"Guest of honor?" Dante asked with a grin.
"Fuck off."
"I'll be there," he told me. "Doesn't sound like a bad day. You, me and Mia."
"You, me, Mia, Mom and Stefan," I corrected him.
"Oh..."
"It gets worse," I said, sighing heavily. "Hector."
Dante's eyes went wide. "As in, Mia's Dad? And you agreed to this?"
"She asked."
"And you couldn't say no?" Dante watched as I dropped my head. "And you couldn't say no. She's going to ruin you," Dante laughed. She already had. With every day that went by, I was pulled in deeper. "Yeah, dinner might kill you."
"You have to be there."
"Don't worry. I'll be there," Dante confirmed, waving a hand. "I'm not going to miss that shit show. Hey, at least that’s your only holiday commitment. Imagine having to attend the Moretti ball for New Year’s. That would have topped off the holiday season."
I grimaced and Dante shook his head. "You're not being serious. You're taking Mia to the ball?" Dante asked me, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't have a choice."
"What? Why?"
The Moretti family, headed by Xavier Moretti, ran the state. Old blood. Old money. Xavier and Dad had been good friends for years despite a number of disagreements. So close that Xavier had been given the role of my godfather. When I had taken over, four years ago, I had kept my distance from him. There were too many memories associated with Dad and I wanted to find my feet before walking into the fold formally, as a family head.
"I had to see him about Marco," I explained. "Thought it was better to bite the bullet."
My actions could have caused a lot of issues. I had acted out of impulse, given Marco no warning, and had gone in for the kill. That wasn’t how things worked, and the consequence of my action had meant I could no longer hide in the shadows.
"He wants to meet her."
"Luc," Dante said, looking uneasy. "You're going to put her in all that?"
"It was going to happen at some point. We're going to be there. She stays with us. We're in, we chat, we get out," I laid out the plan.
Dante scoffed at the simplified outline of the night. I wasn't comfortable either but if I kept this from Mia it would only come and bite me in the ass. If I wanted her then I had no choice but to have her all in.
"Babe?" Mia's voice drifted through the house.
"In here!" I called out and then I added under my breath, "Follow the trail of fucking needles."
A few moments later, Mia and Dom joined us in the living room.
"Oh, wow," Dom said, eyebrows shooting up as he took in the tree.
"It came!" Mia exclaimed.
No matter how much I hated the mess and the holiday season, it was worth it just to see Mia light up. She walked over to me and I wrapped an arm around her waist.
“It came,” I confirmed. “But this does not constitute small. When are we decorating this monstrosity?" I asked.
"Now?" Mia suggested, ignoring her blatant disregard for breaking our agreement.
"Sure."
