32. Milan
MILAN
We remained on the floor for hours, and just as we began to believe Ezio had forgotten about us, the door’s metallic lock clicked. Ezio groaned in effort as he pulled open the door and stood like a king overseeing a kingdom. “Hi!”
Brenno transferred a sleeping Cesare’s head onto my shoulder before jumping to a stand. “I’m going to murder you in your sleep. Do you know that?”
Ezio tutted and rolled his eyes. “You say that all the time and I’m still alive.”
I chuckled. “He does?”
“Oh yeah.” Ezio laughed, hugging a wad of paper to his chest. “He chokes me out all the time too… I think I got asthma because of—”
“Thank you, Ezio,” Brenno hissed, snatching the paper from his arms. “What the fuck is this?”
He scratched his head. “I don’t really know, but that guy gave it to me to give to you. What’s his name... Aaron or something?”
“Adriano?” I suggested, my brows raising.
Ezio jumped and clapped which was an unexpected move. “Yes!”
Adriano being at the Feras’ house was not something I had anticipated. That indicated that he had been involved in our wives’ plans this evening and I was unsure how to feel about this.
Brenno’s brow furrowed at what he was reading, but he quickly tipped his head back and laughed before turning and throwing it into my lap.
I frowned as I picked up the stack, careful not to jostle Cesare, and began reading the pages that appeared to be littered with sparkly pen fingerprints and drawings of sunshine in the corners.
It was another contract, one with extremely specific clauses.
1: The Luccas and the Feras are allowed to visit one another (no death allowed).
2: Everyone is allowed to speak of their pasts, but nobody can use it for nefarious purposes like making Milan homeless.
I flicked the page, finding a suspiciously bloody signature from Adriano’s father, Diego, stating that all previous clauses and contracts were null and void, and I wondered exactly how our wives had achieved this until I remembered who had been in that hospital.
Matteo Bonafede. Adriano. Francesco. Any of them would certainly have helped my wife get Diego to void it. They all felt as though they owed her in one way or another.
A chuckle left my chest, which only grew into a full laugh as I found the final clause of this extremely important document.
3: A week in December and July each year must be spent at the holiday home in the Bahamas together or at any special occasions that we (Sicily, Fiorella, and Bella) deem necessary. No complaints allowed.
“Holiday home in the Bahamas?” I smiled at how very Sicily Lucca that final clause screamed. “I was unaware any of us owned one.”
Ezio’s face lit up. “They just bought it!”
“What?” Brenno and I said in unison.
“Yeah, it’s so cool and it’s on the beach.” The boy squealed.
Brenno snatched the contract back from my hands and I expected him to rip it up, but he instead took the pen from Ezio’s hand and used the door to scribble two signatures.
He turned, handing it back to me with the pen, and I signed this ‘official’ document on my knee, a lump forming in my throat as I saw that Brenno had signed on Cesare’s behalf.
The room fell into silence, but it did not feel sharp or abrasive.
This one felt free, like we had allowed the truth to live, like we had felt something for one another again, like we had opened the doorway to something new.
It would take time for us to trust one another again, but at least we could start and our wives could begin to work through the broken trust there too.
I cleared my throat, gaining Brenno’s attention.
“I am comfortable if you would like to assume the Lucca name. I am certain that Sicily would not mind sharing, and I am aware that this does not erase your time as a Fera, but if you wish, you may do that… If there is anything else you want from me, I can try to fulfill this for you.”
Brenno stared at me, unblinking, but then shook his head.
“I told Fiorella I wouldn’t mind if she didn’t take my name at all, but she laughed at me, told me that it was my name, not Stefano’s, so I’ll keep it.
She fell in love with me as a Fera, so it’s hers.
” He sighed deeply. “I don’t want anything from you, Milan, I don’t know if I ever did, not really.
Just allow my girl to see yours; that’s all I ask.
It would make her happy… And for me to see you. ”
My brother had grown soft, and he had learned what it meant to love a Bianchi. I was happy for him, for them, and I hoped that, one day, Sicily would be too.
There was nothing more powerful for a Capo to have than a woman like them and his family, and it seemed Brenno and I were on our way to having both.
