"I was going to say difficult."
"He threw a glass at her head yesterday."
"He what?" Lorenzo sits up, fury flashing across his face.
"She dodged it. But still." I touch his arm. "Pietro already approved her leave. She flies out tomorrow."
Lorenzo runs a hand through his hair. "Christ. Twenty years she's taken care of us, and this is how we repay her."
"It's not your fault."
"Everything that happens in this family is partly my fault." He looks at me. "Who's going to cook? Clean? Keep the house running?"
I bite my lip to keep from laughing. "Pietro assigned Nico to find a replacement."
Lorenzo stares at me for a beat, then bursts out laughing. Real, deep laughter that shakes his whole body. "Nico? Pietro put Nico in charge of hiring domestic staff?"
"Apparently it's punishment for something. Pietro wouldn't say what."
"Oh, this is going to be a disaster." Lorenzo wipes his eyes. "Nico will probably run background checks going back three generations. Interview their kindergarten teachers. Install surveillance in their homes before hiring them."
"Or he'll forget entirely and they'll be eating takeout for two months."
"My money's on him hiring someone completely inappropriate. Like an ex-KGB operative who only cooks Russian food."
"Or someone's grandmother who doesn't speak English and pinches everyone's cheeks."
We're both laughing now, imagining increasingly ridiculous scenarios. It feels good, this lightness between us. These moments where we're just... us.
When our laughter finally dies down, I curl into his side. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"Everything." I trace patterns on his chest. "For saving me that day on Michigan Avenue when I was eight. For taking me in when I had nowhere else to go. For protecting me even when it put you at risk. For marrying me. For loving me. For giving me a life I never imagined I could have."
"Sophia—"
"I'm serious. You changed everything for me. Gave me purpose, strength, a family. You taught me to fight, to survive, to be more than just afraid all the time."
He's quiet for a moment, then says in that teasing tone, "You forgot to thank me for the mind-blowing sex."
I smack his chest. "Lorenzo!"
"What? It's a significant contribution to your life."
"You're impossible."
"You didn't deny it though."
Heat floods my cheeks. "I hate you."
"Liar." He kisses the top of my head. "You worship me. You said so yourself. Multiple times. Loudly."
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CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Nico
