by Zavi James
“Finish business and then back to the hospital?” Dante asked, standing next to me.
“I—” But I’d barely got the word out when Dante cut me off.
“The sooner you get it done, the sooner we can leave. No point in dragging it out, Mia.”
With a sigh that materialised as a misty white cloud in front of me, I said, “I won’t be long.”
“I won’t be far.” Dante left me and joined Vittoria.
My eyes darted around, taking account of every single person that was employed by Luc. None of them had gone far. All of them were watching me closely as they’d been ordered to do. Taking in a deep breath, I walked towards the Moretti pair that was left standing by the grave. Emilia saw me first. Her face was partially hidden behind a sheer black veil. As I drew closer, I could see her eyes were glassy with unshed tears.
“I trust that you’d remember the kindness we showed you when you first joined this family, Mia,” Emilia said, voice thick with emotion. She made no move towards me and I was frozen to the spot.
Somewhere inside me, an ugliness reared its head. The same twisted ugliness that made my finger squeeze the trigger and plan meticulously to get what I wanted. It pushed against the boundaries that held it in place, longing to reach out and take a swipe at Emilia for the words she’d just spoken.
Kindness? I’d barely known of Emilia other than she was the lady of the house. Emilia had never extended an invite even when she’d known I’d be marrying Luc. I was too low in the pecking order for her to care about what I did until I came for her throat. She underestimated me, just like everyone else. The image of her, smug and self-serving at the ball when she’d delivered the news that Xavier had left, was burned into my mind.
I pushed away the want to ask her if she saw me now. The intense desire to kick her while she was down wouldn’t help me. Emilia had little care for what Xavier had put my family through, she was running on grief and survival instincts. Her husband’s dramatic fall from grace had left her a widower who was uncertain of her position in the family. She was figuring out how to ensure her safety. Xavier hadn’t even been buried yet and she was working out the next steps. That was the only way to survive in this life.
“I’d like to talk to Gabriel,” I told her. “Alone.” I couldn’t trust myself to be polite if she stayed. Plus, from the sounds of it, Emilia didn’t get her hands dirty. She’d reaped the benefits of Xavier’s work. She held my gaze for a moment before placing a kiss on her son’s cheek and leaving us.
“How can I help you?” Gabe asked, eyes on the grave in front of us. His pale skin and shock of blonde hair was a stark contrast to the black he was dressed in.
“I wanted to offer my condolences,” I told him.
Gabe scoffed and brought his eyes up to me, cold and hard, and I suppressed a shiver. “A strange sentiment for a murderer to offer.”
Murderer. Regardless of the circumstances that brought me to that point, murderer was exactly what I was. Only Emilio had ever pointed it out as blatantly as Gabe had, but there was almost a sense of pride when he’d said it.
“You’d have done the same.” That was how the family functioned and I wasn’t about to drown in guilt when I knew that every person in church today would have done the same thing I did if it meant they kept their life. I’d done what was necessary.
“I wouldn’t have been sorry about it.”
“I’m not.” Voicing it into the chilly March afternoon, I realised how true it was. I wasn’t sorry for what I’d done after everything Xavier had put me through. The initial horror had morphed into relief that we were no longer running from his scheming ways. For the first time in years, since I’d met Xavier, I felt free.
“You’ve passed on your false sympathies. Done your duty,” Gabe listed as if running down a checklist. “Is there anything else?”
“Did you know?” I asked him in return.
The wind whistled around us and Gabe stuffed his hands in his pockets. “No.”
Part of me wanted to believe him but I’d misplaced my faith so many times that the easiest thing to do now was to believe that everyone lied to you.
“He was going to pin it all on you,” I told him, wrapping my arms around my middle as another wave of nausea hit me. “He was going to kill me and you, and then say it was all your fault.”
Gabe looked like a statue in that moment. I could admit, that in some respects, we were scarily similar. We both had a habit of people watching but Gabe was more educated in the art. He’d been smarter in making his moves. I wondered if he had caught Xavier’s motives before we had.
