He said something that had me turning to him. I snatched the bottle back. “Say that again.”
“That’s what Ettore has on the table, trying to feed BigPapàFausti. Romeo asked me to bring you the news. Less conspicuous if I did. Since I stay out of family affairs. Gladly.”
I passed him the bottle—at the mention of family affairs, he began to sweat, even though it was cold.
“Nightmares, man. I have them of this place—the other one too. That coliseum not far from here. I hadn’t realized how easily a lion could rip the limb off a man before. Sure, it all looks so violent on the television—the gazelles going down, all part of the circle of life, but until you see it up close…like a man ripping into a chicken wing.” He shivered. “I wake up with the sweats, thinking it was me instead of that traitor. Instead of an arm, it’s my leg.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, then closed my eyes. “Clear this up for me, man.”
“I explained the situation. Clear enough.”
“You didn’t.”
“I sure the fuck did, Fausti.” He glanced at me. Whatever he saw on my face made him continue. “Ettore’s trying to convince Luc—your father that if you turn down ruling this—” he waved a hand around “—and Rocco should accept, he should be married to Scarlett.”
Once the words made it to comprehension, I rolled my shoulders.
Mitch held his hands up. “Does the expressionnon sparare al piccionemean anything to you? I did Romeo a solid by telling you that.”
“Don’t shoot the pigeon.”
“Don’t shoot the messenger.” He waved his hand around wildly. “Same difference. We both knew how you’d feel. Damn. What kind of man expects another man to give up his wife? And I thought Ettore was under the impression that Scarlett was a witch? That’s what started all this shit in the first place, right?”
“Ettore wants to cause trouble. He knows Luca loves Scarlett. He wants her to be the matriarch of this—” I waved the bottle around, the contents swishing and catching a glimmer of light, revealing its true amber color. “This is Ettore’s idea of vengeance. Convincing Luca to take his side on this one.”
“Since he didn’t get to kill you?”
“Yeah.” My voice came out smooth, belying the true rage lingering underneath the surface. “I dare them to attempt it. Rocco included.”
“You know how family can be.” He shrugged. “It’s never perfect.”
He laughed at that, to himself, but I found no humor in the situation.
If anything, I found myself in the same restraints as the lion who used to reside here. Wild but never free. The Faustifamigliaassuming the role as my keeper, though fuck if they were. I didn’t have a keeper.
Love. Love kept me walking the line. She loved me feral as much as I loved her tame. I loved her wild as much as she loved me as a man.
We loved each other this way because it was what our love demanded of us.
“Fausti.” Mitch’s laughter faded, and a serious look came over his face. He stared at me. “Listen. I don’t know the specifics of what happened in that cabin, but if looks alone could tell a story, I know what happened. You haven’t left. You’re still there. You haven’t been—”
“Myself,” I said, my tone almost rueful. I downed the rest of the whiskey, setting the bottle next to me.
“Yeah, man. Before then, though. Ever since your old man got out of prison.” He took the bottle, setting in next to him. “I’ve known you since we were lil’ kids. What? Were we three, four? Damn near all our lives. I don’t want you to lose what means the most to you.”
“My wife.”
It went without saying that if I lost her, I lost everything, including myfamiglia. Our children. The thought of walking this earth without them set me on the ledge at a dangerous height, the fall sucking me into a fathomless oblivion.
No, no one would ever take them from me, or me from them.
“Nah, man, Scarlett’s solid. She’ll be next to you until she can’t be.”
Until she can’t be.Still sensitive to the idea that someone or something would take my wife from me, a low growl vibrated deep in my chest that I had no control over.
“What I meant when I saidwhat means the most to you,” he continued, making his words come our clear and sharp, “is the way she looks at you. It’s different, you know, when their love stays the same but the way they look at you changes. It’s when you’re starting to become a man they don’t know. Because they usually know when he’s right or when he’s wrong. If whoever you’re turning into was right—” He shrugged.
That went without saying too. She wouldn’t be fighting so hard.
