Liam
For once, the sun is shining brightly on our property. I stare out through the window overlooking the property, seeing my Irish cob horses trotting through the fields. Gypsy, my paint, is chasing Inferno, my father’s almost blood-red stallion. She and her sister, Fallon, are both pregnant right now— Gypsy with Inferno’s foal, and Fallon with Nickel’s. Nickel is stone gray with patches of white on his face and Fallon is a beautiful sandy dust color, so the foal will no doubt be gorgeous.
“Are you ready to chat?” my father asks from behind me.
I turn to face him with my coffee in hand, savoring the shot of Baileys I added. Knowing how our agenda may have changed for today, I needed the shot of courage. “Yes, let me grab Luca,” I start to say, heading for the opening to the kitchen.
Father puts his hand up. “Luca’s already in my study. Let’s get this thing started. We have quite a bit to go over for the day and I’m sure you both want to be finished before the girls are back from their shopping endeavors.”
I nod, walking behind him as we weave through the house and go into his office. It seems he’s been up earlier than I expected. There are plates of things to munch on in his office, probably prepared early this morning by the staff. I grab a couple of sandwiches and take a seat on the couch. Aesthetically, it’s regal as can be, with gold buttons lining the head, but it’s quite comfortable.
“Am I correct in assuming things have changed?” I ask, taking a bite out of the ham and swiss combination.
Father nods, leaning against his desk. “Yes, I’m afraid so. In fact, on many levels, things have changed. I’ve been hearing rumors from our allies that Valentin is sniffing around looking for your sisters again. Our spies in Russia have informed us he’s ready to start a war, especially after hearing news of your marriage. Apparently, the time to act is now, when my children are happy.” He rolls his eyes, scoffing. “If only I had known the type of man I had befriended all those years ago, I would’ve chosen to stay far away.”
“If you had, you never would’ve met mum,” I state. Even though she’s not my biological mum, it feels wrong to add the term ‘step’ in front. She was every bit of a mother to me.
“True. I only mean I wish things were avoidable. Maybe then we wouldn’t be split up the way we are right now.”
“I doubt you’ll always be separated,” Luca says, speaking up from the back of the room.
My father smiles at him. “We’ve always found out how to keep our family close, haven’t we?” Adding a wink at the end.
Luca chuckles, and I see a smirk cross his face. Obviously, I’m missing something here.
“Does someone want to fill me in?” I ask, already growing irritated.
“Yes, but first I need to give you this,” my father says, handing me a black box. I furrow my brows, believing I know what the contents are. Opening the box, I’m proven right as my eyes land on the rose gold engagement ring that’s been in our family for generations. An oval diamond sits in the center, surrounded by small green emeralds. The trinity is on the left and right of the diamond, and down through the band smaller diamonds span around it.
“Mum will kill you if she wakes up and sees it’s not on her bloody finger,” I chuckle, knowing how she’d throw a fit.
I watch my father’s expression and see the sadness wash over him. “Yes, well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” He barely has any hope left. We’ve had numerous physicians come to our home after signing a non-disclosure agreement stating they can never report who they’ve seen in our house. Keeping mum’s safety is of the utmost importance. If Valentin ever caught wind she’s still technically alive, we’d all lose her for good. While I hate she’s hooked up to machines that breathe for her, keeping her heart beating, I also am a selfish bastard who enjoys sitting in the room and talking to her. I doubt she can hear me, but her presence is comforting. Some of the physicians have stated she’s completely brain-dead, while others have fought against that diagnosis, saying they’ve seen patients under worst circumstances and care regimens come out of a coma, even longer than the one she’s been in.
I look to my father and speak from the heart, only knowing any of this because of what he told me as a child. “You did what she asked of you. Mum has always been a fighter, and she told you to hook her up to those machines. She wanted as much time and opportunity as she could get. You were following her wishes.”
