Page 94 of Thin Lines (Donati Bloodlines 2)

“I’ll stick with my first, zio.”

Affonso rested back in his chair, seemingly calmagain.

It concerned Emma how her husband could sometimes gofrom zero to sixty and then back again in a single blink. His emotional waveswere especially hard for her to weather. She didn’t have the first clue howCalisto managed like he did for all those years knowing what he knew aboutAffonso and his mother.

Emma couldn’t look Affonso in the eye.

“You know,” Affonso drawled, reaching for his glass ofbourbon, “… I could always force you into the seat.”

Calisto scoffed. “I urge you to try it if you believeI am stupid enough to fall for it. Like I did for you, I’ll deny it just thesame.”

“Unlike me, you can’t deny it once it’s given.”

“Try it,” Calisto said, “and watch what happens.”

The unhidden warning colored Calisto’s tone dark.

Emma hid her shiver, but barely.

“We’re such a sad thing, Cal,” Affonso muttered aroundthe rim of his glass.

Emma was sure she heard her husband say those wordsbefore, but she couldn’t remember when.

“You did this, not me,” Calisto replied.

“Stay away from the Irish.”

“And what if they come close enough that they force myhand, zio?”

Affonso shrugged. “They won’t.”

“Because they don’t want me, right?”

Calisto didn’t get an answer.

Emma figured he didn’t need one.

“Well, did you find something?” Emma asked.

Cynthia held up a golden Zippo with incrusted diamondsaround the cover. “What do you think?”

“I think your father will love it.”

Affonso had a taste for anything gold and he liked hiscigars, after all.

“Maybe you can get it engraved,” Michelle added fromacross the display case.

Cynthia shrugged. “Maybe.”

She didn’t seem too enthusiastic about the idea.

“Do you want to look into that?” Emma asked. “We’dhave to get it done soon to get it back in time for Christmas.”

“What would I put on it?” Cynthia asked.

Emma stumbled over her thoughts.

She was going to tell Cynthia to put what she felt forher father—her love, even—but that didn’t seem appropriate. Neither of theDonati girls were very close to Affonso. His distance and lack of interest intheir lives pushed them away from him.