I interrupt for a moment, because to be honest, Snow’s words make everything just click into place. It becomes logical. It’s strange that I didn’t see it before.
"So our dad has to have apassivecreative power. Maybe he’s a deva too?"
"It’s possible, or something else entirely," Snow winks.
"That instinct he has, almost supernatural, the way he influences events. He seems to know certain things before they happen, kind of like you, maybe more subtly, but it’s really an incredible intuition. He really does hold us all together. There’s a certain… power in him."
I turn and look toward the tables where Dad is moving among them, stopping at one and then another, smiling and radiating energy like a ball of light.
"Or maybe it's just this deep love he has for us," Snow whispers.
And suddenly I say it, just like that,
"I’m sorry, Snow, if I was an asshole to you."
Snow flinches slightly, as if my words caught him off guard. His eyes fix on me, studying, and he slowly nods, as if he’s truly taking in my words and everything behind them.
"And I’m sorry if I was one to you," he says with complete sincerity.
And then, for the first time in my life, I hug Snow like a brother hugs a brother. For the first time, I feel free to do so. I don’t have to hold on to any grudges toward any of my brothers anymore. There’s no need for it. Everything has settled in our lives.
I smile at Snow and he laughs back, pats my back, and shoulder to shoulder we walk toward the tables again.
But… at some point I notice a black car pulling into my parents’ driveway, the part I can see from the spot near our table.
So, I don’t sit down, I just mutter to Snow, "Excuse me for a moment. I need to talk to someone."
I walk up to the car because I know immediately who’s inside, although I have no idea why he decided to show up here.
My cooperation with Ennio ended the moment Alex and I got back together. Ennio became capo and no longer needed to fight the illegal operations inside the mafia, because now he was the one deciding how the organization functioned. We said our goodbyes then and I thought I’d never see him again.
The door opens.
Ennio steps out. I haven’t seen him in exactly a year, and he’s changed so much.
Of course he still wears his signature perfectly tailored black suit, apparently you never grow out of that mafia fashion, and his hair is still slicked back into a long ponytail, but his face…
Wow.
"First of all, I’d like to know what you’re doing here, and second, I need to ask if you found the fountain of youth or… if you found your True Mate," I say with a bit of sarcasm.
A subtle smirk appears at the corner of Ennio’s mouth.
"I’m invited. That’s the answer to the first question, and as for the second, the second one is true."
I stare at him in disbelief, blinking a few times and even rubbing my eyes once because I can’t believe it. Ennio’s face was always attractive, and he looked young for his age, thirty-four at the time, but now he looks like he’s in his twenties! His skin has this almost rosy glow, and he radiates an energy I’ve never seen in him before, this lightness… almost happiness.
"Whoa, Ennio. Congratulations! I’m really happy you found your fated mate, because if anyone deserved it, it was you," I say still sounding a little stunned. "But… who invited you to this wedding?"
"Your dad did. After all, my True Mate is from your family…" Another smirk.
I blink even faster, like my brain just blue-screened.
"Hold on, wait, repeat that again slowly like I’m an idiot."
Ennio smirks again.
"What’s there not to get? It all started in a very not-safe-for-public-ears way, so forgive me for skipping the details, but it’s true. I met him—"
