Coming Home (Morelli Family, #6)

by Sam Mariano

  Mia swallows, her eyes suddenly shiny, and I realize there are tears welling up there. She takes a step closer to me, then another step closer, then she makes the leap and hugs me. “I know,” she says, quietly, her breath warm in the crook of my neck. “I’m so sorry for that, Vince. Honestly, I didn’t really get it until I thought Mateo killed you. That’s when I realized how horrible that was. But I was so young and I didn’t know. I’d never really encountered death before. It was… I had no idea. It haunted me that I made you go through that alone.”

  I wrap her tighter in my arms, just closing my eyes and breathing her in. She still uses the same damned coconut shampoo she used when we were together, and the familiar scent triggers things in my brain. Just seeing her again sparked feelings inside me I’d thought long dead. As emotionally unaffected as I am by just about every woman I happen across these days, it’s a fucking relief to feel jolts coming back now that I have Mia back. This is exactly what I wanted. This right here. I need Mia’s special brand of tenderness.

  “You were willing to stay that night,” I remind her, still holding her in my arms. “I hugged you and you struggled to leave and you were willing to stay.”

  “Because you gave me no choice, Vince. I wasn’t staying because I changed my mind, because I didn’t want to be with him—and that was before I even knew what it would be like with him. I promise you, now that I know, my heart is even further out of reach for you than it ever was before. I’m not saying that to be mean,” she adds, pulling back to look into my eyes. “It’s just the truth. You want my honesty? There it is. I’m madly, deeply, eternally in love with Mateo. I hate that I hurt you and I wish I could mend your heart in some way, but I am not the woman for you. You deserve someone who feels that way about you, and that will never be me. You were my first love and you will always have a place in my heart, but it will never be the space you want. You’ve gotta let me go, Vince. Literally and emotionally.”

  She’s depressing the hell out of me. I refuse to believe this shit. There was a time she thought the same thing about him, but she’s movable if you’re patient enough.

  “Just don’t commit to hating this,” I request, since it’s the smallest thing I can think to ask for. “Let yourself see what life here would be like. I know you miss the family you made there, but would it be the worst thing to make your own here? Bella isn’t your daughter, she’s his, and he’s not your husband, because you’re sharing him with another woman. I’m not saying that to be mean. Just open up your mind to this. You can have your own family here. I’ll give you babies if you want babies. You can meet the Vegas family eventually, once everything calms down. I know I’ve been a little bit of a dick up to this point, but I just needed to keep you under control. You know I love you. You know I’ve loved you from the beginning. You won’t ever have to share me with anyone else. I don’t get bored like he does. And to be honest, you’ve been with him for four years. I’m not trying to be a dick, but your window is coming to a close. Maybe it hasn’t yet, maybe things are still good now, but in another year or two, do you really believe it will still be like this? Mateo doesn’t love forever, Mia. I think Meg’s already wearing out on this arrangement of yours, and she’s the one giving him a male heir. What if she doesn’t want you around anymore?”

  Mia shakes her head, like she regrets having to answer that. “I’m his favorite. If it really came down to a choice, he would pick me. But it isn’t going to, because I don’t know what he would do with her if he didn’t want her anymore, and I would never want anything to happen to Meg.”

  I raise my eyebrows. “See, you literally know he might kill a woman he’s tired of. What the fuck, Mia? How can you know that and…?” I stop myself, because I’m starting to get preachy. “Why can’t you just let this be the conclusion of your adventure with him? You harnessed Mateo Morelli for four years—good job. Now the ride’s over and it’s time to get back to real life, to something more stable and less dangerous.”

  “He isn’t going to kill me—unless it’s over this, you bringing me here and getting me into trouble.”

  I widen my eyes at her pointedly. “Mia. Come on. How can you even justify staying with someone you know might potentially murder you?”

  “I was mostly kidding,” she mutters, looking down.

  “I’m not. I’ve watched him do this before. I was around when he had Beth. I was living under the same roof. I knew her.”

