“You know?” I grasped his hand, like he might keep me from slipping and falling right onto that burning bridge.
His hands were as strong as iron as he brought our hands to his mouth, but the inner voice that seemed to belong to him whispered to me that, deep below that strong exterior, he was trembling as hard as me. “Yeah. Niccolo called me.”
“What—”What are we going to do?I was about to say, but he was already in action.
He’d stood up and was going for the bathroom. A minute later, he came out with more clothes. This time, they were comfortable, but something I would have worn outside of the villa.
“Teo?”
“I’ll be back in a second to dress you,” he said.
“W-where are we going?”
He swiped my phone from the bedside table, his eyes lit up by the screen, his thumb working like he was scrolling through numbers. “To the doctor.”
“No!” I shouted, but he was already walking to the front of the house. No, no, no, I wasn’t ready for the doctor yet. I’d just learned that my life might be altered, irrevocably, and I needed time to process. But I knew Matteo’s way of dealing with the world and all issues. He hit them straight on. I kept my head buried in the sand for as long as I could.
His phone rang in the bathroom. It stopped ringing and must have gone to voicemail, then started ringing again, and I went for it. The name “Marci” lit up the screen, and I knew it was Marciano, Mariano messing with Matteo by changing Marciano’s name. He did shit like that to get a rise out of his brothers. All but Maestro, who just smiled at their antics. The only time Mia seemed to get involved was when she felt she had no choice.
“Hello,” I breathed, answering it.
“Matteo, we need to talk, brother.”
I opened my mouth to say Matteo had…gone somewhere in the house, but Marciano, in Marciano style, took a right hook straight through my voice.
“I’m in Maremma with mamma and papà. Mariano was out riding, and mamma got that look on her face. The one she does when something bad happens.” He took a breath. “A few minutes later, the guards came rushing back, saying that theCappello family demanded a meeting with the house of Fausti. Shit.”He took another breather. “Long story short, brother, you need to get down here. Mariano got one of the Cappello women pregnant. Are you halfway out the door? Nonno and Magpie are on their way here now.” A second later. “Hello?”
“Uh,” I wasn’t sure what to say, because maybe I shouldn’t have heard all of that.
Matteo saved me by storming into the bathroom, stopping short when he noticed me standing with his phone in my hand.
“Here.” My arm shot out. “It’s your brother, Marciano, for you.”
He took the phone and hung up without saying anything.
“Matteo,” I said, my heart in my throat, but I didn’t want him to see the panic rising in my chest, about to drown me. When Scarlett sensed something was about to happen in Maremma, I had a feeling it was about me, not Mariano and the woman he got pregnant. A baby was a blessing, not bad news. If Matteo knew that, he might really lose it, and I was so very close to losing it.
Like, a breath away from losing my breakfast…
Yeah, it was making a comeback.
I ran to the bathroom, Matteo on my heels, and purged every ounce of food and liquid in my stomach into the toilet.
Matteo held my hair. “Baby,” he said, and this time, his voice was strong, but on the surface only. Below the sweet nickname he had for me, there was a tremble.
I held my hand up. “Okay. I’m okay. Just nerves. I didn’t expect to go to the doctor so soon.”
He picked me up and brought me to the sink, nodding for me to open my mouth so he could brush my teeth, but I shook my head and took it from him.
“The quicker they find out, the better,” he said. “We can do something about it now,ifsomething shows up.”
“Yeah. Sure. You’re right.” I smiled at him.
His eyes hardened. “Don’t do that.”
“What?”
“Lie to me.”