“Makes sense,” he said eventually. “Silas mentioned he’d been in touch.”
“Silas?” I asked.
“We had a cosy little chat before he left us.” He phrased it more politely than the actual brutal act deserved. “Silas hasn’t cared about this family in a long time. He was at home when I went to see Chastity the first time and he didn’t say a word. Money and security, they make people change their ideas. Dad offered him both and he took a shot. Shame it didn’t work out in the end. I had a hunch. It’s why I gave you the phone.” He glanced at me sideways. “You never did say thank you for my generosity.”
Xavier really had been out to clear the path for himself. I still struggled to wrap my mind around the lengths he would go to in order to maintain his image. When the shooting failed, Xavier must have changed his plans to the stables.
Gabe hadn’t fallen far from the tree. He’d given us the phone because it was a way to let someone else tidy up for him. If it had gone badly, he remained in the clear.
“I kept your hands clean,” I told him, referring to Xavier’s death as my form of thanks. “Let this be an end to it now, Gabe,” I told him, getting down to business. Neither of us wanted to be here longer than necessary. This was my real reason for attending today. While Luc and Dante were focused on delivering a statement to the entire family, I only had one person in mind. “No more games. Luc will head this family and that’ll be the end of it.”
“And why would I just sit back and let that happen?”
“Because you’re the only one your mother can rely on now,” I reminded him. “Because your sister, despite bearing the Moretti name, has walked into my family, and because Luc and I have more support than you’re aware of.” I was always under the impression that Luc was liked within our circles, but I had no idea how far it stretched out. There were people I hadn’t been introduced to yet, willing to come in and help if it was needed. “If you come after my family then I will make sure you join your dad.”
“Is that a warning, Mia?” he asked me bitterly.
“It’s a promise, Gabriel,” I corrected him. Accident or not, the conclusion would have been the same. There was no way that Gabriel would get out of this alive if it came down to us. Luc had already made it clear to me that if anyone tried to stand in his way, he’d deal with them personally.
“And you said you couldn’t be bought.” He scoffed. “You were just unaware of how high your price was.”
“Luc didn’t buy me.”
“No. This life did. The power and everything that comes with it,” he spat. “There will always be someone hungry and ambitious, Mia. Always someone who thinks they can do a better job at the top. Might even be your own children.”
The notion made my stomach coil with anxiety. I’d seen the way Gabe was ready to cross his father for power. Luc was only too happy to bury blood if they did him wrong. Could Link possibly grow to have the same fatal intentions? It was hard to imagine my cub as a cold killer but the world he would be raised in was less than conventional and morally grey. My jaw tightened as I made a silent vow to myself to make sure that my family didn’t crumble away under ambition.
“Gabriel?”
We both looked up to see Chas standing a little way off. She looked hesitant to join us, sensing that we needed some privacy to finish matters. Gabe lifted a single finger at her in a silent gesture to wait
.
“You make sure that Vittoria is looked after properly,” he said, turning his head to me.
“She’s family,” I replied. He didn’t know how true that was. Dante would make sure she wanted for nothing and was protected for the rest of her life. As long as Tori didn’t cause any trouble, then she’d slot into our family perfectly fine.
“And nothing happens to my mother,” Gabe said, conceding defeat. His eyes flicked over to Chas again and I thought he might add something more, but it never came. It didn’t need to. Gabe wanted her to be safe and Chas already planned to ensure that by leaving.
“Chas wants to leave.”
He dragged his eyes back to me. “That was the plan all along. Although, you probably already knew that.”
“People tend to trust me.”
“What an awful mistake to make.”
“No worse than trusting you, Gabe,” I shot back at him. “You’ll need to let her go.” He tensed beside me. I wasn’t sure he loved Chas but something about her had unsettled his priorities until she wavered at the top. “Go with her.”
