She shook her head. “That’s not true.”
“It is. He listens to him, Maggie Beautiful.”
“He does,” she said. “But not about this. Luca would want him to have children, to keep the bloodline. If Brando went to see him about having a baby, he would tell him to go forth and multiply.”
“Then…why did he go?”
“To compare himself to his father. To see if the resemblance is still strong enough to find himself in those eyes. To find the difference and cling to it. To separate himself from the man who created him and the man Brando Fausti is now. So he could try to give you what you want.
“He couldn’t do that before you came along. Luca’s shadow loomed over him, took each step next to him. His presence was a constant reminder that he would someday fill that separate shape.”
“What about whathewants?”
She touched my stomach. “Life wants something different. Brando understands life. He understands that he can’t control it, no matter how much he’s able to bend most days to his will. He craves it because he’s always feared losing you. The only woman he’s ever loved. You wait and see. He’s going to fall in love with our Bella Beautiful, too. Give him time.”
“I was running out of it,” I said, looking down at my stomach. In this dress, as form fitting as it was, I looked pregnant. I had a firm swell that was more than just bloat.
Maggie Beautiful giggled. “How did he not see? That’s no bagel gut!Mamma Mia!”
I remembered what he had told me.You see what you want to see.
“No.” I almost smiled. “Without a doubt, I have an appetite for two.”
We both became quiet as Vincenzo came over to us, slipping his phone back into his pocket.
“It is not good. He is on a rampage. Let us go.”
“Well.” Maggie Beautiful sighed. “If nothing else, you created a diversion. Compared to you visiting Luca, I believe the—” she glanced at Vincenzo “—bagel will become nothing but buttered toast.”
Part III
Chapter Thirty-Four
Brando
She left me. The first chance she got, she hopped on the first plane out. I retraced her steps in an effort to understand. Snuck out of a bathroom window, hitched a ride, but instead of going directly to the plane, she made a stop first.
Four things I had made into one law: never leave me, never lie to me, never intentionally let another man put his hands on you, and never see Lucious Leone Fausti.
In terms of how those four things ranked in importance, all four had the number one spot.
She knew what leaving me would do. She knew what seeing him would cause. Still, she did both.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do it.”
A letter. She left me with fucking words. Knowing damn well I believed it was our actions that spoke louder than words. We had been warring, and in this battle, she nicked my heart. I wasn’t sure if it was fatal yet.
Mywife.
I had caused chaos at the prison, demanding to see the records. Where she had signed in. I didn’t believe it at first. The last place I ever thought she’d go, trusted that she wouldn’t, and I was told that she’d been there.
Scarlett Faustiwas written in her beautiful flourish.
Mywife.
Among those fucking animals. Leering eyes that hadn’t feasted on a woman like her since being locked up.
After Luca Fausti refused to see me, denying me after he had a chat with my wife, the guard who escorted me out slipped a note in my palm so no one else would see.
