Page 192 of Claimed At First Sight

I file that away.

Does Mamma know about Aldo’s plans? I guess they had ample time to discuss it on their little trip.

“What about Rafa and Remo?”

Maximo leans back more, his gaze settling on the dancing flames.

“Rafa can be…” He searches for the right word before a smile ghosts across his face. “Impulsive.”

I laugh. “I got that impression.”

“He acts first and asks questions later.”

“So you’ve spent your life getting him out of trouble?”

A small smile touches his mouth. “Usually. Though he’d argue he just makes life more interesting.”

I can actually imagine that.

“And Remo?”

The amusement fades into something quieter.

“Remo sees the world differently.”

“How so?”

“Problems that take the rest of us hours to solve, he’ll work out in minutes. He notices patterns most people never see.”

“He sounds a lot like Luca,” I murmur, more to myself than to Maximo.

His attention shifts back to me.

“Luca?”

“Isabella’s former fiancé.” A smile tugs at my lips as memories surface. “He worked in the hacker division back in Sicily. Give him a puzzle or a code, and he’d disappear into it for hours. Then he’d suddenly emerge with the answer while the rest of them were still trying to work out what the question was. He seemed to recognize patterns where everyone else just saw… noise.”

Maximo considers that before nodding.

“Remo is much the same.”

I smile into my blanket.

“I like the way you talk about them.” I search for the right words. “When you describe your brothers, you don’t sound like Chicago’s most feared Mafia Don.”

A flicker of amusement passes through his eyes.

“No?”

I shake my head.

“You sound…” I pause, smiling to myself as the answer comes. “Like an older brother who’s proud of the men they’ve become.”

I watch him as he considers my statement.

“I am.”

Those two words carry far more weight than a longer explanation ever could.