“I feel as though I’m letting her body rot in front of us all,” he admits, slapping his hands together. “Now, let’s stop discussing your mum. You were asking me to fill you in and I believe now is the right time. You know what we’re the best for, boy?”
“Keeping secrets,” I grumble.
Luca laughs from where he stands. Asshole.
“Luca isn’t just your best friend, Liam. He’s your cousin.”
“I’m sorry— what?”
“Your Aunt Cara had a son before she died. Instead of raising him myself, I left him with his father to be raised in a normal environment. Considering all the horrors we endured around that time period, it was the correct thing to do.”
I glance between my father and my . . . best friend, who I’ve now discovered is my blood. “You both lied to me,” I hiss.
“I didn’t have the authorization to say a word to you. It was the one thing I had to keep from you when I accepted the job working here. I couldn’t say a word, and in part, I’d be able to be with a part of my family I never had the privilege to know,” Luca states.
“Are you an only child, or are there more of you?” I ask.
“I’m the youngest of four,” Luca answers while I shift my glare over to my father. Pissed isn’t an accurate way of describing me right now.
“I felt alone as a child because my sisters were gone and you were hiding this under my fucking nose. We weren’t actually the only Mackenzies left like you stated? What in the bloody hell is wrong with you!” I roar, rising from my seat. I slam my coffee cup down on the table in front of me and it shatters to bits, splashing coffee across the glass top.
“I won’t apologize to you for doing what was best for everyone. Oran knew what the family was going through and Cara never wanted to be involved in the family business. She lived safely in Northern Ireland with her family until her death. When Luca was old enough, he explained to his father how he wanted to know more about the Mackenzies. Oran called me and I arranged for Luca to go through various training programs so he could come on board as a member of our security detail. Considering the dangers our family is exposed to, I didn’t want him to be unprepared. With the battles coming from multiple directions, it seemed fitting we have a discussion about this today.”
“I can’t believe any of this,” I hiss, darting my eyes back between the two of them. “The two people I’m supposed to trust more than anyone else have deceived me for years.”
I walk toward the door with anger in every step I take. “Liam, we have other things we need to go over,” Father states from behind me.
I stare at the wooden door, not bothering to look back and face him. “You two can figure it the fuck out.”
25
“Be stubborn about your goals, but flexible about your methods.”
~ @HelloOctober
Liam
I’ve spent the last three days avoiding Luca and my father. After what they dropped on me the other day, I’ve been unable to even want to look in their direction without choking them both. I don’t understand why in this day and age such a secret had to be kept from me. It’s not like I’m some untrustworthy individual. I’m a God-damned Mackenzie for fuck's sake. Not like it mattered in their perspectives, though.
Keeping myself busy hasn’t been difficult. I’ve gone to Maeve’s every moment I could and have even been taking Caprice with me, who hasn’t complained one bit. She’d much rather be behind the bar, talking to customers than locked up at the estate. She even said she feels like she has a purpose when she’s at the pub. We t
ook Alessandra there yesterday and even she seemed to be enjoying herself.
Alessandra doesn’t talk to me too much, being shyer out of the two of them. She is trying to make simple conversation every now and again. Maybe I shouldn’t have told Caprice and Alessandra who Luca really is, but Alessandra brought up how she still didn’t feel too safe. I had to prove a point, so I told her Luca is half-Mackenzie, and that she’s in the safest possible place she could be. It seems to me over the last few days and having bonding time with her sister she’s realized what her life could’ve been like.
“You want to learn how to make a few drinks?” Caprice asks her sister, who I’ve been teaching how to do the books. Accounting isn’t overly difficult, however, it does take time and dedication. Alessandra has told me she wanted to go into something business-like if she had actually been able to go to college. I took the opportunity to give her a job of sorts, apprenticing for me. She’ll watch how I do things and when my plate gets busier, she’ll handle accounting for Maeve’s. It’s only a matter of time before the shit Valentin and Gabriele stir up catches up to us. When that time comes, I’ll need someone I trust to handle the day-to-day stuff with the pub. Between Alessandra, my wife, and Aemon, I’m set.
