Page 137 of Unlock My Heart

“Which one is it? I’ll open it right now.” It’ll give me something to do besides ignoring Fabien’s eyes on me, and the way it does silly things to my stomach.

“That one.” She points to the large box wrapped in white paper, and I take her hand into mine, leading her across the patio to the gift table. Attacking the paper, I get to work on the box, and die laughing when the gold punch bowl is revealed. “I love it! And you even had it engraved.”

Fabien’s Head

Alessandra beams, clapping her hands excitedly.

“Wow, that’s an interesting gift,” Remi says, appearing beside us.

“You’ve never threatened to decapitate Angelo?” Alessandra asks with genuine interest.

Remi eyes her like that’s an insane question. “Um, no?”

“Pity,” I say coolly, mentally gearing up for a second round with this woman.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Remi turns her attention to me. “But I just wanted to say that I spoke to Angelo, and he confirmed what you said about your husband.”

“Former husband,” I correct her. “And if a man said it, guess it must be true.” My gaze falls to my nails, and damn, I really need a break from hostilities to fix my manicure.

“Former husband, and that’s not what I meant,” Remi says in an exasperated tone. “But honestly, do you blame me for not trusting you?”

It’s a rhetorical question, but I answer anyway. “No.”

“Sorry I was a bitch to you at your party,” Remi tells me on a sigh. “Looking back on it, you did me a favor. Had I not walked in on you and Ellis, I might have never met my fiancé. So what I’m trying to say is, maybe we could start over. Hi, I’m Remi. And yes, I stole your cat, but I’m not apologizing for that one,” she warns.

She extends her hand, and I place the bowl down and accept it. “Sienna. And no apologies necessary; I’ve never been a cat person.” We do a silly little shake, and I release her hand.

“Trust me, I picked up on that,” Remi says with a little laugh. “I suspect we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other, so let’s give this starting over thing a chance.”

“That might be tricky,” I warn her, being that she’s wearing rose-colored glasses. “For starters, your fiancé has threatened my life more times than I’m comfortable with.” As if any death threat is comfortable.

“If it makes you feel better, Angelo threatened my life when we first met,” Remi says with a little laugh.

“And my life has been threatened by Angelo more than anyone here,” Alessandra adds. “See, one big happy family.”

There’s a scuffle, and we snap our attention across the patio. Fabien throws a punch, knocking Angelo’s jaw to the side. Angelo wraps his arms around Fabien, and the men take it to the ground, where the brawl continues.

“One big happy family,” I call after Alessandra as she hurries to break up her brothers, with Remi hot on her heels.

Chapter Forty

Fabien

The present

The tussle’s broken up by Nic, with an angry Al bitching at us in the background.

But my focus is solely on my brother. “That’s the second time you’ve disrespected my wife.” Having eavesdropped on the conversation between Angelo and Sienna, I would’ve broken his jaw then and there, but I wanted to hear what my wife had to say. “Third time and you’re a dead man.” My hands work to straighten my tie; a distraction from using them to strangle my brother.

“I’d like to see you fucking try.” Angelo seethes, straightening his own tie.

“See yourself out before I do something I won’t regret,” I snap at my brother.

“With pleasure.” Angelo cracks his jaw back into place before storming off.

“I need a drink,” I announce to the onlookers, shoving my way to the bar.

Sienna appears with an ice pack, positioning it on my knuckles. She silently takes me in, and I can feel the disappointment wafting off her.