Page 296 of Alessio

Corrado shot his mother a look, but she studiously ignored it. If that was his mother’s sly way of saying Ginevra had never been here before, well, he heard it loud and clear.

“Actually, I thought it should be in a magazine.”

His mother laughed. “Oh, it’s been printed a few times. Not magazines, though. More the newspapers. Usually, from reporters trying to catch us coming in, or out.”

“Cara.”

All it took was the dark call of his mother’s name by his father, and Cara rolled her eyes upward like she thought it was ridiculous. Ginevra pressed her lips together, probably in an effort to keep from smiling. Corrado found he had to do the same when his mother muttered, “Yes, Gian, don’t talk about that … I know, I know.”

Gian made a soft noise, and then turned to take a small flute of champagne from a server as she passed, but otherwise, he said nothing.

Corrado chuckled, knowing he should probably change the subject. “The place looks great, Ma.”

“It better,” she replied. “But back to this beautiful woman … Ginevra, you said?”

And that, in a nutshell, was his mother.

Ginevra gave him a wink. “That’s me.”

He could plainly see that twinkle in his mother’s eye—that curiosity. “I think you and I should spend some time together tonight, and—”

“Oh, Cara, there’s the director for the hospital,” Gian said, coming up to slip his arm around his wife’s waist, directing her in an entirely different direction as he did so. At the same time, his father passed Corrado a look that said, we will have words later. He didn’t doubt it. “We need to discuss that donation with him, yes?”

Cara made a face. “Fine.” Then, turning back to Ginevra, his mother grinned. “I will find you later, okay?”

“You got it, Cara.”

And to Corrado, his mother added, “Make sure you dance with her—I taught you well, use it.”

Well …

Gian gave Ginevra a warm smile over his shoulder. “It was very nice to meet you, Ginny. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of you.”

Corrado blinked, but his mother and father were already gone. Next to him, Ginevra’s brow furrowed. Clearly, she hadn’t missed his father’s slip, either. Ginny, he called her. Like he knew exactly who she was, because she had not told them her nickname yet.

He passed a glance to his twin, wondering … he’d given Chris a few details, about the same he gave to Alessio, about what he was doing in Toronto at the moment. The only added thing his brother knew was the fact that Ginevra was a woman, and that was simply because he had brought Corrado clothes for her to wear those first couple of days.

Chris tipped his glass of whiskey up to take a drink, seeing the question in his brother’s gaze. A simple nod gave Corrado all the answer he needed. Yes, his brother had shared what he knew with his father. No doubt, Gian had then made some calls to connect the rest of the dots with the information he had.

Great.

“Where the fuck is Les—”

“Ginny, do you want to dance?” Corrado asked, turning his back to his twin, and his other brothers before Bene could finish that question.

She smirked up at him. “What, don’t want to introduce me to the rest of the Guzzi bunch?”

“We’re a hoard, really. And no, I am sure you’ll get more than your fill of my brothers before the end of the night. I had to live with them for eighteen years, trust me when I say it won’t kill you to lose two extra minutes with them.”

She hit his chest, but he was already walking them away. A quick glance over his shoulder let him know Chris was taking care of that situation. A sharp shake of his head to the rest of their brothers quieted them all, and yet, every one of them turned to watch Corrado and Ginevra walk away.

Like they just knew, too.

Corrado had secrets.

One too many to name.

It kind of felt like his family probably knew some.