by Kali Brixton
“I know about Everleigh, Luca.” Shit. “And don’t think for two seconds that if my father catches wind of this, he won’t come for her and Rory.”
My fist pounds on the island, causing her to startle. “Don’t you dare threaten my family, Gia!”
She rounds the island and gets in my face. “Then, don’t. Threaten. Mine!” Our heavy breathing fills the air, rife with rage.
We stand there for a moment, staring each other down, her eyes glassy with unshed tears. “Luca, please… I’m begging you.” She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. When she reopens them, they’re no longer filled with anger. Only desperation. “If you don’t marry me, I’ll never get him back.”
My hostility toward her cools off as I replay her last words. “Him?”
Two tears trickle down her face as she whispers, “My son.”
“Your son?” Her words knock the wind out of me. She has a child? Sweet, innocent Gia has a little boy? “Hold on. How do you have a son if you’re a virgin?”
Because that was the big selling point for most Italian grooms-to-be in my situation. The untouched, virginal bride.
She steps around me and goes to the sink, perching her hand on the edge. “It’s why my father didn’t make me marry you when I was eighteen. He was going to have you come home earlier, but when he found out I was pregnant, he wanted me to have time to get my body back and learn what it means to be a Cervelli,” she adds with a sneer.
Still taken aback by her words, I let her continue. “At first, he was going to force me into an abortion, but I begged him for my baby’s life.” A sob escapes her. “He realized my baby was better used as leverage to keep me in line, so he made me have a home birth. My blood pressure went too high and I blacked out. When I finally came to, the midwife told me he had died.”
Her lips wobble. “I was so broken. First, Lash, then our child. Little did I know what his plan was.”
“Who’s Lash?”
She laughs sadly. “My first husband.”
Damn. I walk around and sit down on a stool. “Tell me everything.”
Little by little, Gia unfolds the sordid history of her family. How her dad found out about the man she sporadically eloped with after meeting him in college and falling in love. How he threatened to have him killed if she didn’t divorce him. And how he hid her child away from her for almost six months, then brought him back with a new maid and had her pretend to be his mother.
God knows what he has on Tianna to make her do something like that.
Then, the sadistic fuck let his daughter get attached to Roman only to use him as bait to keep her in line—telling her that once we were married, she could eventually have him back once he convinced me to go along with the adoption ruse. Antonio forced her to finish her degree and pushed our wedding back, just so he could continue to torment her for her “mistakes.”
“I tried to escape with Roman once with the help of one of the older staff members, but we were caught.” She tears up, pain twisting her features as she turns to me and grabs the bear, cradling it to herself. “Father brought me into his office and shot her—right in front of me. Then he made me clean her blood and…” Her voice shakes as she seems to relive that horrible memory. “He made me clean the mess off his floor and told me if I ever did anything like that again, he’d make me watch while he put a bullet in Roman’s head, then he’d be ‘merciful’ and put one in mine.” Her hand comes up to her chest, which is no doubt holding an aching heart. “His own grandchild. Just because he’s half-Romani.”
Romani. Gypsy. A long-standing prejudice between some Italians and the Romani people had forced Gia to push away the man she loved—all to protect him and their son.
Covering her face, she tries to hold back some of the overwhelming emotions, only for it to continue pouring out of her. “He was going to arrange it so that when we had been married a year, Tianna would “disappear” and leave behind Roman for us to adopt.”
All the pieces click together.
My God. No wonder Giacomo was such a sick fuck. The sins of the father...
She sobs into her trembling hands, a girl whose life has had an even more tragic twist of fate than mine. Not only did she have to give up her true love, but she’s also had to live with knowing her son is only worthy as leverage by Antonio.
I wrap my arms around her and let her cry until she has nothing to give but hoarse whispers. “Gia, how important is getting your son back to you?”
She looks up at me, her face marred with sorrow as she chokes out, “More than anything.”
I breathe deeply, knowing this is it. For us both. My thumb wipes away her tears as she sniffles, awaiting my answer. “Then, I want you to meet me here tomorrow. There’s someone you need to talk with…”
34
Everleigh
“Ms. Greene, thank you for coming.” Ms. Hensley, my principal, greets me as I sit down in front of her desk.
I received a call from the school secretary today, asking me to stay after the last bell. It’s been a rough day, so I hope this won’t take long. After Luca’s speech to me in RISE, I almost thought—well, there’s no reason to travel down that road. He’s still getting married tomorrow, so his actions speak louder than his words ever could.
Marc transferred schools the other day. My only hope for that child is that he can start anew in his new school and hopefully work on forgetting the pain his dad left behind.
“We need to talk…” she begins, pulling out the badge I’d misplaced and putting in on her desk.
I reach for it and thank her. “I’m so glad someone found it. I was so worried.”
Her face is grim. “Everleigh, there’s something you need to know…” My hackles raise as she continues. “This was left on my desk while I was out to a meeting in an envelope, along with these.” She slides a stack of pictures that stops my heart.
Every single one of the pictures has me in them, but not as me—as Madam Isis.
