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“Why are you here, Gino? To tell me about the baby, tell me to never get close to her or your family for the rest of my miserable life, or just kill me?”
This was the first time I actually registered the situation. I was so focused on Cat, I hadn’t thought about the rest. Roman and all the people in my life would be my past if – when – Gino banished me.
“I’m here to take you to the fucking hospital. I don’t want to find out what Cat will do when she wakes up, and you’re not there. She needs proof of life.”
Catherinelle didn’t let things not go the way she wanted. I thought we were all starting to get that.
“She’s a Nucci,” I explained. It was as simple as that. They raised Gino to be a king, but they forgot about the princess.
“She’s too Nucci for her own good. Walk now. I’m not going to ask you twice.”
Yeah, like there was a need for that. He walked through the same whole in the wall he came in, and I followed mindlessly. I didn’t take my car keys or my wallet. All I cared about was making it to her and grasping that last chance to look into her beautiful blue eyes.
My mood became even crappier when I slipped in the passenger seat of Gino’s Jaguar. I hated to be driven around; it made me feel like control was slipping away from me.
“Roman convinced you to come?”
“He pulled hard for you. I’m surrounded by fucking traitors. He came by early in the morning, but I was ready to ship Cat to Great Neck and force mom to lock her in the attic. I spent half of the day yelling, angry and sick with worry, and then a five-foot-three doctor told me my sister lost a baby. It knocked me off my feet. She’s seventeen, and even if she would have been thirty, I was not ready for that.”
“I was not ready for that either, man!”
“For a baby.” That wasn’t even in question.
“For her. She was my family, and one day, she just made my world stop spinning. I feel protective of her. Right after you took Muse away, I caught one of the boys at her school with his hands on her ass. I was so fucking mad, I almost broke his back. He couldn’t have been older than eighteen. I’m just saying that I know where you come from.”
“How sweet of you.”
“You were my family, Gino. I know it’s not true, but that’s how I saw things.”
We stopped at a red light, and he started drumming with his fingers on the steering wheel.
“Were?”
“Even since we were very young, before our blood oath. Simona is the only motherly thing I’ve ever known; you and Roman are like brothers to me, and for a while, Cat was my little sister too.”
“That’s fucked up; don’t ever say that out loud. You are family, fucker.”
I shook my head, looking down at my hands that were full of scars from past jobs.
“No, I’m not. I don’t share your blood, or heritage, or honor, but it’s fine. I’ve always known I’m not good enough for your sister.”
“You know what you are, Mustafa? A stupid motherfucker. The idea of you and Cat together never crossed my mind, ever, mostly because you’re too fucking old for her, but there aren’t many people I’d trust to care for and respect her.”
What the fuck was he saying?
“I could never hurt her.”
“You left her pregnant.”
“Not by choice.” I thought back to all those times when we talked women over a glass of whiskey. That was fun; this was dreadful. “You’re gonna hate the next couple of sentences. I can’t think straight when I’m with her. I’m not a fucking teenager. I know the risks and how to stay safe, but with Cat, I just can’t think.”
“You were right. I hated every word. You fucked this one up, Hugo. You should have come to me, told me you had interest in my sister, and you should have waited ten years before thinking to touch her.”
I laughed. I really laughed out loud.
“We both know that it wouldn’t have changed anything if I’d have said something.”
“It would have changed everything.”
