Page 13 of Deathless & Divided

“Lily DeLuca, look at you,” Terrance Trentini said with a smile that was far too wide for Lily’s liking. She stayed still as he hugged her, held her cheeks in both his palms, and kissed her forehead. “You’ve grown up into a beautiful young woman, mia bella.”

“Thank you,” Lily said quietly.

She didn’t like this man.

In fact, she didn’t like any of the men or most of the women gathering in the foyer to welcome Lily and Dino into the large Trentini mansion. She knew better than to think that way—Lily didn’t know most of them enough to say whether or not she liked them. What she did know about them, some of them, bothered her.

Lily wished Dino would have warned her about the lunch after church.

“You should be proud of this girl, DeLuca,” Terrance said to a silent Dino.

Dino only smiled in response, but it didn’t feel true.

“Oh, we’re proud,” came a voice from behind Terrance.

Lily couldn’t help but grin at Theo as he came to stand beside Terrance. She hadn’t seen him since arriving back to Chicago. Theo and Dino didn’t get along well. Despite her misgivings about her brothers at times, Lily did miss them.

Especially Theo. At twenty-seven-years-old, he was closer to Lily’s age than Dino.

“Welcome home,” Theo said.

“Thanks,” Lily replied.

“Don’t let the crowd bother you,” Terrance said. “It’s larger than normal; Ben wanted to properly welcome his niece back.”

Lily beat back the scowl threatening to form at her uncle’s name. Terrance hadn’t lied. Guessing by the number of voices coming from the connecting room, there were a lot of people. She knew some of the faces from spending her summers and holidays in Chicago during her years at private school. They weren’t strangers to her, but she didn’t feel entirely comfortable around them, either.

She quickly glanced over some of the faces, taking them in so she knew who was there. Joel Trentini’s sisters, Abriella and Alessa, stood off in the corner, talking quietly to one another. Their parents, Sara and Peter, weren’t very far away. The DeLuca siblings grew up calling them their aunt and uncle, although there was no real relation.

Lily also recognized the face of Tommas Rossi as he tossed a wink in Abriella Trentini’s direction before acting like it hadn’t even happened. She suspected if Tommas was there, the rest of his family was somewhere in the home, too.

One of the faces Lily knew and found instantly was Evelina Conti. The girl had gone to the same private schools Lily attended. As teens, they were mostly inseparable. But where Lily had been allowed to go on and do her own thing, the Conti family didn’t let Evelina or the girl’s younger brother, Adriano, do anything that wasn’t to the Outfit’s benefit.

“Lily!”

Evelina pushed past the men blocking her way, including Theo. Lily almost missed the way Theo tried to avoid staring at Evelina.

Almost.

She figured it wasn’t important at that moment.

Lily accepted the embrace from her friend, hiding her grin in Evelina’s hair. “God, I missed you.”

“We just talked a couple of days before you came home,” Evelina said, laughing.

“So?”

“Yeah, I know. I missed you, too.” Evelina pulled back from Lily just enough to showcase that knowing smile of hers before whispering, “I know you’re pissed, but I’m glad to have you back. It’s fucking terrible here without you. You make it fun.”

Lily made a face. “Later?”

“Later,” her friend agreed.

“How was Europe?” Joel Trentini asked as he took Lily’s cardigan and Dino’s suit jacket.

“Beautiful,” Lily said honestly. “I would have preferred to stay another year.”

“Ah, but you have business here, my dear,” Terrance said with another one of his wide smiles.