The house was silent inside when we finally left the confines of the torture chamber.
It was dark in a warm kind of way, the television rolling the credits of a movie that appeared to have ended a while ago.
I stood in the doorway, fixated on Sicily who was fast asleep on the couch, her sister’s head in her lap.
Both of their faces were red and tear-tracked, and Brenno had suggested that perhaps they had talked out their problems.
I hoped they had. Sicily loved Fiorella dearly, and now that this new sparkly contract was in place, there was no reason why our territories could not exist in harmony and allow them to see one another on a regular basis.
It seemed hopeful for the Bianchis, but I was aware that there was a girl curled into Francesco’s chest opposite them that would not get such a positive outcome from tonight.
She was fast asleep, and Francesco had covered her ears, so she did not hear how Brenno and Ezio had sedated Cesare and dragged him to his bedroom.
He’d said he would take him to get help the next morning, but that he needed to speak to Bella first, somehow explain this to her.
Cesare would get better, but it would be a long road to getting him back, and it did not help that she was three months pregnant and vulnerable.
I knew that she had a support system surrounding her here, but I still worried for her.
I had enjoyed her being my guest, enjoyed talking to her soft, happy nature, and she had been the first one to help me experience my emotions without Sicily being present, so I was grateful for her.
She did not deserve this, but they would make it through, I was confident about that.
As the room remained in a restful quiet, Adriano yawned loudly, earning him a glare from me, Brenno, and Francesco.
“Sorry,” he whispered.
“Tell me,” Brenno said, ignoring his yawn. “How the fuck did you get your father to sign?”
Francesco chuckled silently, holding a hand to steady Bella’s head against his chest.
Adriano let out a small laugh too. “Francesco destroyed him, Matteo Bonafede forced him to sign on it, and then I killed him.”
It had been as I had previously thought.
Each of them would do anything Sicily asked, but Francesco and Adriano had their own private death wishes for Diego Sansone.
He had hurt Adriano his entire life, more emotionally than physically, but that had not stopped Diego.
I could understand the lightness in my chest as happiness over the male being deceased.
“And how much did this holiday home set me back?” I asked next, raising a brow.
Adriano and Francesco shared a look.
Brenno choked on nothing. “He’s making me nervous.”
“Thirty million split three ways or something like that,” Adriano spat out.
I pushed off from the doorway. “My wife simply decided to spend ten million dollars, and my accountant cleared it without speaking to me?”
Brenno shrugged. “Fiore’s done worse. I got off lightly on this one.”
That did not surprise me.
My Consigliere held up his hands in defeat. “Your staff love her, don’t blame them.”
I could not blame them; she was particularly loveable, and she would have sent them a gift basket or something nice that convinced them to do the opposite of their jobs.
“I guess we’ll just have to go and make thirty million dollars’ worth of use.” My brother grinned, looking over at his fiancée with a smile.
“We are contractually obligated to do so,” I reminded him.
He smirked. “I like these new terms.”
So did I.
My wife had given me back my family, just like she had given me back my emotions.
As I thought of how much I truly owed her, a small yawn took my attention to my wife’s sleepy smile that found me instantly. She looked down in her lap and ran her hand down her sister’s hair once before looking over at Bella and lost her smile.
“Did Ezio give you our new contract?” she asked, looking between me and Brenno.
I nodded once, my lips tugging upward. “We signed it, angel.”
“You did?” another voice said from Sicily’s lap, stretching awake across her like a cat. “Even the part about all the vacationing we need to do?”
Brenno nodded with a laugh. “What happens to us if we don’t attend the vacation?”
Fiorella slid off Sicily’s lap and lowered herself onto him instead. She whispered something into his ear that made him smirk, and I was somewhat glad that I did not have to hear whatever had come out of her mouth.
I strolled toward my wife, sliding into the space next to her. “I must thank you, angel.”
She frowned. “For what?”
“For bringing enough emotion into my life that I can heal alongside my brothers.”
Sicily slipped her hand into mine, squeezing tightly. “I think we all need to heal. Together.”
“Together, yes. That sounds…happy.”