His head snapped towards me. “Is that an order?”
“It’s a suggestion from someone who was once a friend,” I said quietly. “I can’t tell you what to do—”
“Only that’s exactly your job now. You tell us all what to do, Mia.”
“I’ve learned my place,” I told him. “This is up to you. You have to let her go but you decide if you go with her or not.”
“It’d be easier for you.”
“It wouldn’t make a difference to me. I know your weak spot, Gabe, and you know that we’ll find her no matter where she is.” It was an empty threat. I’d never go for Chastity, but he didn’t know that. “Just think about it. Don’t make any hasty decisions,” I echoed the words he once said to me. The knot in my chest unfurled. With nothing more left to say, I walked away, leaving Gabe alone with his father.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Lucas
I’d been under the false impression that being at home would make recovery easier. Away from the clinical setting of the hospital, I believed that I would be comfortable but that wasn’t the case. Our home became an obstacle that I had to master with the use of a wheelchair. Not only did the house become a prison but people stared. The pitying looks and the careful questions almost drove me to madness. If it wasn’t for Mia, I’d have lost my shit at every fucker with no remorse.
Mia, Link and the baby were the reason that I gritted my teeth together every single day and worked through exercises and routines that the hospital provided. They kept me afloat when I felt like I might be swallowed whole by the reality of how much my life had changed.
I refused to stall work any longer. It was conducted from home, much to Mia’s dismay, but she understood that this was the situation we were in.
By the time I’d been fitted for my prosthetic, hope had started to grow in me again, but it was doused quickly. It wasn’t the answer to all my prayers. I needed to learn to walk with it and get comfortable wearing it for long hours. There was hurdle after hurdle and I knew what Mia meant when she said she was tired. The struggle was relentless.
As I was exhausting myself, Mia began to glow. Six months from the horrific night, the dark fog that’d descended around us had finally started to clear. She began to emerge from her shell again. The twelve-week mark of her pregnancy had lifted a weight from both of our shoulders and Mia cried every time she heard our son’s heartbeat fill the room. It was in those moments that my missing limb didn’t bother me. Mia’s thought process of karma, or some twisted trade still sat in my memory, and I held on to the fact that as long as our baby boy was delivered safe, then I’d lose them all. When her bump became difficult to hide, we let others know the news, but Mia kept it low key. There would be no fuss. She still worried that we were tempting fate.
I watched her quietly, sitting in the summer sun out in our backyard with Link under the shade of a tree. Her dress was short, straining over her stomach and showing off the scars she’d gained. She still refused to leave the house in an outfit like that. Mia covered herself up to avoid the stares and whispers that still hadn’t quite died down. I doubted they ever would.
“Stop being such a stalker,” she said, shielding her eyes and looking at me. “Come and join us.”
Pushing myself away from the doorframe, I walked towards my family. My gait wasn’t as smooth as it’d once been, but I could walk without support. Months of work to get to this point and I still wasn’t completely satisfied.
As I joined them, Mia went to get up, but I waved her off. “I can do it.” Carefully, I lowered myself onto the ground and landed on the ground beside her, hissing at the impact. “See.”
“I saw, love.” She leaned over and kissed my cheek. “You’re doing better than Link.”
Our eldest cub had just started to crawl, adding an extra worry to our plate. Mia could barely leave the room because Link would be on the move and I couldn’t quite give chase properly yet.
“You are the worst person for my ego, sometimes,” I mumbled.
“I like to keep you grounded,” she told me in response. The smile on her face made my heart skip. Mia leaned back on her hands and took in a deep breath, tilting her head to the canopy of leaves above us. She squeezed her eyes shut and grimaced.
“He’s causing you trouble?” I asked, placing a hand on her swollen bump. Mia adjusted it until I felt the baby kicking hard towards the top of her stomach.
“He’s relentless today,” she said, dropping her head back down.
