“She almost died because of them!” I shout back. “They don’t treat her like family. They treat her like currency.”
Grandmother’s family from the Coast side raises a finger. “You’ve seen what her name has done to our men. Our blood on docks. Our boys in graves. My sister…” The words stop, and her eyes burn into me.
“And still,” I say through gritted teeth. “She’s the only one I couldn’t walk away from.”
“You shame your father,” Camilla hisses. “You bring the enemy into our sacred home and expect us to smile?”
“She’s innocent,” Marco barks suddenly, standing beside me. “You all talk about loyalty, but not one of you asked what she’s endured.”
“Loyalty?” Joseph sneers. “You’ve confused dick-hunger with loyalty.”
Milo’s voice booms. “Say that again and I’ll rearrange your teeth, you're my cousin, and I’d bleed for you, but watch what you say about my brother.”
A few more things are thrown, comments about how Aoife shouldn’t be in the house, and we should be sending her back with a warning or something.
“ENOUGH!” Grandfather bellows. The room falls instantly silent. His voice carries weight, death, and devotion in equal measure. He looks around the room, then settles on me. “You’re sure about her?”
“Yes.”
“Then we speak like family.”
Stillness. A long breath. Then his nod.
But not everyone relaxes.
Aoife, still silent, just watches it all unravel, like she’s waiting for the moment someone finally says what she fears most.
The room doesn’t calm, it only simmers, like water about to boil again. My grandfather stands slowly, the weight of generations in his spine. Silence falls. Even my father, still furious, says nothing. Everyone listens when the old man talks.
“My son is sure about her,” Father says, voice slow, deliberate. “And like my father did with me, I have to trust my son. I don’t like it, but this family was built on blood and loyalty and if Matteo is risking both, I believe he has reason.” He turnshis gaze to the room. “I’ll walk shoulder to shoulder with him in this war, but if anyone here doesn’t want a part of this, if any of you want to stand back, then say it now.”
A long tense silence, then Uncle Lorenzo speaks first, his voice cold. “She’s an O’Brien. I don’t give a shit what kind of hell she’s crawled through. She has Irish blood, and that blood is poison.”
Next to him, Aunt Camilla’s voice is calmer. “But if we cut off our own for loving the wrong person, what’s left of our honor?”
“She’s not blood,” Lorenzo snaps. “That’s the whole point.”
“Then walk,” Grandfather says simply, looking right at him. “But if you do, the Irish will know you opposed this. You’ll be marked as the branch that split. Think before you make a choice like that.” I know Grandfather doesn’t want to lose Grandmother’s family, he still speaks to them every day, works with them, but right now he’s picking me.
Uncle Luca grunts, nodding once. “I don’t like it, but… if Matteo’s willing to burn for her, then we should be willing to bleed beside him.”
The twins Enzo and Vito exchange a glance. “We’re in,” they say in unison. I think it’s cute, they’re still in high school, but they want everyone to know they are ready for this life.
I watch, barely breathing, as opinions pass like knives through the air. No one moves lightly in this family. Every word is warpaint.
“This won’t be short,” Grandfather warns them. “Or clean, but the decision is made. She’s ours now, and that means the fight is ours too.”
A storm of emotions tightens in my chest, but for the first time since I brought her through that gate, I feel the tide turning my way.
“If we are all on the same page, then we will be going to the Irish telling them their daughter has chosen our son. When Ichose Maria, even though she is not Irish, they came for blood, who knows what they will do when it is one of their own, we need to be ready for what they have coming for us,” Father tells everyone, and again there is silence.
“Ladies, will you please leave,” Grandfather tells them all, this means we are talking blood now.
I turn to Aoife, and glance over at Rosa before looking at Aoife again. “Stay with Rosa, but I promise no one will hurt you here. Go back to my room if that makes you feel better.” She nods and Rosa stands next to me, and takes Aoife’s hand in hers, and once the door closes, everyone listens to Grandfather and Father for what we think can happen.
This might take a while, but they won’t make the mistake of underestimating the Irish again.
Chapter 35
