by Bethany-Kris
Dante glanced over his shoulder briefly at that statement, but quickly gave his attention to Andino once more. “Would you give me your word on that, then?”
“Is that what you need?”
“Andino, I refuse to clean up another mess for you if your only intention is to go ahead and make another one when my back is turned. You think I haven’t noticed that seems to be a common thing for you? Funny—we always said you were nothing like your father, but it seems we all had that backwards, didn’t we?”
Or maybe he just finally found something—someone—that he was willing to break all the rules for. Haven was worth that. She was worth everything.
Dante would understand, but not now. He would understand why Andino lied, and then lied again when it was all said and done because he too had a wife he loved. And sure, while his wife was considered appropriate for their life, that didn’t mean Dante wouldn’t have fought tooth and nail to have her if someone told him that he couldn’t have her.
That was the thing …
That was why his father had his back—Gio was being his dad, and not a made fucking man. It was why Lucian was quick to side with Andino when needed, too; he’d married an outsider himself. That was why his uncle would understand that when push came to shove, Andino was going to get what he wanted one way or the other; Dante loved his own wife enough to do anything for her, too.
Andino loved Haven.
Nothing else mattered.
“You have my word,” Andino lied. “No more problems.”
Dante nodded once, murmuring, “I’m starting to think I should be more concerned about the problems you might cause once you finally are the boss rather than the problems you’re causing now, all things considered.”
Andino shrugged. “Well, by that time, it won’t be any of your business, will it?”
That was sort of the point.
Dante said nothing.
“You good?”
Andino nodded over the glass of whiskey he’d been nursing for a half an hour. “Fine, Dad.”
Gio frowned. “Then, why don’t you look like it?”
“Shitty week?”
A chuckle answered him back.
Andino sighed. “It’s fine, really.”
“It isn’t.”
No, it wasn’t. But that didn’t mean he wanted his father to get stuck in his head about it, either.
“Don’t step in between Dante and me, all right?” Andino asked. “Just … let me handle him on this.”
Gio tipped his head back, and folded his arms over his chest. Behind his father, the voices of their family filtered into the living room area from the dining room. Dinner was still in full swing, but Andino just wasn’t in the mood.
He had shit to consider.
Things to work through.
“You lied to him earlier,” Gio said quietly.
Andino shrugged one shoulder. “I’m telling him what he wants to hear. That’s the only way to get this shit done and over with. What do you want me to do?”
“I want you to not make this family into something it isn’t, Andi. Don’t turn the Marcellos into something they have never been. Don’t cause enough of a fracture between us all in your effort to be happy that we can’t come back together again in the end. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
He did.
“I’ll try,” he offered.
“There you two are.”
At the soft voice of his mother, Andino relaxed a bit. He took another sip of his whiskey as Kim came in through the doorway. She gave the two of them a look that said she knew their secrets. She probably did, knowing his father.
“Rough night?” she asked.
Andino laughed. “Rough life, Ma.”
Kim grinned, but it quickly faded. “You’ve been busy this week.”
“Work.”
He said that even knowing that it was far more likely his mother knew the truth. That no, he hadn’t been busy with work at all, but more his uncle, and dealing with the mess that had come after the Haven debacle. There was no way in hell that Gio kept that information from Kim. And even if his father hadn’t told her, news traveled fast in their close family circles.
She had to know.
So, she had to also know he was lying.
Gio shot him a look.
Andino didn’t return it.
“You know,” his mother drawled, “I genuinely thought you might like that woman—the Calabrese woman, I mean. Ginevra. You spoke kindly about her. Men who run around with someone else don’t tend to … well, do that. Or is that the kind of man you are, Andi?”
Ouch.
He chuckled dryly, and set his now-empty glass aside. “Ma—”
“He was talking about Haven Murphy that day,” his father said. “In the kitchen at our home. You told me about it after, Kim. He was talking about her even if it seemed like it was about Ginevra.”
Andino shook his head, and scrubbed a hand down his face. Yeah, fuck his whole life. Because this was a mess he was never going to get out of. Or so it seemed lately.
Kim’s brow rose higher. “Haven.”
“Yeah, Tesoro.”
“Oh.”
That gentle, soft-spoken word felt laced with a heavy sadness that Andino didn’t want to hear at all. This was why he hadn’t wanted to bring his parents into this mess at all.
Yes, they were Marcellos. They were loyal to the family and the name. They knew this life.
But they were also his parents—they loved him so much. Far more than anyone else in his life … except for maybe Haven. All that meant was that the pain he felt or the struggle he dealt with would be amplified for them as they had to watch, and were unable to do anything.
They’d allowed him to live exactly the way he wanted to for so long. To grow, and be whoever the fuck he needed to be. They never stopped him from doing anything, and they never stepped in to change his direction.
Why would this be any different?
“What are you going to do, then?” his mother asked, her soft gaze turning on him. “What can we do?”
