“La mia bella amante(my beautiful lover).” I said, greeting her with a smile I hoped masked my anxiety. “Perfect timing. Dinner’s almost ready.”
Her eyes lit up slightly at the sight of me. I saw some of the strain easing from her face. “Zio, it smells amazing.”
I pulled her into my arms, savoring her warmth as she pressed against me. I kissed her deeply, partly from genuine desire and partly to delay whatever difficult conversation awaited us. Her briefcase dropped to the floor with a soft thud as her arms wrapped around my neck.
“Rough day?” I asked while nuzzling into her neck and smelling the remnants of her sensuous perfume. I wanted to stay here forever, and I felt a loss when we finally pulled apart.
“You could say that.” She replied, stepping past me into the house. Labria slipped off her heels with a small sigh of relief. “The don paid me an unexpected visit at the office today.”
My heart stuttered in my chest. “Did he? Nicco, he doesn’t have any business with you so that can’t be good.”
“It wasn’t.” She glanced toward the kitchen. “Can we talk about it over dinner? I’m starving, and your sauce smells too good to wait.”
“Of course. Everything’s ready.” I led her to the dining room where I’d already set the table with my best dishes. It lit candles. It wasn’t anything special. I just wanted to create some normalcy. I wanted Labria to come home to something comfortable and serene in the middle of the storm we were living in.
Labria’s face relaxed at the sight of my romantically decorated table. “Okay, I see you. You did your thing. It looks nice.” She smiled.
“No trouble,” I said, pulling out her chair. “You deserve the princess treatment.”
I brought the pasta to the table, serving her a generous portion before taking my seat across from her. She took a sip of wine, closing her eyes briefly as if gathering strength.
“Oh, my god. This is delicious,” she said after tasting the pasta. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” I twirled pasta around my fork, struggling to eat despite my churning stomach. “So, Nicco came to see you?”
Labria set down her fork and met my eyes. “He did.”
“Why?”
“He told me that Lord knows I’m staying here with you.” Labria let out a slight roll of her eyes.
Though I’d been expecting something like this, hearing the words still sent a chill through me. I nodded slowly, trying to gauge how much she knew, how much I needed to reveal.
“He said some cryptic shit like they have eyes everywhere,” she continued, her voice steady though her hand trembled slightly as she reached for her wineglass.
“That’s vague.”
“And he said that Lord knows I’m staying here but hasn’t said anything to him directly.”
I took a long drink from my own glass. I was buying time to come up with something to say that wasn’t harsh. The wine tasted like nothing in my mouth. All I could think about was the hidden message coming from the don himself.
“There’s something else,” she said, studying my face. “Nicco seemed surprised when I told him why I left Lord. He claims he didn’t know about Lolita, and I believe him.”
“Lolita LaGrassa?” I asked, genuinely surprised. “Lord was seeing Primo’s daughter? You told me there was a woman. You never said who.”
“Yes, Lolita LaGrassa. I found pictures and text messages.” Her mouth tightened into a hard line. “And I saw them together.”
I pushed my plate away slightly, my appetite gone. I couldn’t believe Lordes would cheat on Labria with Lolita. There had to be a business reason. Lolita was okay, but she was no Labria. This was new information to me, but it wasn’t the most pressing issue. I had my own confession to make. I ran a hand through my hair, a nervous habit I’d never managed to break.
“Labria, there’s something I need to tell you.” I avoided her eyes, focusing instead on the candle flame between us. “I already knew that Lord was aware of our situation.”
The silence that followed was deafening. Then came the clatter of her fork against her plate.
“What?” Her voice was dangerously quiet.
“Cenzo told me Lord was aware of our living together. I found out about a week ago, at my father’s funeral.”
“A week ago?” The color drained from her face. “You’ve known for a week and said nothing to me?”
