“Has the doctor been out?”
“Not since they took him to surgery,” Nicco said.
“Okay. I want you all to wait here while I go and speak to a nurse.”
“I can come—”
“Stay with your sister,” she said to Nicco. “I’ll be back as soon as I get some answers.”
Genevieve pressed a kiss to Alessia’s head and gently nudged her back to me. “Watch her,” she mouthed, and I nodded.
“She seems pretty calm,” Enzo said.
“The calm before the storm,” Nicco replied, his eyes vacant as he looked down the hall where Genevieve had disappeared.
“How did it go?” he asked, glancing between me and Arianne.
“Fine. Don’t worry about that right now. This is more important.”
Enzo caught my eye, and I knew what he was thinking. It was more important. But if DiMarco found out we were hiding Caitlin…
Then the shit would really hit the fan.
Genevieve returned with the doctor. It was good and bad news. The good news was they had stabilized Uncle Toni, but the bad news was they had put him into a coma to reduce swelling to his brain. The next forty-eight hours would be critical to his recovery.
Nicco and Arianne stayed with Genevieve, but I left with Enzo, Nora, and Alessia. She was going to stay with me and my family until we knew more.
“How is she?” Mom asked me as I joined her in the living room.
“Exhausted, scared… but I think it’ll do her good being with Bella.” My sister would watch out for her. The two of them were thicker than thieves.
“Poor girl. And Niccolò, mio Dio, such a weight on his shoulder.”
“I know, Mama.” I took a long pull on my beer.
“I can’t imagine…” She let out a heavy sigh. “If we lost your papa.”
“Don’t think about it.”
“It’s always there, figlio mio. This life… it takes so much from us.”
“Did you ever want to get out?” The words rolled off my tongue before I could stop them.
She tsked. “You think that is a choice?”
“No, Mama, I know it’s not… I just…”
“Matteo, what is it?”
“Nothing, Mama.”
“Is it a girl?” A knowing smile spread over her face. “You know, you’re not getting any younger. Your cousins have both settled down now, perhaps it’s time for you to think about meeting someone.”
“Because it’s that easy,” I grumbled.
“There must be someone. Nora and Arianne have plenty of friends at the college. Surely a pretty girl must have caught your eye? You know, if you’d stuck it out there, you could—”
“We’re not having this conversation.” I’d wanted to finish college, I had. But it had proved too hard splitting my time and keeping up pretenses, and given everything that was happening with Uncle Toni, I’d decided to withdraw.
“Why not?”
“Because…” I shrugged. “It’s weird.”
“You think I don’t know about the birds and the bees? About how young men like yourself like to sow your seeds far and wide before you settle.”
“That’s not the saying, Mama.”
“It’s my saying.” She tsked again, waving me off. “You are a good man, Matteo. Kind and compassionate. You think with your head. You’re not like some of these cogliones.”
“Mama!”
“What? I speak the truth.”
“I love you, Mama.”
“I love you too, figlio mio. And I just know there’s a good woman out there somewhere for you.”
Oh, Jesus. She was like a dog with a bone. For a second, I’d contemplated telling her about Caitlin, but it would only raise her hopes.
My cell phone had burned a hole in my pocket all afternoon. I knew she wouldn’t text or call, but it didn’t stop my heart from stuttering every time I got a notification. If I had half a brain, I would forget all about her. But I couldn’t do it.
I couldn’t get her out of my fucking head.
If I were more like Enzo, I would have gone to the cabin and refused to leave until she agreed to talk to me. Or if I were more like Nicco, I would have made some grand gesture she couldn’t ignore.
But I wasn’t like them. I was Matteo Bellatoni. Loyal friend. Perpetual joker. Heart on his sleeve kinda guy.
And deep down, all I’d ever wanted was to meet the girl of my dreams.
I didn’t think I’d meet her only to lose her…
Twice.
Chapter 9
Caitlin
Matteo’s number pinned to the refrigerator taunted me.
After he and Arianne had left, I’d contemplated throwing it onto the open fire. But I hadn’t, yet.
I felt awful after railing at him the way I did, after finding out that Nicco’s father was sick. They were clearly all close—Arianne, Nicco, and his cousins—and I’d acted like a complete bitch.
But everything was so messed up. I wasn’t the same woman I was last summer when I’d spent the night with Matteo. So much had happened since then. Things I didn’t want to ever have to explain to him.
“You can come inside, you know?” I said to Luis as he swept the leaves off the steps leading up to the cabin.
“I’ll be in soon. Better to clear these now before the ground frost.”
“I’ll make a fresh pot of coffee.”
“Perfect.” He smiled.
They hadn’t been joking when they said Luis would keep to himself. I’d barely seen him in the few hours that had passed since Matteo and Arianne left.
It was hard to believe that less than six days ago, I was at DiMarco’s working a regular shift. And now… now my life was in tatters.
All because of him.
Tears burned my throat, but I swallowed them down. I didn’t agree to come here to wallow; I wanted to give myself time and space to heal and come back stronger.
But it was easier said than done. Too much time alone with my thoughts was dangerous. Grabbing my phone off the coffee table, I snuggled into the cushions and opened a new browser, typing in Niccolò Marchetti.
Article after article appeared, some documenting the merger between Capizola Holdings and the Marchetti Empire. The reports surrounding Nicco and Arianne’s wedding ranged from it being nothing more than a business deal; to an arranged marriage; to the Marchetti calling in payment of a debt from Roberto Capizola, Arianne’s father.
But I’d seen their relationship firsthand. There was no denying how much they loved one another.
I scrolled through some more articles before switching to the image search results. Photo after photo appeared of Nicco attending functions, charity events, gala dinners; there were even some photos of him and Arianne working at a community center in Romany Square. Then my eyes landed on him.
Matteo.
Gosh, he looked handsome in the black dinner suit, his dirty-blond hair swept to one side, his charming smile radiating off the screen. He was different to his cousins. They both had the typical dark Italian genes. But Matteo was much fairer. Like sunshine between two storm clouds. The thought made me smile as I ran my finger over his photo.