He wished he knew.
This was something he was going to have to do alone.
They wouldn’t understand.
There was no missing the smug smiles that Kev and Darren Calabrese wore as Dante and Andino met the two men at the bar. He couldn’t wait to wipe those fucking smirks from their faces, but now was not the time.
No, now was the time to play nice.
God knew how long that would last.
“June twenty-fifth,” Kev said.
Dante quirked a brow as he and Andino came to a stop in front of the two men. “For what, Kev?”
“The wedding. A month from today. We decided on the date, and thought you would appreciate knowing. Maybe have a drink with us to celebrate. Invitations were printed this morning by that place your wife suggested, Dante. Thank her for us. And some were already hand delivered. We will, of course, make sure your family has invitations for your side of things.”
What?
Did he just walk into the Twilight Zone?
Andino could feel his uncle’s gaze shift to him, but he didn’t respond in any way. They’d called them in for a drink? And to give a wedding date? What kind of fucking garbage was that? Andino wished he could be surprised, but he really wasn’t. This would be just like the Calabrese to make a show out of something like this.
They’d been in a fit for a good week or more about the Haven issue. Kev had gone as far as threatening to end the deal between their families. And even earlier, when he’d called to ask for this meeting, Andino was right there listening in when Kev told Dante he wanted to discuss the issues at hand, for Christ’s sake.
Lucian had been right.
When it came to the Calabrese, they were all about their own standing and appearance. They thought they had gotten something from the Marcellos—some kind of upper hand with this marriage arrangement—and they were going to use it to the very maximum that they
could.
Jesus.
“I thought this meeting was for something different,” Dante said. “That was the impression you gave when you called and asked for it, Kev. Are you usually this unstable? I’d like a fair warning next time.”
Kev’s jaw ticked, but he was quick to hide it with another one of those smiles. “There’s nothing to handle, Dante. We made a deal—the marriage between Andino and Ginevra. It will go forward. We’ve decided that.”
“You were quite adamant about the issue—”
The issue being Haven, Dante meant.
Kev waved a hand to stop Dante from saying anything more. “Oh, that? We’ve handled that, I assure you. And besides, we are aware that what a man might do in his private life is his business as long as it’s … kept quiet.”
The man looked to Andino, asking, “Isn’t that right, Andi?”
“Andino,” he corrected Kev. “For you, it is always Andino.”
Andino could tell that this was not what Dante had expected to happen for this meeting. He’d forewarned Andino to stand at his side, and keep fucking quiet as much as possible. They were still working towards peace with the Calabrese, after all. That was supposed to be the most important goal.
Kev got in his feelings about Haven’s little show at the restaurant for a while, but now it seemed like he was over it. Andino knew it couldn’t be that simple. Nothing with these snakes was that simple or easy.
And Kev had said …
“What does that mean?” Andino asked the man.
Darren smirked. “Oh, us handling the issue?”
Andino hadn’t asked the youngest of the two asshole brothers, but he also didn’t give a shit who answered his question as long as somebody did.
He didn’t like what it implied.
His rage was rising again.
“It means we handled it,” Darren said slowly as though he were talking to a small child and not a man who could easily beat his skull into the bar behind him. “And we have no doubt that the problem will correct itself now.”
“Interesting woman you chose to be fucking, though,” Kev added. “Former stripper. Current business owner. Pretty thing—if it weren’t for all the tattoos. A bit much, really. I can see why your family wouldn’t want you running around with that all over town, even if she is quite nice to look at.”
Dante tensed beside his nephew. “That’s out of line, Kev.”
He didn’t need his uncle stepping in for him.
At all.
Andino’s jaw ticked when he said, “First, if you insult Haven again, it will be the last thing you do. She has nothing to do with this, or us. Second, if you think to touch her in some way, I will make it my first and last mission every day to make sure anyone with your name is in a grave.”
“Andino,” Dante warned.
He never took his gaze off the Calabrese men.
“It’s not a promise,” Andino said, “it’s a fucking guarantee. Test me.”
Kev only smiled in that fucking way of his again. “Oh, I don’t think we need to worry about that now, Andino. As Darren said, we believe the issue will correct itself from here on out. We handled that.”
Yes, but what did that mean?
Andino didn’t think he would like it, but he was going to have to find out.
Not right now, though.
Kev gestured at the bar. “A drink?”
Andino wanted to say no.
Dante answered for him, instead. “Sure, a drink sounds fine.”
They were still playing nice, it seemed. Andino was really getting sick and tired of this bullshit. His time for playing nice was just about over.
FOURTEEN
“Haven, let me in. Come on, baby, please.”
The banging on the door continued. Even as she ignored Andino’s pleas. Even as his fist came down harder on the wood. Even as he begged for her to talk to him for even a minute. No, she ignored him.
Well, she tried.
It was fucking hard.
