by Lux Miller
Noemi’s frozen stare falls onto Kyle, and the man’s bravado completely crumbles as all three Barresi siblings stare at him. He has a look of complete guilt on his face, as does Noemi. Kyle shakes his head quickly as he turns tail and gets the heck outta dodge like his life depends on it. Truth be told, it probably does. The last thing I hear him say as his gaze briefly locks with mine before he flees is two words, but they say everything that needs to be said. “Oh, shit…”
EIGHTEEN
I’m not a big woman. I don’t take up a lot of space, and my presence isn’t likely to strike fear into the hearts of anyone. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t recognize the very real danger that Kyle is in at this very moment. And how valuable a head start is going to be for him. It only takes Luca a couple seconds to realize what Kyle’s parting statement means, and the feral roar that bellows out of him confirms that he’s not exactly pleased.
I dive for the doorway, grabbing hold of the doorframe and closing my eyes in silent prayer. I know I won’t do much to slow Luca and Dante down, but every second counts. If Kyle can get away, things can be discussed later. If Luca and Dante get their hands on him now, he’s a dead man. They’ll shoot first and ask questions later.
Noemi stands transfixed in shock across the room as Luca stomps over to the doorway. “Emily, move,” he growls. I dig my fingers into the wooden frame and shake my head stubbornly. He hulks up like he’s going to physically force me to move, but I stand my ground, refusing to get out of his way. If he wants to go after Kyle, he’s going to have to physically move me. It’s not like he couldn’t just pick me up and set me aside, anyway.
“No, Luca. I won’t move so that you can go tearing down the stairs and put a man in his grave that’s only ever been loyal to la famiglia!”
Luca flinches like he’s been slapped. “He fucked my sister! My baby sister!”
He seething as he speaks, and I know the only reason I haven’t been laid out on the floor is because he’s scared to touch me right now. The bruises and scrapes are ugly reminders of the ordeal I just went through. That he just went through because of la famiglia. Because his enemies wanted to get to him in a way nobody else could.
I’m careful not to take my hands off the door frame. I don’t think Luca will forcefully snatch me out of this doorway, but I’ve no doubts that if I’m not firmly planted here, he’ll just lift me out of the way like I weigh nothing.
I sigh as Noemi trembles on the bed across the room. She looks horrified, and I don’t know which revelation is the worst… that she’s been screwing around with one of her brothers’ men, that he knocked her up, or that she obviously had no intentions of telling them any time soon.
I feel for her. She’s going to be facing the wrath of both of her brothers once the betrayal from Kyle stops festering. She made some bad choices, that’s for sure, especially since I warned her away from Kyle more than once. But to know that she blatantly disregarded my advice and didn’t bother with protection while having sex with Kyle dampens the pity I feel. She made this bed, and now she’s being forced to lie in it. She’s a grown-ass adult now, and despite being homeschooled for much of her high school career, she knows where babies come from.
I blink as I feel the breeze from a hand being waved in front of my face. When I snap out of my daze, I look up into the angry face of my husband. His mouth is twisted into a frown as he leans down over me. His massive size is intimidating enough when he’s in a good mood. He’s royally pissed off right now, though, so it’s downright terrifying to be cloaked in his shadow as he demands, “Did you know about this, Emily?”
I swallow the lump in my throat and nod slowly. Luca growls, “What? You knew? And you didn’t think you should tell me that my little sister was fucking a cop?!?”
A sharp gasp from behind Luca catches his attention, and he whirls around to where Noemi is sitting on the bed with a look that’s a mixture of surprise and despair, “No… he can’t be…”
Luca sighs heavily, “Yes, Noemi… he can be. He’s a goddamned cop. I don’t know what kind of lines he used on you, but you fell right into his trap!”
She points her finger at Luca, wagging it at him, “But you trusted him! You assigned him to me! Why’d you assign a cop to protect me if you knew he was a cop?!?”
Luca grunts, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m the one asking questions here, little girl. I trusted him because, despite being found to be a cop, he has maintained discretion the entire time and has provided la famiglia with invaluable intel that we couldn’t have gotten any other way. I hired him because he’s good at what he does, not to stick his fucking dick in my sister!”
Something flashes across Noemi’s face, and she stands up off the bed, stamping her foot down hard onto the floor. “Well, he’s good at that too! I’m not a little girl anymore! Just because you weren’t around while I grew up doesn’t mean the world stopped spinning for me! Kyle wasn’t even my first, Luca! I had more than one boyfriend in school before Father pulled me out! I’ve had sex before, but it’s none of your fucking business what or who I do anymore, Luca! I’m eighteen! I’m a grown woman!”
Luca whirls around to stare at Dante in surprise, “Did you know about any of this?”
Dante shrugs, choosing his words carefully. He looks pissed himself, but I know he’s hiding his own secrets right now. I haven’t figure them out just yet, but I have my suspicions and if I’m right, Dante’s secret will blow Noemi’s indiscretions out of the water. “I suspected, but without concrete proof, I wasn’t about to corner one of our best associates and accuse him of anything!”