“Ugh, please don’t make me do that. I’m much better in the business sense.” Alessandra holds up my accounting binder. “See, this is what I’m good at. You stick to talking to the patrons and making them all happy.”
“Fine, suit yourself. Just thought you would’ve liked taste-testing a new drink I’ve created.”
“What? Are you a chemist now?”
“No, I’m not a damn chemist. I’m an alchemist, and you’re about to try one of the newest signature drinks Maeve’s is offering,” Caprice tells her, sticking her tongue out.
I raise a brow. “Signature drinks?”
Caprice nods, smirking as she hands me some sort of orange drink. “This is the Mackenzie Mimosa.”
I take a sip, coughing at its sweetness. Personally, I prefer my drinks to be stiff and bitter. “No one in our family likes mimosas,” I state, trying to ax her new creation.
“Wrong. I do, and I’m a Mackenzie now. Am I not?” she challenges, getting a laugh out of me.
“Alright. Fine,” I say, watching Alessandra go for the other drink she has. It appears to look the same, but with a greenish color at the top and a bit darker than the first one.
“Oh, wow. This is delicious!”
“Yep, can you guess what it is?”
“Nope.”
“It’s homemade sangria with a splash of orange juice and lime at the top.”
My phone buzzes on the bar top and I peer down, seeing its Luca. I click the red button to ignore him, but he calls back again. So, I repeat what I did before and just like the last time, he calls back.
Grunting, I answer, “What do you want?”
“Thought you’d like to know we have some unexpected visitors at the house,” Luca says. I’m expecting to hear Gabriele DiGiovanni is here. Fuck, bastard wasn’t giving us a week at all.
“Who?” I ask, demanding an answer.
“Rafael Ramirez.”
“Why do I feel like there’s another surprise? You said visitors, as in plural.” I make sure to walk away from the girls so they don’t overhear me. They don’t need to be freaking out if there’s nothing they need to worry their pretty little heads about.
“Yes, I did. Did you forget about the gala your father organized? It’s tonight, and your father offered the empty rooms in his home for the other prominent families to stay in.”
“Who else is in my fucking house?” I hiss in a whisper, not happy Luca hasn’t just told me already.
“Giovanni, their eldest brother. Rumor has it he’s just as bad as their father. Giovanni isn’t the only one who’s staying in your home, though.”
“Will you just spit it out already?” I grumble.
“You’re going to lose your head.” At that, I know who is probably in my house right now.
“Gaia is here,” Luca admits, and just as he thought, I’m losing my fucking mind.
Gaia, the woman who ripped my heart straight from my chest and stomped on it like it didn’t mean a damn thing. The woman I thought I’d end up marrying but didn’t. A woman who I thought was a mermaid brought to fucking life, with sun-kissed skin from the seas of Greece, who also happens to be the only daughter of Greek crime lord Kosmos Galanos. Fuck me sideways. I didn’t realize the time had passed so quickly.
“Fuck. Is her father with her too?”
“No, she’s come on behalf of her entire family. Apparently, Kosmos has fallen ill and she’s taking care of the family business.”
I chuckle. “She probably poisoned the old bastard.”
“I wouldn’t put it past her. Your father reached out to Kosmos to verify her story and he had a triple-bypass last week. He also asked why we weren’t warned Gaia was coming. Kosmos told him it was karma for allowing the relationship between you two to falter.”
I scoff. “She was the one who killed it, not anyone on this side.”
“I know. Be careful when you bring the girls home. Everyone here looks hungry for drama.”
“I will,” I say, ending the call. Luca might have given me a warning, but I’m still pissed at him and my father for keeping his identity a secret from me. If you can’t trust family, who can you trust?
26
“Don’t judge a situation you’ve never been in.”