She pressed her back harder against the door, and stared up at the ceiling. She tried to daze out from his voice so that her heart didn’t have to hear him speaking. So it would stop beating so fucking fast and wish, wish, wishing she would answer him back.
It was so goddamn traitorous.
This heart of hers hurt.
She squeezed her eyes shut, and thought about plugging her ears. Then, this stupid soul of hers that wanted this man so badly would stop twisting and burning and trying to tear its way out of her fucking body just to get to him.
Why?
That’s what she kept asking herself: why.
Why, after all he had done to her, did she still love him? Why couldn’t she just walk away from the door, and turn off all the lights? Why couldn’t she even pretend like she didn’t give a shit about him?
The paper cardstock with its fancy script, and a woman’s name under Andino’s announcing their marriage should have been enough. That should have been her hard fucking limit. Her no more, we’re so fucking done.
They should be done.
She had every reason to be done!
And yet, it was him and his voice in her head. It was her, and her stupid heart and her weak soul breaking.
Fractured, and ruined, and entirely gone.
Gone, now, because she’d given it to him. Oh, sure, she’d tried to take it back. But fuck all of him because he still had it. She didn’t even own herself anymore. Surely not her love. That was all his, and look at what he’d done with it.
Look at how he lied. How he hurt. Look at what he did to her.
“Go away, Andino,” Haven mumbled against the palms of her hands.
She hated that she cried. Hated that her face was streaked with hot tears, and her palms tasted like salt under her lips. She hated that somehow, she had allowed a man to have this kind of control over her.
This was not her.
This was some awful, horrible version of her.
This was his version of her.
She hated it.
His banging continued.
So did his voice.
“Just go away!”
“Please, Haven … please. Let me in; let me talk—something.”
Go, she wanted to scream. Go, go, just fucking go. That awful, horrible part of her screamed, stay, please, stay.
“Haven, just open the fucking door!”
“Go away.”
“Open the door!”
“Go.”
“You think I won’t break this fucking thing down, baby? You think I won’t move heaven and hell for you? You think you know what I did? You don’t know anything—you can’t because I couldn’t let you. Let me explain, please.”
Maybe it was his whole you don’t know anything that pushed her over the edge. Maybe that was what made her so fucking angry that her vision blackened, and her breaths stopped altogether.
She didn’t know?
She was living it.
“Haven, just—”
She pushed away from the door fast, and spun around to throw it open. Andino’s hand was already raised to knock again when the door flew wide. He looked wild. Probably a hell of a lot like she looked in those moments.
Messy, and crazed.
Pissed.
“I don’t know?” she all but screamed at him. “I fucking know!”
Haven threw the invitation at him. It bounced off his still-as-stone chest, and fell to the threshold of the doorway keeping the only distance between them.
She’d been holding the invitation ever since a man knocked on her door, and handed it over with a sadistic smile after he introduced himself as Darren Calabrese. The last name rung a bad bell for Haven, but the first name … she didn’t know it at all.
It didn’t matter.
The invitation had been enough.
On the ground, the invitation stayed where it had fallen, untouched and unwanted. By her, anyway. It being there—and too close—was enough to taunt her.
&n
bsp; Andino still hadn’t said anything. He didn’t move, or even glance away from her. Certainly not to look down at the invitation on the ground. That was enough to tell her he didn’t actually have to look at it.
He knew exactly what was on it. He knew the words she had read again and again while willing them to disappear, or be some kind of cruel joke. He didn’t have to pick up the invitation to know anything about it at all.
Haven didn’t give a single shit how she looked standing there in nothing but an over-sized T-shirt, and very little else. She hadn’t been expecting anyone to show up, but least of all this man. He always was a little too goddamn cocky for his own good.
Finally, he spoke.
A second too late, and dollar short.
“It’s not what you think.”
Haven barked out a bitter laugh, and wiped the stray tears from her cheeks. “It’s exactly what I think it is, Andino. You’re getting married.”
“It appears like—”
“Married!”
Andino glanced away, and shook his head. “You’ve got to let me talk for five seconds. Just let me talk, Haven.”
No. She really didn’t want to hear anything he had to say at all.
“Was it all this time? Was this happening since the beginning?”
Her voice came out raspy and aching. That happened when you cried this hard; when you hurt this much.
Andino’s jaw ticked. “You know better than that.”
“Fuck you,” Haven spat. “I don’t know anything about you at all. You’ve shown me that time and time again. When someone shows you who they are, believe them. Right? That’s how the saying goes. My fucking mistake, Andino. It won’t happen again.”
Taking a wide step back, she grabbed the edge of the door and prepared to slam it closed. He could stay right where he was for all she gave a damn. Far away from her, and on the outside of her life. Forever.
“Go away, and stay gone,” she told him.
She swung the door to close it, but no fucking surprise, Andino was there to stop it. His hand crashed into the door, and pushed it open hard. The force was enough to make Haven stumble in an effort to move away fast enough so that it didn’t hit her.
The fucking asshole.