Fuck.
“Deirdre Leiderhoff had a private investigator following her husband prior to him skipping town, and he gave her these.”
Slowly, I set them down, expecting anger on her face when I look up. Anger would have been a welcome expression because the disappointment there is much worse.
Deirdre, that fucking bitch. Here, I felt sorry for her and she still fucked me over for no reason.
“These were sent in an email to the board members as well as the superintendent. They want to fire you for breach of contract.” Ms. Hensley didn’t have to tell me why—I already knew. Within our contracts, there’s a code of conduct agreement that calls for our termination if we do anything unbecoming in our position as an educator. “However,” she continues. “I asked if, since you have been an exemplary employee here at Hearst and no one was affected directly at the school by your…extra-curricular choices, you could resign instead.”
Generous, considering I could be fired and have that on my work record. Not that it matters because after everything is settled, I’m never going to be able to teach again. But there’s one part of this left unanswered. “How did Deirdre end up with my badge?”
She shakes her head. “She didn’t say, but when she confronted Alex and his mistress about it, they owned up to their affair.”
So, whoever was taking these pictures was the person who could have stolen my badge. Or it was all a lie and Maxine stole it for who knows what reason. Leverage? Revenge because I warned her about Alex being married, even though she was the one sleeping with someone else’s husband?
A deep exhale leaves her. “And, although I don’t want to because I believe you’d be an excellent mom to Rory…” Oh God, no. “But unfortunately, I have to rescind my letter of recommendation, given the circumstances.”
Her letter was the most important one of all. Now I have no job, and the courts won’t let me adopt a child if it appears I’m a reckless-type of person who makes terrible decisions. I’ll also have to explain to my parents
why I’m not teaching anymore and to the lawyers and Greta why her letter is being rescinded for Rory’s adoption.
I lean back in my chair and exhale.
Everything is unraveling, and I have no one to blame but myself. Because I simply didn’t walk away from RISE when I started teaching. Because I took the wrong girl under my wing and trusted her. Because the bad guys always win, and the ones who try to do the right thing get kicked in the teeth.
I will away the tears prickling in my eyes. Now’s not the time. “Ms. Hensley, thank you for doing what you can. I appreciate you.” Because she didn’t have to go to bat for me with the board. I reach across her desk to shake her hand, but she gets out of her seat and comes over to hug me.
“We’re going to miss you here, Everleigh. So damn much.” Her curse makes me laugh as she continues to hug me like she means those words.
After we break apart, she wishes me well and sends me on my way.
I go to my classroom and spend two hours collecting my things. I spent years curating this room, trying to make it the most productive environment for my kids that I could. But it didn’t matter because what I had done in my private time matters more than what I did to educate my children.
The last things I collect are my wall of pictures and the wolf my dad gave me, a stained gift from someone whose words I trusted, and Rory’s artwork.
Some protector I am. I’ve tried so hard my entire life to protect others instead of protecting myself that it finally came around and bit me in the ass. I have no idea how I’m going to explain this to Greta. She knows the girls and I all own a business together, but not that we dance at it.
Tossing the last load of my stuff into the vehicle I bought for toting around a car seat in—a car seat that’s now useless because Rory will ultimately end up in another home and I’ll never see her again, I put my head against the steering wheel, realizing that my life is now completely over as I know it.
35
Luca
The evening air is crisp and promising. A perfect day for a wedding rehearsal dinner—or for the plan DA Redmond’s office cooked up with my dad and Gia.
We’re nearing the time for the toasts. Kieran had called me three days ago and said he probably wouldn’t be here for the dinner and to do his toast, but he should be able to make the wedding because his assignment was wrapping up. Except there wouldn’t be a wedding to come to, but I couldn’t tell him that.
“Antonio.” Papi Dean greets my soon-to-be ex-future-father-in-law.
Antonio’s cheeks blossom with redness. “Dean.” A furrowed brow meets my grandfather’s relaxed one.
My grandfather shakes Antonio’s hand and leans in to give him a kiss on the cheek. In a soft tone, Papi Dean leans toward him and says, “Andrei sends condolences…and his best regards.” Antonio’s reddened face at my grandfather’s first words slowly drains of color when he digests the last ones. “Enjoy the rest of your evening.”
We find our seats and settle in to prepare for the fireworks. Little did we know just how many there were about to be…
It all started with Gia’s cousin’s speech being interrupted by the FBI, who arrested Gia for money laundering, structuring, and a slew of other crimes as she pleaded with her father to not let them take her. If I didn’t know what was really going on, I would’ve been convinced that she was sincere. I told Antonio that I’d meet him at the station where Gia was being taken to act as her counsel until the family lawyer arrived. At the same time, FBI and IRS agents were raiding the Cervelli home, with one of the agents making sure Roman was brought into the station with them, under suspicion of child endangerment.