  I can see this stirs her curiosity. I guess that makes sense. I have no idea if he ever told her anything about Beth, but he’s never liked talking about her since she died. It became one of his sore spots and we all knew better than to poke at it.

  “Was she like me?” Mia asks. “He’s told me a little bit about her, but not as much as I’d like to know. I get the impression he had similar feelings for her.”

  I latch onto this like a bird with a worm. “She was like you, yeah. That’s why I worry about you with him. I think it’s a legitimate likelihood that if you stay with him, he will end up killing you.”

  Her gaze drops and she pulls out of my arms. “Mateo wouldn’t kill me; he loves me.”

  “Like he loved Meg? Like he loved Beth?” I reply evenly. “He was crazy about Beth. Unfortunately, Mateo’s crazy side is not the most reliable, and it goes both ways. Maybe he’ll give you his heart, maybe he’ll strangle the life right out of your body—who knows what can happen?”

  Mia rolls her eyes. “He’s not insane; he doesn’t just murder for shits and giggles. Beth turned on him. She tried to lock him up and she cheated on him. I would never do what she did.”

  “Mia, I know you’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid for a while now, but you understand trying to put Mateo behind bars doesn’t make her the bad guy, right? He’s the bad guy. He should be behind bars. For many lifetimes. There aren’t a lot of laws he hasn’t broken.”

  “I know that,” she mutters. “Logically, I know that. But I don’t care. I picked his side a long time ago and there’s no going back from that.”

  “There could be. This could be a fresh start for you. You say you don’t want to start over like it’s a bad thing, but what if it isn’t? What if it’s the start of something good? What if the toxicity and dysfunction could end now?”

  Cutting me a “come on” look, she says, “There’s plenty of dysfunction and toxicity here, Vince. Let’s be realistic.”

  “But we don’t have to stay in this life,” I tell her, grabbing her hand. “We don’t. I only came back to my dad’s because I needed his help to get you, and… well, let’s be honest, where is the last place in the world Mateo would ever think to look for me?”

  She doesn’t look excited when she realizes the answer.

  “But we don’t have to stay here. Just until this all blows over and I make sure he doesn’t find you. But once things calm down, we can leave. We can go back to having a normal life, and someday when my father dies, I will inherit all this, but we don’t have to live it. If you hate this house, I’ll sell it. We can buy a house anywhere. We can have a life anywhere—a normal life.”

  “I don’t know how to live a normal life anymore,” she admits.

  “It’s like riding a bicycle,” I assure her, smiling a little and pulling her hips close to mine. “You just have to live with jarred spaghetti sauce for a little while.”

  That makes her smile, even though I’ve pulled her close. “You and your spaghetti sauce.”

  “I’m kidding, I’m not gonna live like a pauper; we can make our own spaghetti sauce.” She hasn’t moved away from me yet, so I’m gaining enthusiasm with this idea. “It’ll be perfect, Mia. Just you and me, like it would’ve been if none of this shit ever happened to us. If Mateo hadn’t found out about you. This can be a second chance for us.”

  Mia’s quiet for a minute, then she tells me, “This conversation is making my heart hurt.”

  “I know it’s hard. I’m not saying it would be easy. It’s like sucking the poison out after a snake bite
s you. He’s been biting you for five years. But I can save you from him now. I have the resources to make it stick this time. All I need is you on board.”

  “But I don’t want to be saved, Vince. I love him. I want to be with him.”

  “But he’s dangerous,” I reply, patiently.

  Her mouth turns down in a pouty frown. “He said the same thing about you.”

  “Well… we’re both dangerous in this life, but take me out of it and I can be normal. The same can’t be said for him.”

  She’s lost in thought now, but I take the look of sadness on her face as a good sign in this situation. Deep down I think she knows all of this is true. I think his danger is a major part of what she likes about him, but I have to believe she’s reasonable enough to understand his danger could actually get her killed. It’s not sexy if it gets you murdered.

  “You said all this was your birthright.”

  “It is. But I’d give it all up for you in a minute.”

