“If you get rid of Xavier,” I said, dropping my voice although no one was around to hear, “it’s going to open up a spot that needs to be filled. You can’t rip apart the family unless you know what you want afterward.” When we were younger, Luc and I had dreams that were drunk on ambition. We had sobered up after losing Charlie. Grief had dulled everything in our lives, but maybe it was time to revive the dreams we’d once had. And why not? The rumblings of unrest had started to murmur through the family and Gabe was trying to exploit every opportunity he came across. Why not us?
“You’ll back me?” Luc asked after a few moments of silence.
We were on the same page. After months of feeling like our brotherhood was slipping away with no chance of saving, we were once again thinking along the same lines. “Until I’m in the grave. We just need to convince everyone else too, but before that you need to get your family back together. This has gone on long enough.”
Chapter Twenty Four
Mia
Ihad caught glimpses of Luc throughout the evening, attached to Dante, nursing a drink. Whenever I looked at him, his gaze was intensely fixed on me. At the risk of causing another, more public scene, I stayed away, with a silent vow to ask Dante what room Luc was staying in to talk to him in the morning.
Emilio and Carmen had just been roped into the official family portraits that would be splashed across social media and glossy magazines. I’d excused myself from the party, Franco beside me in surly silence as we took the elevator up to our floor. “You should have stayed and enjoyed the party,” I told him.
He shot me a look. “The only reason I’m here is because you threw a fit about attending.”
“I did not throw a fit.”
“What would you have called it?”
“You know, I think I prefer you when you don’t talk.”
“The feeling is mutual.”
The elevator pinged and we made our way out onto the floor and toward the end of the hallway toward our respective rooms.
“I’ll be across the hall. If you need anything you come and find me. Understand?”
“Are you planning to sleep?” I asked him.
“Not when Gabe’s put me in charge of your problematic ass."
I sighed and swiped the card to give me access to my room. “Great. Well, have a good evening.” Walking into the room, I let the door swing shut, giving me some space from Franco and his attitude. Tomorrow’s meeting with Luc would need me to lose Franco if I wanted to be completely honest with him. The last thing I needed was Franco hearing anything and running back to Gabe. Dante should be able to keep him preoccupied.
My feet ached as I kicked off my shoes and sat on the edge of the bed. Every step I took made the pain spark up and I noticed that my feet were a little swollen. I’d never understand how Carmen had managed her pregnancy in heels. I fished my phone from my bag and sent a message to Dante asking for Luc’s room number to set the ball rolling. Exhausted didn’t even begin to cover what the last few weeks had made me feel. The lack of peace had taken its toll, and all I wanted was to close my eyes and wake up to find it was all a terrible nightmare. The reality was that this was my life, and every day something happened to make it more complicated.
I stripped out of the dress and into sweatpants and a t-shirt, glad to be comfortable again. As I laid down in bed, my baby wriggled, and I placed a hand over him. “Are you anxious as well?” I asked him. It wasn’t often that we spoke. I never knew what to say, blaming myself for him having a less than stable start in his life. “You don’t need to worry,” I lied. “Uncle Dante is going to make sure nothing happens to you.”
My eyelids felt heavy as I pulled the covers up over us both. I envied every mother to be who had waltzed through their pregnancy without a care, with their partner at every appointment to hold their hand. Not for the first time, I felt myself drifting to sleep wondering how I’d managed to land myself in this position.
When I woke, my ringtone blared from my phone and I opened one eye to see the screen illuminated as a call came through. I reached out and grabbed it off the nightstand to see Dante’s name and also the fact that it was one a.m. “Why are you calling me at this ridiculous—"
“Open your door.”
“D? I… what? Why am I—”
“Open your damn door!”
I blinked the sleep from my eyes at the urgency of his demand. “Okay, give me a minute.”
“Hurry up.”
I moved as quickly as I could, rolling out of bed and padding over to the door of my room. When I pulled it open, I didn’t even register that Luc was standing there until he had crossed the threshold and closed the door behind him, more gently than I would have expected.
“I’ll speak to you later, Mia,” Dante said down the phone line before he hung up.
“Luc,” I breathed, letting my arm drop to my side. I wasn’t entirely sure if this was some sort of twisted dream or hallucination. “What are you doing here? It’s one a.m.,” I floundered.
“It would have been sooner, but Franco really is keeping a close eye on you,” he explained.