Lia and Landry took Aliana home early because she was “running a temperature.” That took care of everyone in the family as my mother came with me and Papi Dean to the station, where they were going to arrest Antonio for his actual crimes. Only he never made it to the station…
Police were deployed to the rehearsal dinner site to deal with the car bomb that took the life of Antonio and two of his goons when they stopped at the closest stop sign on the way to meet Gia. Another one was critically injured, and they didn’t expect him to make it. The scariest part is Gia had ridden in the car to the rehearsal dinner, so the bomb had to have either been on a timer or rigged to detonate by a trigger man. Either way, she could have been killed as well.
With the mess of Antonio’s being dealt with, DA Redmond had them drop the fake charges against Gia at the station but had everyone go in for questioning to suss out if anyone had seen anything that could explain the explosion.
DA Redmond wasn’t certain if Gia was safe considering her brother and her father had been taken out, so she had us take her to a remote location while she hid in our vehicle. Witness Protection was there to meet us at the designated spot, along with a very familiar face as well as a few new ones. I had told her on the way that everything would be okay as we drove to calm her nerves as well as mine.
If I live a thousand years, I’ll still never forget the look on her face when she saw her son Roman safe in the arms of his father, Gia’s ex-husband Lash Heron.
When she told me the story about her father’s interference with Lash, I spoke to DA Redmond about it privately when Gia agreed to cooperate and bring her father down. Mrs. Redmond, who got me a number to reach the FBI agent by, was happy to help reconnect a family, especially one who had been through so much.
Agent Heron wasn’t too thrilled to hear that Gia’s fiancé was trying to get a hold of him and I hated to be the one to tell him his former wife and his son were in danger, especially when he didn’t even know he had a son, but nothing about our situation was normal. He was the one to get his child out of Antonio’s home during the raid. Seeing them together, it’s obvious who Roman got his looks from.
He would go into Witness Protection with his family, but something told me this wasn’t the last we would hear of them. After all, the story of their family was just beginning…
“Let’s go back to your apartment. You and I need to have a little chat,” Papi Dean had said when we dropped my father and mother off at their home.
When we arrived at my apartment, Papi Dean had me park the car and turn off the ignition. We sat there for a while in the quiet, taking in the events of the day—and what a day it had been.
When the car finally let the wet, autumnal cold inside, he finally spoke…
“There’s a question you’ve asked me multiple times that I’ve put off until the right time.”
His friendship with Andrei.
“A long time ago, when I was a teenager, I saved the life of a younger boy who had gotten caught in a riptide. The boy’s father was so grateful, he paid my parents a visit one day and told them that anything our family ever needed, to let him know and it would be taken care of.”
A warm smile spreads over his well-aged features.
“The boy and I grew up together and became good friends. I didn’t know until I was a bit older who exactly my friend’s father was. A man who’s only known in the whispers and dark alleys of our village. ‘Ndrangheta.”
My brow scrunches as he continues. Forget Cosa Nostra. The ‘Ndrangheta was the most notorious of the Italian mafias because they’re infamously the most secretive. You never know who’s ‘Ndrangheta because they live and die by the Omertà, the code of silence, which makes them hard to expose.
“When my friend asked if I wanted to join his family’s...business, I told him that kind of life wasn’t for me.” A warm smile settles in. “I had met the most wonderful girl in the world, and I intended to marry her and have a family. He wasn’t happy, but he respected my decision, as did his father. I married that beautiful woman and brought her to America. We eventually had your father, then you and Lia came along, and life was good.”
His eyes are misty and his voice chokes up a little.
“I stayed in contact with my friend over the years, eventually reconnecting with him when I returned to the old country. Unfortunate
ly, my own son had gotten involved with the wrong kinds of people when you were younger, unbeknownst to me. So much trouble followed those bad choices that he used his own daughter and eventually son as payment for his sins.”
He turns to me and puts his hand over mine, his wedding ring still in place so many years after my grandmother’s passing—a testament to true love. “I found out about my Magnolia Blossom when it was too late, but I knew I could still save you. So, my friend came to me with a promise to remove the common issue among our family’s problems, but that common issue had a greedy son who had to be taken care of first.”
Well, I’ll be damned. Andrei’s father was a leader in the ‘Ndrangheta, which means…
“Your grandmother told me a long time ago that good men cannot live in the darkness, but they can walk in the shadows with those who do from time to time when absolutely necessary.” He pauses, a huge grin on his face. “True love, Luca, is necessary. As is a good name. Always fight for them both because they're worth every hardship you’ll go through for them.”
Little clear dots appear on my windows as I sit in a stupor. Papi Dean is close friends with a mob boss—a boss who owes his life to my grandfather. I don’t know how to unpack that.
Papi Dean reaches over to my keyring and unclips my door keys before getting out. “What are you doing?”
He bends over slightly as he holds open the door. “This tired old man needs a good night’s sleep after today…and you tell my sweet girl not to forgive you too quickly. She deserves to be fought for like the prize she is.” His sly wink precedes him closing my door as the raindrops grow in size.
I wait until Papi Dean gets inside the building before I start my car and speed off into the rain that’s now pelting down something fierce.
There’s a girl who needs to know I only left to go across the world because she is my world.