  Her smile is sad as she wraps her arms around my neck and hugs me again. “There he is.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Mia

  Today is a depressing day.

  I hate that I let Vince get inside my head, but Beth has always been a minor concern. I mean, when you get involved with a man you know murdered the last woman he was seriously involved with—a man who has told you that, when trying to convince your rose-colored-glasses-wearing ass that he really is evil—it has to make you a little nervous. Especially when you’ve been told countless times—and also by him—that you’re reminiscent of said murdered lover.

  I hate that it doesn’t make me want to leave him, but it doesn’t. Vince isn’t inside my head because any part of me actually wants to leave Mateo. But there is that little niggling doubt in the back of my mind—what if he’s right? Especially because he’s not even the first Morelli today to tell me exactly the same thing. Rafe told me my time was almost up, and he has no incentive to wean me off Mateo like Vince does.

  The last time multiple Morellis warned me about Mateo like this, they were all right. I bet on him, and I was wrong.

  If they were right this time, it wouldn’t just be horrible—it would be my last act ever. Because I would actually be murdered by the man I love. This seems unfathomable to me, but it happens to women all over the world, women who aren’t even involved with men as dangerous as Mateo. Men who, to their knowledge, have not murdered previous girlfriends.

  I’m 0 for 2, basically.

  I spend my whole life betting on Mateo, and I’ve been wrong on more than one occasion. Actually it’s harder to think of a time when I’ve been right.

  I hate this. I want to go back home so he can stabilize me. I don’t want reasonable doubts. I don’t want the dream to be pierced again. I don’t want people coming at me with their logical concerns, dammit. I want to be on a beach in the Bahamas with Mateo’s strong arms wrapped around me, his eyes warm with affection for me. I want hotel staff to call me Mrs. Morelli, and I want Mateo to be the reason.

  I need to get the hell out of this place and back to my life, before they have enough time to convince me I don’t have a good thing to go back to.

  Mateo should’ve never let me work at the bakery. He shouldn’t have let there be any chance for me to be taken like this. My mind is too goddamn easily tainted, and I don’t know how to change that about myself. Mateo has never tried, because it benefits him; as long as he’s present, doubts about him don’t have a long life expectancy. He likes me pliable, but only for him. I know that. I like that, too. I want him to swoop back in, wrap me up in his darkness and take me back home to live out the rest of my life, happily under his enchantment. I don’t care if I dine with monsters, as long as I don’t have to see them for what they are.

  I need Mateo to save me from reality again.

  But I’m also aware that Vince was right when he said this is the last place in the world Mateo would ever think to look for him, and by extension, me. Vince wouldn’t even move to live with his father when he was a kid; he chose to stay behind and live with Mateo instead. Vince despises his father. Vince despises the asshole Morelli who drove his mother to suicide, who raped Maria and produced Cherie as a result, and I honestly can’t believe he’d betray himself as well as them by doing this.

  Mateo won’t think of this. He knows Vince well enough to know he wouldn’t go this far—only he has.

  ---

  Another night passes with Vince. He doesn’t try to move beyond cuddling. I know I shouldn’t even let him do that, but I do. I don’t want to lead him on or give him any kind of false hope, but I also don’t want to fight insignificant battles and not have energy for the big ones. Mateo energizes me, but I don’t have him here so I need to pace myself.

  I also yearn to give Vince the comfort he clearly wants from me. He’s not Mateo, I don’t feel that kind of love for him, but hearing him tell me I broke his heart made me ache. So when I hear the rustling of the sheets as his body moves closer to mine, when the wrong pair of strong arms moves around me and I’m pulled snugly against the wrong muscular chest, I can’t help hoping it at least makes him feel better.

  I wash my outfit when I wake up alone the next morning. Then I shower and get ready for the day, mildly impressed by the collection of make-up he picked out for me. Vince has never been especially good at picking out girly gifts, but this assortment is actually a step up from what I would’ve even picked out for myself.

  Dinner is my job again tonight. I don’t mind, except Vince tells me I need to make enough for four.

