by Kiera Silver
They were likely tearing her down and showing their true feelings, but she couldn’t let that get to her. It didn’t really matter if Armo’s parents or brothers liked her, since they weren’t in a real relationship any longer. As long as they treated Lucas well, that was all that really mattered.
By the time the baby finished feeding, and she had adjusted her clothes well enough to return to the table, she was surprised to find the dining room empty. She jumped with surprise when someone touched her shoulder, turning to find Avriella smiling at her. “I’m sorry I missed the rest of the meal.”
Avriella waved a hand. “Believe me, I understand. I nursed three babies, though I didn’t do it all alone. I had help in the form of formula.”
Where she once might have considered that a passive-aggressive comment about her refusal to use formula, she now recognized it as simply a statement made in passing. Perhaps she had judged Avriella too harshly in the past. Maybe the other woman was reserved, and she had mistaken that for standoffishness. Maybe.
“The men have gone to discuss business, so I thought we could have an after-dinner coffee in the sitting room.”
She nodded her agreement, though she really didn’t want to follow the older woman down the hallway. They returned to the room where they had started the evening, and she settled into a comfortable armchair, offering no protest when Avriella hesitantly asked to hold the baby. It was a new experience to have to share her son, one to which she’d have to adjust quickly. Armo’s family was clearly interested in getting to know Lucas, so it was inevitable that she would have to share him sometimes.
They sat awkwardly for a moment, the silence lengthening until the woman in the black dress, who she assumed was either Lucia of the lasagna fame, or another staff member, entered the room and placed a tray of coffee on the table between them. Since Avriella was holding Lucas, it fell on Katie to pour, and she struggled to do so without her hands shaking and revealing her nervousness.
“I’m sure this is all very strange for you,” said Avriella with what appeared to be genuine sympathy as she took the cup of coffee, waving away the saucer with the hand holding Lucas before taking a sip of her coffee.
“I’m sure it’s even stranger for you. It’s not every day that you get a grandson overnight.”
Avriella smiled down at Lucas, who was still awake and was contentedly playing with a gold locket the other woman always wore. If she remembered correctly, it held pictures of her children, the triplets on one side in a family photo from when they were about four, and a picture of Sophia around age two in the other.
That reminded her that Sophia wasn’t present, prompting her to ask, “Where’s Sophia this evening?”
Avriella stiffened slightly, though her voice still sounded relaxed when she replied, “I’m not entirely sure. She isn’t speaking to us at the moment.”
She found that implausible, because she remembered Sophia and Avriella being very close. She hesitated with her reply, not certain how she should respond. She didn’t want to probe too deeply if Avriella wouldn’t welcome the questions. Before she could decide how to proceed, Armo’s mother sighed heavily.
“I don’t know if Armo ever told you, but Sophia isn’t actually my daughter. She was the daughter of Mario’s second wife.”
Katie nearly dropped the cup of coffee in her hand, and it made a clinking sound when it hit the saucer. To be on the safe side, she set them both down on the tray again. “I wasn’t aware that Mario had been married twice.”
“People in our generation remember, but not so much in yours. When I discovered that Mario was in the mafia, the boys were young, and I didn’t want them raised in that kind of environment. I insisted on a divorce that I didn’t really want, but it seemed like the right thing to do. Mario fought the idea, but he eventually had to capitulate.”
She blinked. “Really?” Katie had a difficult time imagining the older Moretti giving in on anything he didn’t want to do.
“I was… persuasive.” Avriella shrugged. “He found comfort with another woman, and though I never really got to know Elisa, she seemed like a sweet young woman. She was good to my sons. All along, I knew that Mario was still in love with me, but I couldn’t let go of my fears and my anger at the lies, along with worry about what it would mean for my sons if I accepted what Mario did, and what he planned to train them for.”
“I think I understand that feeling,” said Katie softly.
Avriella nodded. “I’m sure you do.”
“What changed? How did you and Mario end up back together?”
A fleeting look of sadness crossed Avriella’s face. “Elisa died giving birth to Sophia. Mario seemed so lost, and there was a helpless little baby without a mother. At first, I simply stepped in to help where I could, but it’s impossible to care for a little one and not learn to love him or her, even if they aren’t your own.” She cast a tender gaze at Lucas before resuming speaking.
“When Sophia was seven months old, she called me Mama. It resonated, and I realized that I was her mother in all the ways that counted, since poor Elisa couldn’t be there for the role. It also made me realize that Mario loved his sons, and though I didn’t necessarily approve of his profession, or his intent to pass it along to our boys, I also knew he would never do anything to knowingly hurt them.”
“That must have been a difficult realization,” she said softly.
The older woman nodded. “It was. He wouldn’t hurt them, and neither would I, but having broken up our family because I couldn’t accept the harsher realities of the Moretti empire was hurting all of us. It was shortly thereafter that Mario and I reconciled and remarried, and I formally adopted Sophia.”
Her head was reeling with the information she’d imparted, and she was going through the motions when she managed to ask, “Sophia didn’t know?”
