, too.”
Alessio offers, “But we’re ready to tell him so.”
Bruno takes it back up, “If we can turn back the page, you and us, we’re ready to move out if he can’t accept our choice.”
Choice?
Alessio says, “He wouldn’t be able to take the social injury, people watching his whole family walk out on him.”
“Well,” Bruno says, eyeing Alessio, “we’re prepared to tell him we’ll do that, anyway.”
Alessio stiffens again. “Look, I’ve got more to lose, more at stake in this than either of you. I’m volunteering to…”
“Easy,” Carlo’s voice is gentler. “Bruno’s just breaking your balls.”
Bruno is almost smiling. “Our brother the prince has a great sense of humor, as long as the joke is about anything but him.”
Carlo lightens up. “In other words, he has no sense of humor.”
Bruno says, “But he’s our brother.”
“Although, not really.” Seeing Carlo’s sense of humor reawaken gives me hope.
Bruno chuckles and pats Alessio’s shoulder. “But we love him.”
Alessio’s neck is darkening as Carlo keeps it up. “Kind of.”
“Mainly because it’s so easy to get him going.” Bruno kneads Alessio’s arm and jabs a dig in his ribs. The struggle on Alessio’s face is a picture.
Carlo drops one more crack. “And he’s so funny when he loses it.”
Bruno lets out a fraction of a grin. “Which is only all the time.”
Seeing them jostle and banter makes me want to squirm. The battle is not won, it’s hardy even started. I know that I have a lot to do, but just being with the three men makes me feel how good it is, and why I have to do it. I start to think of them as my three princes again. But I have to stop. I need to distract myself or I’ll well up.
If I have to fight for my three men, then I will fight. Whatever happens, whatever it takes, I have to do it. This is one battle I have to win.