~ Curiano.com
Caprice
Liam disappeared upstairs into his office after getting off the phone with someone. Alessandra and I shared a concerned look, unsure if we should’ve chased him or not. I know it’s my duty to check on him, considering he’s my husband and all, however, he looked rattled. I’m the type of person who’d rather not be disturbed when they’ve had something dropped on them, so I figured I’d wait until he was ready.
Instead of things going as I’d hoped, three hours later he took us to a dress shop downtown, buying Alessandra and I a couple of extravagant evening gowns. I didn’t understand why he was purchasing them, but anytime I tried to ask him a question he made himself scarce, looking more stressed than before.
The only time he said anything to me during our shopping trip was when I had walked up to a baby blue gown. He vetoed me and took a sparkling gold strapless dress from the racks, handing it to me, making sure I understood Mrs. Mackenzie should be the one capturing all the attention in the room. Even though the dress is strapless, it goes around my arms versus under them. The fabric comes down a couple feet, giving the illusion of having sleeves.
On the other hand, Alessandra chose a form-fitting black halter top gown that comes together around her neck, with a high leg slit. Never before have I seen her in something so provocative. The sexiest she’s ever looked is when she decides to pop red lipstick on those pouty ones she has. I imagine Luca is going to drool over her after seeing her wear this.
We’ve already gone to the shoe store and to grab some makeup and hair accessories, and we’re finally on our way back to the estate when I try to speak to Liam again. “You’re being so quiet and it’s worrying me,” I confess, hoping he’ll open up to me.
Rather than simply replying, Liam pulls the SUV over to the side of the road, causing Bishop to look over from the passenger seat. “Everything alright, boss?”
“Yes, I’m just warning the two ladies about what we’re about to walk into.”
Bishop takes in a heavy breath, and that’s when I understand something has happened. The unmistakable feeling of fear strikes through me as I wait for one of them to speak.
“Why are you saying that like it’s a bad thing?” Alessandra questions and I have to force every part of myself not to roll my eyes. It’ll take a while for her to grow out of the naïve shit. Is it not evident something is up?
“Luca called me. He told me we have visitors at the house. I had forgotten about the gala my father organized with everythi
ng going on, and I’m so, so sorry.” Liam turns toward us in the back, staring at me as he apologizes. “Along with my ex, your brother Giovanni is staying at the house, alongside someone else.”
My heart pounds in my chest and suddenly the world feels suffocating. There’s a reason Liam is hiding who it is because he doesn’t want to say it. It’s one of three people— my father, Sergei, or someone who I never want to see ever again. “Please don’t tell me he’s going to be there.” I practically beg him, barely able to speak. My body freezes and it’s as if a pair of hands are wrapping tightly around my throat.
“Who?” my sister questions, but I only look at the man who I believe will protect me. He’s not supposed to allow me to walk into situations like this.
“He is, and I know it’s not ideal— ”
I cut him off. “No, this isn’t ideal. It’s a fucking nightmare brought to life, Liam!” I scream at him, covering my face with my hands.
“I’m sorry, Caprice. If I had any control over the situation, I would change it, but I don’t. The only thing we can both do right now is accept this for what it is. An opportune moment to show everyone you aren’t a DiGiovanni. You’re now a Mackenzie and unlike when you were solely Gabriele’s daughter, you demand respect. You will no longer put up with anyone’s shite nor will I allow anyone to treat you in such a way.”
“I’m not ready for this,” I admit, choking out my words.
Liam places his hand on my own, slowly pulling it away from my face. “Caprice, you’d never be ready for this day. We would’ve tried to avoid it at every cost, but we can’t now. It’s here and you have to face it. I hope you’ll see that you aren’t alone, though. I will be with you every step of the way.”
Alessandra reaches over and puts her hand on my leg, smiling softly. “The Mackenzies have our backs. We’re their family now and nothing bad will happen to either of us. We just have to trust them, Cap.”
Forbidden Love: Book 1 in the Mackenzie Series (Leave Me Breathless World) Page 10