She shook her head. “Not until recently. She was involved in an accident at the hospital and had to have a transfusion. She has a rarer blood type, where the boys and I all have Type O-positive. She’s a science major, and it didn’t take her long to figure out that I couldn’t possibly be her mother. Once it all came out, she stormed out, and she hasn’t spoken to us since. She’s still in contact with her brothers and Lily, but she wants nothing to do with me or Mario.”
Katie couldn’t help but frown. “I can understand her position quite well, Avriella. No one likes being lied to.”
Avriella nodded, looking unoffended. “Sometimes, we lie to people we love to protect them, or under the mistaken belief that we’re doing the right thing. I told Armo to tell you about the family business when it was obvious to me that you are both getting serious. He told me the time wasn’t right, and he was sure you’d leave him.”
She nodded, speaking bluntly. “I would have.”
Avriella gave her a sad smile. “It might surprise you to know I agreed with him and knew you would leave—but I also told him that you’d come back. To me, it was obvious you loved each other, but you deserved and needed time to deal with what you were going to learn. I didn’t anticipate you learning it all in such a harsh fashion, and I don’t blame you for running. I wish things had been different, but you’re here now, and so is Lucas. Those are the important things.”
She changed gears so quickly from discussing Sophia to moving on to the topic of herself and Armo that it almost made her head spin. Katie had to take a moment to gather her thoughts, trying to proceed delicately to avoid hurting the other woman’s feelings. “Lucas is here, but I’m not sure how long I’ll be in the picture. There is no us anymore. Our relationship is over. I can’t trust him, and I can’t look past what he does.”
Avriella looked momentarily saddened, but then her expression cleared. “I was once like you, dear. I hope it doesn’t take you three years to realize what’s really important.”
She frowned at the older woman, feeling the first stirrings of irritation. “And what do you consider so important that I should overlook Armo’s illegal activi
ties and the future implications for my son?”
Unruffled, Avriella took a sip of coffee before she said, “Love, my dear. The most important thing in the world is love. There’s still love between both of you, and even a blind fool could see it. You have to find a way to move past what you’ve learned, and you both have to forgive each other for the terrible things you’ve done to each other.
“But—”
She pressed on, ignoring Katie’s attempt to protest. “He lied to you about what he does, and you kept his child from him. You have both hurt each other deeply, but you can move past it if and when you choose. That’s all I wanted to say on the matter, because I’m not going to harp on you. I just ask you to consider what I’m saying. Do you really want to throw away the love you feel for Armo, or can you find a way to look past the parts you don’t like to embrace the parts you love?”
Katie stared at her, completely speechless. The older woman’s words resonated within her, and they sounded righter than she would have dreamed. Still, there was a stubborn block inside her that couldn’t accept Armo’s criminal ties. Even worse, she’d seen with her own eyes as he had shot a man in the head. He could take a life so casually, and it overwhelmed her. It was frightening to see that kind of violence, and to know it was hidden inside the man who had always been so tender and loving with her, at least until last night.
She thought Avriella was far too optimistic, but she didn’t want to hurt the other woman by pressing the issue or escalating things to an argument. Instead, she opted to change the subject to Lucas and spent the next half-hour telling the other woman all about her grandson. It was a safe topic, and it brought them both pleasure.
Chapter Seven
Try as she might, she couldn’t seem to dismiss Avriella’s words over the next few days. Her mind kept dwelling on it, turning over and over the idea of finding a way to embrace Armo and forget about his mob ties.
In an effort to do so, she carefully watched his interaction with Lucas, finding it charming how quickly he had taken to fatherhood. He didn’t even complain about the messy parts, like burping or diaper changes. He instinctively did his part and then some, treating Lucas tenderly, and even being considerate to her.
Considering how angry he was with her, he was being awfully sweet. He brought her snacks without asking, allowed her to sleep in on more than one occasion until the point where her breasts were aching and woke her up to feed the baby, and had already arranged for Sophia to take her shopping for a new wardrobe when he’d learned none of her old clothes fit quite right.
One afternoon, she took advantage of Lucas’ naptime and Armo’s absence to snoop through his home office. She wasn’t certain of what she was looking for, but she thought it might offer some insight into the man and his actions. The room was tucked away on the bottom floor of the apartment, so she took Lucas with her as he napped in his car seat, and left him on the floor in front of the desk.
Katie sat in Armo’s chair and stared around for a little while, getting a feel for the masculine room with its rich wood tones, bookshelves full of books, and digging her tows into the chocolate-brown carpeting beneath her feet. She leaned back in the chair, which was executive-style, of course, and imagined she was Armo. What did he do when he sat here? He claimed to be busy mostly with the foundation, but was his home office where he plotted his crimes?
She opened the nearest drawer, almost surprised to find that it glided easily and wasn’t locked. The top one yielded nothing but miscellaneous office supplies, which she sorted through quickly. The next drawer opened equally easily, and it was filled with files. There was a filing cabinet beside the desk, which also opened easily and held more papers and folders. Idly, she rifled through them, soon grasping they were all related to the foundation he ran for his mother with Avriella’s part-time input.
She selected a file at random, reading through the charity’s profile and discovering it was a shelter for domestic abuse victims. There was a remittance stub attached showing a donation for a hundred thousand dollars, and she nodded her approval before sliding the file back into the desk.