  “Is your dad coming home tonight?”

  “Yep.” He doesn’t sound especially excited about it, either. I’m dreading it a lot harder. I’ve heard a lot more horror stories about Matt Morelli than Ben, but the general consensus is that the elder Morellis make the younger ones look like nice guys. Vince also swore to me, once upon a time, that he would never let his scummy father meet me, so I never thought I’d have to.

  It’s not the family dinner I want to be having tonight, but it is the one that’s happening.

  I’m just about done cooking when I hear voices down the hall, and then a bouncy, energetic female voice suddenly croons, “Hey, sexy.”

  I haven’t turned around. I don’t care. I fully expect this to be Vince’s dad’s girlfriend, and for Vince’s dad to respond.

  I’m a little more surprised when Vince replies, “Hey, Jessica.”

  Now I do spin around, spatula in hand, to see if Ben appreciates his girlfriend calling his son sexy.

  The old man doesn’t even seem to have noticed. If he did, he certainly doesn’t give a fuck. His eyes are on me, sweeping me head to toe, taking in my outfit and my role at the stove. He does not look impressed.

  “This is her, huh?”

  Vince hesitates, then finally says, “Yeah, this is Mia. Mia, my dad."

  His eyes rake over me once more before he completely dismisses me with a muttered, “Eh.”

  He literally says eh! Like I’m a half-cooked potato he just pulled out of the oven, and now he might as well give up on dinner altogether.

  Morellis usually like me, so this is mildly surprising. I mean, I don’t like him either, so I guess I shouldn’t care, but how rude.

  He’s like 60 now, so he’s not exactly a looker himself, but I’m probably being a little unkind now since he’s clearly unimpressed with me. You can tell he probably looked more like Vince in his youth than I care to admit right now.

  It doesn’t matter. He’s scum and we’re never going to be friends.

  I turn back to the stove, but now I’m eyeing up this Jessica person with stolen sideways glances. I guess when Vince mentioned his dad’s girlfriend would be coming to dinner, I expected someone closer to his age. But Jessica is my age. She’s Vince’s age. She’s bottle-blonde with plump lips, big (fake) boobs, and sun-kissed skin. She’s thin and gorgeous, and what the hell is she doing with an old man?

  Well. Okay. I guess I know
what she’s doing with an old man. He’s a rich old man. I don’t like to assume women are gold-diggers, since I’m in a relationship with a wealthy man a good bit older myself , and also because it’s just unkind, but I’m going out on a limb and saying this is no love connection.

  “I’m glad you’re back,” Jessica says, now grabbing Vince and hugging him. “I missed you.”

  I do a double take as she gets all touchy-feely with that hug. Talk about inappropriate. Jesus. Who does this chick think she is right now? She’s standing here hugging on Vince, calling him sexy, affectionately rubbing his arm like she’s his girlfriend.

  Oh man, I am not going to like her. I catch myself scowling—luckily before he notices—and manage to smooth out my expression, but yeah… this is going to be a rough night.

  Vince does not respond to Jessica’s flirtations at all. He turns away from her, reaching into the fridge for a beer.

  “Get me one while you’re in there,” she says, still with her cutesy fucking tone.

  Vince ducks his head into the fridge, grabs one beer, then purposely closes the door with a smirk on his face. He then proceeds to pop the cap off his and take a long sip, so she knows it’s not for her.

  She rolls her big blue eyes, taking great pleasure in shouldering him out of the way with half her body and her boobs. “You’re such an ass.” It sounds like an insult, but she says it like asses are her absolute favorite things in the whole world.

  Drifting over toward me, Vince says, “Mia, this is Jessica. Jessica, Mia.”

  Blondie gives me a great big smile now as she hauls her beer over toward Vince. “Oh, hi. It’s so nice to meet you. This one here’s been telling me all about you. You’re a lucky girl.” She says this with a wink, then dismisses me completely, turning her attention back to Vince. “Can you open it for me? You know I can never get it.”