Luca throws his head back and growls. I shudder at the feral sound and duck as he swings around in my direction. He’s madder than hell right now, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to put a fist through the wall, so I’m getting myself out of his eyesight before I become a target
A soft, but firm voice stops him in his tracks and to my utter surprise, it isn’t Noemi who’s trying to talk Luca down off the ledge. Much like me, she’s cowering as far away from him as she can manage. Despite his own anger, even Dante is giving Luca a wide berth. “Lucario… settle your ass down right this minute…”
Luca huffs and scowls, but he quickly deflates like a balloon that’s had its air let out. His breathing is still staggered and his fists are still clenched, but he doesn’t look quite as murderous as he turns to look at the owner of the voice over my head. “Momma… stay out of this…”
She crosses her arms and narrows her eyes at Luca. “I will not. You’re stomping around up here like a damn bull on a rampage. New flash, Luca… this isn’t Spain, and it isn’t time to run. What the hell is going on up here? There’s so much yelling, I could hear it downstairs!”
Luca’s voice is low and stretched impossibly tight, “We’ve another traitor in our midst.”
Bianca nods thoughtfully. “The simple answer is to kill him for his betrayal, but we all know there’s nothing simple in this family.”
Luca grunts, but Noemi jumps off the bed, suddenly emboldened by Bianca’s presence. “Luca’s just pissed off, because he doesn’t like my boyfriend!”
Luca whirls around and stares down at his sister, “He’s your what?!?”
She crosses her arms and stares at him defiantly. “He’s my boyfriend.”
Luca shakes his head wildly, but his posture is stiff. “The hell he is! He’s a fucking associate! No associate of mine is allowed anywhere near my family!”
Noemi throws her hands up in the air and screams, her voice shrill and high-pitched as she stomps past Luca. “You’re so impossible! You’re worse than father! Besides, we all know now that he’s been around me more times than I can count… it’s not like you can stop what’s already happened!”
The little ball of black fluff under the bed tears out from under it and practically dives at me, burying its face into my chest. I wrap my arm around its quivering body and hold on to it tightly, trying to give at least one creature i
n this room reassurance that this whole family isn’t bat-shit crazy.
Boss whimpers and burrows deeper into my armpit as Bianca steps into the room, puts her fingers between her lips and whistles sharply. Luca and Noemi stop bickering and turn to look at their mother with looks of silent frustration.
Bianca sighs when she catches sight of the hairball in my arms. She shakes her head. “This isn’t my home, so I know I’ve no authority here, but please… we’ve had enough upheaval in this family this year to last me a lifetime. Would it kill the three of you to get along?”
Dante’s mouth falls open slightly, and he holds both hands up. “Hey, I wasn’t even arguing over anything! I’m going to kill Kyle the minute I get my hands on his scrawny, little neck, but I’m not going to stand here and balk over who did what worse… talking doesn’t accomplish anything. I’m a man of action.”
Bianca puts her hands on her hips, and it’s scary how much Noemi resembles her mother when they’re annoyed. Every other time, she’s a feminized version of Matteo, but when angry, both of them look fiercely dangerous with their curtain of dark hair and olive complexion. Bianca’s eyes are soft and green, like a lighter shade of Dante’s, but Noemi’s are the same bright blue as Matteo.
Bianca wags her finger at Dante, and he stops talking immediately. It’s rather impressive how a five-foot-nothing woman can still pull rank on her kids. Despite them being prominent members of a notorious crime family, they’re still Italian, and Italian men worship their mothers.
Luca exhales through his nose and stamps his foot, “Momma! Noemi’s pregnant!”
Noemi gasps as her mouth drops open. She glares at Luca as Bianca shakes her head sadly, rubbing her hands over her face. Noemi points her finger at Luca and accuses, “He got married!”
Bianca’s gaze whips to Luca, then down at me where I’ve sat down on the floor with the puppy in my lap. She stares back up at Luca then at Noemi and mutters something in rapid Italian.
Luca grunts and crosses his arms, “Just legally! We didn’t do the whole church thing, Momma.”
Bianca shakes her head at Luca. “I’m not sure that makes it any better. You’ve broken this Momma’s heart.”
My eyes widen as Luca’s expression changes from perturbed to stricken in half a second. He shakes his head wildly. “Momma, it’s not like that. We had to do it quickly because of the trial!”
Bianca turns away from her son and stares at her daughter, “A baby?!? You’re still a baby yourself!”
Noemi’s face turns pink as she holds her breath in what appears to be an attempt to hold her tongue. She screams without opening her mouth as she stamps her feet on the floor. She points at Luca and stares him down with the fire of a thousand suns. “He was sixteen when he was going to be a father, and he’s still always been the damn golden child. I’m just the perpetual screw-up! Why does it even matter what I do?!? I’m just going to fall short of your expectations… just like I always have…”
Noemi flings herself face down onto the bed, and her entire body quivers as sobs rack her tiny frame. I stand up, silently dumping Boss onto the floor and walk over to Noemi’s bed. I sit down beside her and rub her back gently, too afraid to say anything to her. The sudden silence is uncomfortable, but I’m thankful for the ebb in the wild storm that’s the Barresi siblings fighting.