The next file she pulled out at random was for the state’s Headstart program, and the number of zeros after the one on the check made her eyes widen. She remembered hearing something about a budget shortfall that would have cut Headstart two years ago, diminishing it down to the bare-bones, and apparently, the Moretti’s hadn’t wanted that to happen. They must have picked up the difference, judging by the size of the check.
She continued searching through the files, not pausing to look at all of them, but each one revealed a new charity. There was the animal shelter, a scholarship fund for underprivileged children, donations to Make-A-Wish Foundation, and several programs invested in feeding children, both domestically and abroad.
Each file gave her warm feelings as she saw the concrete proof of how at least part of the Moretti fortune was spent. If Armo was the one who personally selected these charities, he clearly favored programs that supported the vulnerable and the weak. There was an occasional donation to an art foundation, but most of them were far more pragmatic, focusing on alleviating suffering, hunger, and the effects of violence.
Did he select these charities as a way to compensate for the crimes the Moretti’s committed? It added to the puzzle of who he was, and gave her more questions than answers.
He’d also gone out of his way to retrieve her possessions, though it had proven to be a futile endeavor. As she had suspected, her apartment had been ransacked and cleared out. All of her things were gone except for bits and pieces that had been scattered across the torn carpeting, according to the men Armo had sent to fetch her belongings.
They’d taken a few pictures too, but she hadn’t been able to look at more than one or two. Contrasting the place where she had been raising Lucas with where they were now was too painful and too sharp a reminder of the existence to which she had been willing to consign her son in an attempt to protect him from a man who loved him dearly.
That left a bitter taste in her mouth, and she was no longer certain she had done the right thing, or that she was continuing to do the right thing by trying to ignore how she felt for Armo.
Surprisingly, it was Haley who helped her reach a decision, though she was certain her sister would never want to claim credit for such a task. In fact, she had done her best to do the exact opposite when she’d finally called her sister a few days after her return to Armo’s life and invited her to come over for coffee on an afternoon she was certain Armo wouldn’t be home. She still hadn’t tried to leave the condo alone, and certainly not with Lucas, because she was certain she wouldn’t be allowed to, and she didn’t want to face that confrontation just yet.
Haley was clearly spoiling for a fight when Katie opened the door for her that afternoon at two, though she did take time for a long hug before launching into a tirade. “I missed you,” she said grudgingly.
“I missed you too.” Katie paused, bracing herself for Haley’s outburst.
“You didn’t call or anything the entire time you were missing. Do you know how worried Mom and I were?”
Katie nodded. “I’m sure you were, but I was afraid to contact you in case Armo was still looking for me. It wasn’t safe.”
Haley scowled at her. “If it wasn’t safe, then why the fuck are you back in his apartment?”
Katie hesitated, uncertain how much to tell her sister. She didn’t want Haley to run off halfcocked and contact the police or something, so she tap-danced around the blunt truth, that Armo had kidnapped her and Lucas. “It’s complicated.”
Haley rolled her eyes as she strode into the apartment, barely glancing at Gretchen, who had come to the doorway of the kitchen. The housekeeper disappeared just as quietly, and Katie followed behind her sister as Haley went to the living room on the first floor. As her sister started to sit down on the leather couch, she said, “We need to go upstairs. We’ll talk in the media room.”
Haley scrunche
d her brow. “I really don’t feel like going into the mobster man’s bedroom, sis.”
“I need to be upstairs.” She spoke firmly, not allowing Haley time to argue as she turned around and walked up the stairs, not stopping until she reached the media room. The master bedroom door was open so she could hear Lucas if he cried, which was why it was so important to be upstairs.
“What’s the deal here?” asked Haley as she strode inside. Her tall, willowy figure was a perfect match for her overbearing nature, and her long legs ate up the steps much faster than Katie usually moved. “Are you confined to this area or something?”
She ignored her sister’s taunts as she sat down and indicated Haley should take a seat on the loveseat as well. “Would you like coffee or tea?”
Haley shook her head, making auburn waves fly around her face. “What I’d like are some answers. Maybe start with why you ran away from Armo, and then fill in the gaps of where you’ve been and why you didn’t contact me?”
“I can’t go into everything, but that thing Mike told you was right.” She wished her sister had requested coffee, just so it would give her something to do with her hands. She was unreasonably nervous and ended up grasping a throw pillow on her lap and squeezing it with her fingers. “I was afraid, so I ran.” Katie couldn’t trust Haley with the full truth. If her sister found out she had witnessed Armo shooting an FBI agent, Haley would run straight to the authorities. She’d think she was doing the right thing, and maybe she was, but it no longer seemed so clear-cut to Katie.
“I get you were afraid, but I don’t understand why you thought you couldn’t call us.”
Katie arched brow. “You don’t think Armo was watching you and having you monitored to make sure I didn’t contact you? I mean, assuming he was ever looking for me in more than a casual way.” She didn’t know and hadn’t yet had the courage to ask Armo how he’d reacted beyond the first few weeks of thinking she’d been kidnapped.