“Ezra’s excited about tomorrow. Aren’t you, son?” Mia had already picked out a name that was used privately between us and close friends. I removed my hand from her stomach as Link started to crawl off the blanket she’d put out for them. “I don’t think so, cub,” I said, hauling him off his hands and knees and into my lap. Link laughed in response and kicked his legs.
“They better both behave tomorrow,” Mia said, pulling faces in Link’s direction as he vocalised the word ‘Ma’. I wouldn’t admit that his first words would be Mom, not until I heard the full word from him. Mia always seemed so smug that she was the first thing he recognised. That was easily remedied when I reminded her, he looked like me. She had high hopes that Ezra would take after her in that department.
“Are you sure we can’t just elope?” she asked quietly.
“You’re ashamed to get married to me?”
Mia’s eyes grew large. “No! I would never be ashamed to marry you.”
I chuckled to myself, and Mia gently shoved her shoulder against mine. There was never a doubt in my mind that Mia didn’t love me how I was. You didn’t go through everything we had to throw it all away. There had been so many opportunities for her to walk away from me and this life, and at every turn she’d dug her heels in and made it known that she belonged.
Our original wedding date of April had been postponed. Neither of us had been in a fit state to stand in church and exchange vows. Mia had suggested waiting a year — long enough for her to have the baby and for us to get back up onto our feet. I was too selfish to wait that long and told her she had as long as it took for me to start walking again. The moment I had my prosthetic fitted, we settled on the end of August.
“Can you believe that we’re finally going to do it? I can finally make you a Foster,” I said, beaming.
“Shh,” Mia said, waving a hand in the air.
“Why?”
The way she looked at me made the whole world stop. That look was what had sucker punched me the first time and she still caught me off guard. It was a look that made me feel as though Mia would go to war for me. She already had on more than one occasion. How did I end up this lucky?
“Because sometimes I feel like this life is a dream,” she whispered. “And that if I enjoy the moment too much, or if I look to the future, then maybe I’ll wake up and I won’t have you or Link or Ezra. I’ll go back to this life before you, and I reall
y don’t want that. I don’t want to live any life that doesn’t have you or the boys in it.”
“It’s not a dream, sweetheart,” I told her, brushing a tear from her cheek. “Nothing is going to take this away from you. You. Me. The boys. The four of us are bound for life.” She leaned in and kissed me just as Cerb started to bark from inside the house. I groaned and rested my forehead against Mia’s. “You know what that means,” I muttered.
“Too late to be working on your tan now, bro!” Dante burst out into the backyard, clapping and rubbing his hands together. Cerb was still barking around his legs, and Emilio and a few others joined him out in the sun. “Mia?” Dante said, taking her in. “What are you still doing here?”
“It’s my home, Dante,” she pointed out bluntly, and I laughed.
“Not tonight,” he said, coming over to us. “Up you get.” Dante all but man-handled her so that she was up on her feet. Mia took Link from me before Dante helped me to get back up as well.
“Carmen is already at Dom’s place,” Emilio said to Mia.
“Looks like I’m being given my marching orders,” Mia mumbled and gave me another kiss. She led the procession back into the house and went to gather her things.
“You have the worst timing,” I told my brother.
“You’re going to spend the rest of your life with her,” he replied.
“You’re telling me that your poor timing is going to change, and you’ll be handing the key back to us after we say ‘I do’?”
“Fuck no.” He laughed. “Where am I meant to run to when Vittoria’s in a mood?”
That was the other large change in our lives. Vittoria had become a staple guest at the house. She joined Dante, tentatively at first, for dinners but slowly, she would turn up alone to spend time with Mia. I wasn’t sure how Mia managed it, to keep a Moretti in her inner circle when they’d caused us nothing but grief, but she had smoothed things over with Tori, more forgiving than I was. My half-sister and I kept our conversations short and I wasn’t sure if we’d ever progress further than that, but for Dante and Mia’s sake, I kept it civil.
