Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 82121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
None of it helps. I’m festering in my own misery.
A few days after my life changed, Gian shows up at our door. I hesitate before letting him inside, not sure if I want to deal with this, but he’s alone. And I figured if I’m going to talk to any of my brothers, it might as well be him.
Molly fusses over us, pours drinks, offers food and tea, before disappearing into another room. I sit out back with him and stare across the small concrete slab to the back fence separating us from the next block over.
“He fucked up,” Gian says and doesn’t have to elaborate. There’s only one he in this situation.
“No kidding.”
“You fucked up too.”
I’m about to tell him off, but I stop myself. “I know.”
“You should’ve told us right away. I mean, this is a big deal. You married an Irish girl. You got her pregnant. And you hid it from everyone.”
“I know what I did.”
“Renzo feels like you stabbed him in the back.”
“I understand that.”
“But he was still wrong.” Gian takes a long drink and leans deeper into his chair. “Come to the house with me. We’ll talk to him.”
“No.”
“He’ll listen. It’s been a few days. He’ll have cooled off by now. We can talk about how everyone knows they’re in the wrong and figure out what we’re going to do from here.”
“No, Gian. He kicked me out of the family. He did that.”
“It was an emotional decision.”
“And he still made it.” I lean forward, hunching my shoulders. I feel so drained and exhausted. “All my life, I’ve done nothing but obey. You remember what it was like when we were kids. Renzo got all of Dad’s attention because he was going to be Don one day. Meanwhile, I fought like hell to distinguish myself while also looking after you and Carlo.”
“Mostly Carlo,” Gian murmurs.
“I busted my ass for this family. I did more than Renzo even realizes. And I never once asked for anything in return because that’s not how it works, right? We all give everything. We have this money, this power, this fucking privilege, and in exchange it drains us of whatever we have left. I thought Renzo understood that, but maybe not.”
“Renzo’s been at war for too long. All he can see is black and white now. Give him a chance.”
“I killed for him. I nearly got killed for him. I did everything he asked, and when I finally made a mistake, instead of talking to me and trying to understand, he fucking banishes me. He says I’m dead to him. He takes away my place and leaves me with—” I gesture in the air at nothing. “I can’t go back there.”
Gian swirls his glass. Ice clinks as he places it down on the metal table. “You’re both so fucking stubborn.”
“No shit. We’re Rossi men.”
“This is absurd. That girl clearly has nothing to do with the Lynch Clan, even if her cousin and her uncle were members. Your only mistake was keeping her from everyone, but given the circumstances, it’s pretty obvious why you did it. All you’re guilty of is getting a girl pregnant and marrying her.”
“It’s more than that. I fell in love.”
“You poor bastard.”
I laugh and finish my drink before getting up. I pace away, feeling restless. “Of all people, I thought he’d understand. It’s not like what happened with Maddie was planned. She was convenient for him at the time, and look at them now. He didn’t want to fall in love. I didn’t want to either. It just happened.”
“Renzo’s finding it hard separating his duties as the Don and his role as our brother. That’s something I’m working on with him.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s not going to change. You know how he is. The world revolves around the Don’s will, right? You put a guy like Renzo in that position and it’s like he transformed into fucking Jesus.”
“That’s overstating it a little bit.” Gian stands, holding his hands out at his sides. “Come back to the house with me. I know you’re angry and I get that you’re hurt. But we can fix this.”
“I don’t want to fix a goddamn thing. I want Renzo to be a better brother.”
“Yeah, and I want a golden dick.”
My eyebrows raise. “What the hell would you do with a golden dick?”
“Fuck real fancy.”
“I forget how weird you are sometimes.”
He shrugs and walks to the back door. “I’ll talk to Renzo for you, and don’t bother telling me not to. You both need to swallow your pride and fix this.”
I watch him go, shaking my head. The fancy-dicked asshole is wrong about that. I have nothing to fix—I may have made some mistakes, but I made them for good reasons. Renzo’s the one that went off and threw me out of the family. Renzo’s the one that chose to erase decades of hard work.