Bianca turns her gaze on Luca again, the frustration and anger gone from her expression. Instead, she looks broken. “Luca, I know that you’ve big shoes to fill and an impossible reputation to uphold. I just hope you don’t get so embroiled in your work that you lose sight of the beauty life has to offer. Even in the darkest times, we can find happiness. ”
She sits on Noemi’s other side and rubs her back as well. “Luca, I had you when I was seventeen. Noemi is eighteen.”
Luca shakes his head stubbornly. “Momma, you were married!”
Bianca shrugs. “And you weren’t. Your father and I came from a different time in the course of this family. Our marriage was arranged when we were young. Your father was eight years older than me, but I submitted to him faithfully, because it was expected of me. I don’t regret marrying your father, and I certainly don’t regret my children, but Luca, you better not make me regret the way I raised you. You may be strong and steadfast, but you were raised in the knowledge that no man is perfect. We all choose paths that sometimes make it hard to find our way, but even if we get lost for a while, we find our way back to where we’ve always been meant to be. Sometimes we don’t even get to choose the journey that life takes us on, but we still go because life is an adventure, and we only get to live it once.”
Bianca walks over to me and leans down, hugging me tightly. It’s startling, and I go rigid the moment she touches me, but it doesn’t deter her. “Welcome to the family, Emily… officially of course, since my boneheaded son didn’t give you a choice on the matter at first.”
I can’t help the surprised giggle that slips out of me as Bianca kisses the top of my head. The sound is light and airy as it envelops me in a sense of hope. That even if it’s only for this moment, I’ve been welcomed into the family. I am now Barresi...
NINETEEN
Seeing his opening while I’m distracted with his mother and sister, Luca disappears from the room with Dante hot on his heels. I realize they’ve disappeared when I hear their voices loudly arguing from the hallway. As usual, they’re exchanging words in rapid, angry Italian that my brain can’t even begin to translate. Not at the speed they’re arguing. I jump up off the bed to chase after them when Bianca grabs my hand gently.
I stop and turn around to look at her. She gives me a small smile and shakes her head. “Let them argue, Emily. You may not understand what they’re saying, but I do.”
Bianca glances at Noemi, then back up at me. “Kyle is in no danger from either of them right now. Besides, he was wise and got a good enough head start that they won’t find him tonight.”
Noemi sniffles and flops back on her bed, groaning. Bianca turns her attention to her daughter, so I sneak out to let them hash out Noemi’s new future. I try to slip into the hallway as quietly as possible, but Luca nearly scares the shit out of me when he wraps his arms around me suddenly, the moment I step out of Noemi’s room.
“Ciao bella mia,” he whispers in my ear as his full beard tickles along the outer shell. I squirm in his arms, but he has me wrapped tightly, and there’s no escaping. He chuckles and turns me around, resting his forehead against mine.
I sigh softly and close my eyes, murmuring, “Ciao marito.”
Luca’s arms loosen around me as he pulls back slightly,so he can look at my face. “It is so incredibly sexy to hear you speak my mother tongue. I should be spitting nails right now with how angry I am, but you calm my soul. Though I can’t say the same for my body…”
He presses his body against me, and I tense as I feel the bulge in his pants beginning to strain against the sweatpants that are slung low on his hips. I shudder and bite down on my bottom lip, watching his face curiously. I let go of my lip which is now swollen from my teeth and watch as his eyes lock onto my mouth. “So, who won the argument?”
Luca pushes against me, backing me up against the hallway wall. The hard angles of his muscles trap me against the wall, and he exhales heavily, “Kyle is still breathing, wherever the fuck he went, so I’m sure you can guess…”
I groan. Despite the tense situation, the way that Luca’s body is responding to me is both calming and revving my own hormones into overdrive. After what I suffered at the hands of Parker and Marco, I didn’t know if I’d be able to feel sexual, but right now, the tightness low in my belly tells me that it’s not going to be an issue.
I slide my hand onto Luca’s cheek, then back around into his hair and snatch his face down to mine. He gasps in surprise, but acquiesces to my request as his lips capture mine in a heated kiss. He growls into my mouth as his hands possessively dig into my sides. The wall bites into my back as Luca pushes against me with all of
his weight, but I don’t care. There’s no doubt that he’s extremely turned on as his erection presses against me.
He jerks back from me suddenly with a feral yowl. He turns away from me and bends down to pick something off the floor. He hurls it with a yell at Dante, who I see standing in his doorway, looking amused. “No wonder you gave up the argument so easily. You had other things on your mind.”
Luca looks at me and nods, motioning to me with his hands. “Obviously. You would too if you… well, you know…”
Dante rolls his eyes, waving his hand around. “Doubtful. But I digress. Don’t do that shit out here where Momma could see. She’s had enough shocks tonight. She has a new daughter… and is going to be a grandmother. She doesn’t need to see her son banging his wife against the wall in the hallway.”
